US embassy cable - 03ROME2657

UNCLAS  ROME 002657 
 
SIPDIS 
AIDAC 
 
FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AS/PRM, PRM/P, EUR/WE, EUR/NE AND IO/EDA 
USAID FOR A/AID, AA/DCHA, AA/AFR, DCHA/FFP LANDIS, PPC/DP, 
PPC/DC 
USDA/FAS FOR CHAMBLISS/TILSWORTH/GAINOR 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH/USAID 
NAIROBI FOR REFCOORD 
KAMPALA FOR REFCOORD 
ISLAMABAD FOR REFCOORD 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID PLERNER AND PRM REP 
USUN FOR MLUTZ 
NSC FOR JDWORKEN 
OMB FOR TSTOLL 
 
E.O.  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EAGR, AORC, PREF, KUNR, WFP, UN 
SUBJECT:  SECOND REGULAR SESSION OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM 
EXECUTIVE BOARD, ROME, JUNE 2, 2003 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
NOT SUITABLE FOR INTERNET POSTING. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (U) In an abbreviated Board session (one day), the 
Executive Board approved a country program for Pakistan, a 
school feeding intervention for Lesotho, and protracted 
relief and recovery operations for Kenya (Somali and 
Sudanese refugees), Uganda (refugees and internally 
displaced), and the Central African Republic. USDEL 
conducted a number of productive side meetings dealing with 
WFP's relationships with NGOs, UNHCR, and updates on WFP 
interventions on Pakistan, Uganda and parts of the Great 
Lakes region of Central Africa. End Summary. 
 
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Pakistan Country Program and Lesotho school feeding 
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2. (U) The Board approved the 2004-2008 Pakistan country 
program with a five-year funding approval amounting to USD 
77.9 million. USDEL lauded WFP's efforts to "focus and 
concentrate" its proposed efforts in 34 districts. Other 
USDEL comments were as follows: 
 
-Stronger capacity for monitoring poverty and the impact of 
anti-poverty programs needs to be developed; 
 
-WFP and its UN sister Agencies are encouraged to work 
closely with host government partners related to the 
honoring of stated commitments to protect women and 
minorities against legal, political and social 
discrimination; 
 
-USDEL strongly agrees with WFP's focus and attention to 
"promoting safe motherhood" in conjunction with WFP-assisted 
health programs, especially the emphasis on factors that 
affect low birth weight, timing of first births, inter-birth 
intervals, and maternal nutrition; 
 
-WFP is encouraged to expand its relationship with NGOs that 
need to be increasingly recognized as a useful and 
potentially significant part of Pakistan's development; 
 
-We are particularly concerned with beneficiaries, such as 
Afghan refugees, and ask that WFP focus on pipeline issues. 
 
3. (SBU) In a side meeting with WFP Country Director German 
Valdivia, implementation of the WFP-UNHCR MOU (whereby WFP 
assumes responsibility for food deliveries directly to the 
refugee populations) was discussed as well as the problems 
resulting from a poorly resourced food pipeline. Valdivia 
indicated that WFP was dropping 27,500 refugees from the 
program as the tripartite process had decided (GOP, UNHCR 
and WFP) to close one camp and repatriate the refugees. 
(Comment: it was not clear whether this action in cutting 
 
 
off distribution may be de facto coercing the refugees to 
return to Afghanistan.  Refcoord and PRM/ANE may wish to 
follow up with UNHCR. End comment.) 
 
4. (U) On Lesotho, the Board approved a four year (2004- 
2007) school feeding support to the GOL's Free Primary 
Education undertaking, with a total cost to WFP of USD 14.45 
million. The project will assist 285,300 beneficiaries. 
USDEL noted that Lesotho remains dramatically food insecure 
and that the "drag" of AIDs on economic growth will further 
reduce the ability of the government to handle the rising 
social and healthcare costs. USDEL suggested that where 
appropriate WFP and its sister UN Agencies should consider 
revisiting previous methods of shoring up governments and 
populations in crisis -- including direct support to 
ministries, organizations and institutions that are losing 
the human resources and skilled professionals required to 
function effectively. Note: U.S. Ambassador in Maseru was 
reportedly thanked profusely by GOL officials for U.S. 
support of school feeding in Lesotho. End note. 
 
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Protracted relief and recovery (PRRO) operation - Kenya 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) WFP'S protracted relief and recovery operation 
(PRRO) for Kenya (10258.0) - Food assistance to Somali and 
Sudanese refugees, from October 2003 through September 2005, 
covering 230,358 beneficiaries, with a total cost to WFP of 
USD 57.46 million - was approved by the Board. WFP Country 
Director Tesema Negash commented that at present "about 15 
percent of the food delivered to the camps is sold or 
bartered due to the inability of the other UN Agencies to 
supply non-food items." He also estimated that some 6 
percent of the refugees were presently engaged in income 
generating activities but this was exceedingly difficult to 
document. Negash concluded that at present the camps were 
reasonably secure, given that the UN had supplied patrol 
vehicles to the local police. Germany stated that it was 
willing to consider placing experts into Kenya's "line 
ministries" to strengthen implementation efforts. 
 
