The World Food Programme (WFP) is working together with the Government of Bangladesh to assist more than 275,000 people affected by flooding in the north-west of the country, activating for the first time an innovative forecast-based financing project.
“Home to more than 700 rivers, Bangladesh is increasingly seeing the impact of climate change. Erratic monsoon and downpours are causing severe floods,” said Richard Ragan, WFP Representative and Country Director in Bangladesh.
“WFP is using a combination of cash and food to urgently meet the basic needs of more than a quarter million people whose homes and agricultural lands have been inundated.”
The Government of Bangladesh and WFP have jointly activated the project to mitigate the impact of the severe flooding, according to a media release received today (Thursday).
This innovative approach uses weather forecasts to trigger early actions, such as cash transfers, that can help reduce the impact of natural disasters in conjunction with existing disaster relief interventions.
Around 5,000 households (25,000 people) received US$53 through mobile money transfers in Kurigram district as part of the project, the release said.
Cash was distributed to the most vulnerable, including families headed by disabled people, the elderly and single women. The assistance helped people pay for basic needs such as food and other urgently needed goods and services.
WFP is supporting more than 250,000 people in three north western districts with fortified biscuits that will sustain them for three days as an immediate response to the floods.
About 2.3 million people have been affected in 20 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, according to a report published by the Bangladesh Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.
