Angola | World Food Programme

Located in southwestern Africa, Angola is a resource-rich, lower-middle-income, food-deficit country with a population of over 35 million. More than half of the population lives on less than US$2.15 per day in rural areas. Due to rapid population growth, the number of people living in poverty continues to grow.

The climate emergency is having a severe effect on food security and nutrition. Southern provinces are the most affected, with six consecutive years of severe drought and below-average harvests, which are being compounded by the impact of El Niño. An estimated 1.5 million people are expected to face severe acute food insecurity at least until the second quarter of 2024.

Malnutrition is a public health issue, with stunting (impaired growth due to malnutrition) at 44 percent, while wasting (low height for weight) is at 5 percent. The high prevalence of acute malnutrition is caused by poor-quality water, hygiene, and sanitation, inadequate infant and child feeding practices, and lack of access to essential services, underscored by poverty.

WFP works with the Government of Angola and a broad range of partners to achieve zero hunger, combining food and vouchers with nutrition support as well as technical assistance to build long-term prosperity.

What the World Food Programme is doing in Angola

Refugee assistance: WFP provides around 6,500 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with assistance to ensure they can meet their basic food and nutrition needs. WFP also provided refugees with materials and training on modern farming technologies, animal husbandry and post-harvest management. Additionally, some members of host communities were trained and provided with agricultural inputs, harvesting rice and vegetables for household consumption and sale in local markets to increase their incomes.
Commodity vouchers: WFP has run, in coordination with the National Civil Protection Commission and other partners, a commodity voucher scheme to support households most impacted by drought in the south of Angola. In response to the El Niño event in 2024, WFP plans to continue providing vouchers to food-insecure households – prioritizing those with malnourished children, to increase recovery rates and improve household food security and nutrition.
Nutrition: WFP implements targeted supplementary feeding and integrated nutrition programmes to prevent and treat moderate acute malnutrition among vulnerable groups, primarily children aged 6-59 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls. Nutrition is also integrated into all WFP's activities to address the underlying causes of malnutrition and improve access to, and consumption of, healthy and nutritious diets.
School meals: WFP plans to restart an emergency school meals programme to support primary school children and their families in areas most affected by drought. The programme features two approaches: hot meals and take-home rations, depending on the school's infrastructure. The school meals programme boosts retention rates and increases enrolment and education levels. WFP sources the food from local farmer associations, which helps to enhance smallholders’ access to local markets and boost local agriculture production.
Technical assistance: WFP works with the Government in areas including ranging from the development of food security policies and strategies to organizing cooking demonstrations to raise awareness of the importance of dietary diversity and balance, and improve knowledge about good practices on infant and young child feeding, water, and hygiene.
Service provision: WFP provides on-demand supply chain services to the humanitarian and development community and the Government of Angola. WFP works with the host Government to procure Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food for the treatment of moderate acute malnutrition in children aged 6-59 months. WFP also supports the Ministry of Health and the United Nations Development Programme (to ensure the provision of life-saving medical supplies, while strengthening public health supply chain systems to better prepare and respond to future shocks. Through the Last-Mile Delivery project, WFP provides transportation and warehousing services for medical supplies.