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Protracted relief and recovery (PRRO) operation - Budget 
increase Uganda 
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6. (U) A budget increase for PRRO Uganda 10121.0 - Targeted 
Food Assistance for Relief and Recovery of Refugees, 
Displaced Persons and Vulnerable Groups in Uganda, from 
April 2002 through March 2005, with a revised total cost to 
WFP of USD 178.9 million and an additional beneficiary 
caseload is 567,276, which brings the overall caseload to 
1,596,691 persons - was approved by the Board. 
 
7. (SBU) In a USDEL side meeting, Uganda Country Director 
Ken Davies gave an overview of WFP operations for 154,000 
refugees, over 800,000 IDPs, and now an additional 535,000 
drought victims and 6,000 especially vulnerable new 
 
 
Congolese refugees (out of 30,000 recent new arrivals).  Of 
the 6,000 vulnerable new arrivals, most of them are women 
and children, and about half are expected to accept UNHCR's 
offer to relocate to a refugee camp.  A contribution from 
the European Commission is expected to prevent a break in 
the PRRO pipeline before September.  Furthermore, USAID/FFP 
plans to contribute to the PRRO through an approved call- 
forward this month. 
8. (SBU) Davies said that resourcing a PRRO with such a 
diverse caseload has been especially difficult over the last 
year.  Many donors diverted contributions to southern Africa 
and other crises while attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army 
(LRA) and instability in the north exacerbated needs for 
IDPs in particular and resulted in increased acute 
malnutrition among IDP children under five years old. 
 
9. (U) As for the refugees, Davies felt that despite some 
difficulties, the Self Reliance Strategy (SRS) had been 
successful in many respects and enabled WFP to remove 40,000 
refugees from its caseload, as they received land and became 
self-sufficient.  He added that the best land had already 
been distributed, and other refugees included in the SRS 
would need to rely on WFP to meet 10-40 percent of their 
food needs.  As the largest buyer of food in Uganda, WFP has 
had a positive impact on small-scale agricultural 
production.  In effect, it has supported small farmer 
cooperatives and greatly strengthened Uganda's commercial 
agricultural sector.  WFP purchased USD 9 million of cereals 
and pulses locally in 2002 and plans to purchase USD 20 
million this year. 
 
10. (SBU) Regarding efforts to prevent exploitation, Davies 
described how WFP distributes food to clusters of 
households, many of which are headed by women, and relies 
upon traditional leaders within each cluster for the 
allocation to individual households.  In refugee camps, WFP 
plans to move towards family-based distributions.  Security 
conditions preclude advance announcement of distributions. 
WFP-UNHCR-NGO-GOU joint assessment missions are conducted in 
66 settlements every six months. 
 
11. (U) Davies was especially appreciative of PRM's recent 
cash contribution towards refugee needs in Uganda.  He said 
that the refugees were an easy caseload for WFP to target 
there.  Asked how the local purchase process worked and the 
timelines involved, he said that upon learning of a PRM 
contribution, he could immediately issue a tender and then 
sign a contract within two weeks.  The contract would 
require delivery within four weeks, and the refugees would 
actually receive the food another two weeks after that. 
Therefore, the food will be distributed to the refugees no 
later than two months after the contribution is made. 
 
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Other USDEL side meetings - NGOs/UNHCR MOU/ICRC-related 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
12. (SBU) USDEL met WFP Deputy Executive Director Shiela 
 
Sisulu and Deputy Director of Operations Francesco Strippoli 
regarding WFP's nascent task force to improve its relations 
with the NGO community.  Sisulu commented that after WFP 
Executive Director Morris met in April with NGOs in Kansas 
City, he said he wanted to come out of WFP's October 2003 
conference for NGOs "with his head still on."  Sisulu comes 
from the NGO community, and she is making this initiative 
one of her immediate and top priorities.  She acknowledged 
that WFP and NGOs view each other not only as partners but 
also as competitiors, and she asked for USDEL views. 
 
13. (SBU) FFP Director Lauren Landis suggested that WFP 
focus not only on technical issues but also partnership 
issues with NGOs.  WFP and the NGO community could work on a 
joint framework and ensure its implementation in the field. 
Strippoli agreed, admitting that country offices have little 
clear guidance from WFP Headquarters and considerable 
discretion in how they deal with NGO partners.  As part of 
his efforts to rationalize WFP's guidance and instructions 
to the field, he has invited NGOs to a meeting in Rome on 
June 20 to further discuss WFP's draft strategic plan and 
report out on progress of the WFP-NGO working group. 
Special focus will be put on a revised risk management plan. 
For example, in some cases, NGO partners are reimbursed for 
warehouse costs on the basis of tonnage delivered, though 
deliveries may be disrupted for reasons beyond their 
control.  Also, WFP's contracts with NGO partners are 
usually short-term - 3-6 months - due to the vulnerability 
of pipelines, but Strippoli would like to extend contracts 
through the period of the PRRO or EMOP, subject to 
availability of funding. 
 
