Mister President,

I am speaking on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro and Turkey align themselves with this statement.
We are highly concerned by the situation in the country, affected by growing levels of food insecurity and acute malnutrition due to a multiplicity of factors, including the regional crisis in the Lake Chad Basin and Libya areas, the spill over of the Sudan crisis, negative impact of the situation in Central Sahel, and extreme weather conditions.

We take note that about 57% of the resources are allocated to crisis response outcomes, while resilience building outcomes to reduce humanitarian needs in the long run account for the remaining 43%. According to the CSP, the demand for humanitarian assistance is extremely high and regularly exceeds the capacity and resources available to respond, while the capacity to graduate people from humanitarian assistance and social protection coverage is low. Therefore, we would like to ask WFP whether this resource allocation strikes the right balance for response activities in the country, reflecting the need for a strong emphasis on emergency response given the high fluidity and fragility of the country context.

We would appreciate a clear prioritisation of emergency Outcomes, not only in case of funding shortfalls, based on estimated humanitarian needs and WFP’s comparative advantage throughout different regions in the country. Furthermore, we invite WFP to share more information on its prioritisation strategy and the measures taken to prevent or mitigate reduction in rations, beneficiary numbers or geographic zones of intervention.

We acknowledge that the CSP will take a HDP Nexus approach and we would like to stress that the Nexus entails seeking complementarities between mandates and expertise of different actors. We call on WFP to seek its added value in this space focused on its mandate and comparative advantage. Furthermore, we invite WFP to deepen its strategic and operational partnerships with other UN agencies. We would notably welcome more information on WFP’s cooperation with UNICEF regarding Outcome 2, factoring in respective mandates and agreed division of competences in preventing and addressing acute undernutrition.

We also ask WFP to elaborate more in detail on the envisaged mitigation measures for identified operational and financial risks. In this context, we suggest including in the CSP a detailed reference to the implementation, envisaged measures, and respective costs of the Reassurance Action Plan in the country in the first year of the CSP.

Last but not least, we support the continued integration of age, gender, disability and diversity inclusion in the operations, as well as the application of WFP’s strategies for conflict-sensitivity, accountability to affected population and protection, socially and environmentally sustainable and evidence-based approaches.

Thank you.