14. (U) USDEL/PRM commented that this would go part-way to 
addressing NGO concerns around implementation of the WFP- 
UNHCR MOU, but that WFP also needed to consider coordination 
at the field/camp level, especially since some of UNHCR's 
NGO partners provide other services to beneficiaries, aside 
from food distribution. 
 
15. (SBU) While Sisulu and Strippoli are leading WFP's 
initiative to improve relations with NGOs, Morris has 
specifically indicated his desire to establish an NGO unit 
headed by a senior level coordinator by October 2003. 
Sisulu added that NGOs are also valuable partners in 
building local capacity in recipient countries. 
 
16. (U) On WFP's relationships with UNHCR, USDEL met with 
Francesco Strippoli, his Interagency Branch Chief Zlatan 
Milisic, West Africa Regional Director Manuel Aranda da 
Silva, Uganda Country Director Ken Davies, and Pakistan 
Country Director German Valdivia.  Each shared their views 
on the pilot programs under the UNHCR-WFP MOU.  Sierra 
Leone, Uganda, and Pakistan represent three of the five 
pilot programs whereby UNHCR has transferred all 
responsibilities for refugee feeding, including end- 
distribution, to WFP.  Zambia is expected to be the fourth 
pilot when the WFP PRRO is renewed and the costs incorporate 
WFP's new responsibilities.  WFP has proposed Kenya as the 
fifth pilot to UNHCR. 
 
 
17. (SBU) Overall, coordination between WFP and UNHCR was 
characterized very positively.  WFP Deputy Executive 
Director and Director for Operations Jean-Jacques Graisse 
and UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner (AHC) Morjane and 
their staffs are in frequent contact on a range of issues. 
Strippoli again requested PRM support for two joint UNHCR- 
WFP field workshops to help ensure that this progress 
translates into training and coordination at the field level 
and that the respective headquarters get feedback from their 
country directors and staff.  Strippoli said that the 
implementation of the MOU, particularly in Sierra Leone, has 
highlighted the need for WFP to re-vamp and improve its 
relations with NGO partners. 
 
18. (SBU) WFP West Africa Regional Manager Aranda da Silva 
noted that there had been some rough spots in the 
implementation of the MOU in Sierra Leone.  The West Africa 
Coastal PRRO did not adequately cover WFP's additional costs 
in taking over end-distribution, and WFP and UNHCR have used 
different cost structures and different NGO partners in the 
region.  Both Strippoli and he said that WFP needs to take 
into account the impact of the transfer on camp management; 
some UNHCR implementing partners have had other critical 
responsibilities in the camps, and their presence in some 
cases became economically feasible only by doing food 
distribution.  Furthermore, WFP wants to find a way to ease 
some of the pressure on NGO partners in the region by 
negotiating food distribution contracts for a longer period, 
rather than the standard 90-days.  This 
effort is part of ED Morris' broader efforts to: (1) improve 
relations with NGOs, (2) shift risk from beneficiaries to 
WFP, and (3) strengthen coordination with other UN 
organizations. 
 
19. (U) Implementation of the MOU seemed to go more smoothly 
in Pakistan and especially Uganda.  Uganda Country Director 
Davies noted that WFP and UNHCR had the same four major 
implementing partners.  The existing tripartite agreement 
with the GOU was also useful and provided transparency in 
costs and negotiating new contracts.  WFP has also been able 
to realize some of the savings anticipated by the MOU and 
has negotiated lower rail and trucking costs.  These savings 
have helped WFP offset increased security costs. 
 
20. (SBU) Pakistan Country Director Valdivia said that the 
tripartite agreement and good relations with his UNHCR 
counterpart helped make the pilot a success thus far.  He 
said that he had negotiated costs with UNHCR's NGO partners 
downwards, as their costs and international staff had been 
inflated post-9/11 and were now more in line with rates of 
other implementing partners. 
 
21. (SBU) On ICRC, Strippoli has begun discussing the 
revision of their 1996 exchange of letters on cooperation, 
making these instruments more operational by replicating a 
number of measures refined in the WFP/UNHCR MOU.  He said 
that WFP and ICRC have cooperated closely and effectively in 
Iraq, Afghanistan, and other emergencies.  The two 
 
 
organizations already consult on dividing up food 
distributions, coverage of different regions and 
beneficiaries, hand-off of operations, and other activities. 
Strippoli wants to work more closely with ICRC on early 
warning, preparedness, and operational issues.  (Note: 
Strippoli asked us to be discreet in discussing this 
initiative, in the event the U.S. wishes to sound out ICRC 
on its views. End note.) 
 
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Comment 
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22. (SBU) WFP clearly has a lot on its plate. The next six 
months will deeply test its ability to cope with a myriad of 
crises and widespread (ambitious) management improvements. 
"The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few." 
Hall 
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	2003ROME02657 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED