ECHO funding will support critical activities including nutrition assistance to mothers and children in remote areas where WFP provides food supplements for treating and preventing malnutrition as well as nutrition awareness sessions. Malnutrition affects some 1.8 million children under five across Sudan.

The funds will also support cash-based transfers for vulnerable and food-insecure communities, providing much-needed assistance to as many as 600,000 people including internally displaced people and refugees across North and South Darfur states.

Research has shown that cash-based transfers give food-insecure people a sense of independence and guarantee their ability to cover their most basic needs including food, shelter and water, while alleviating hardship and giving a boost to the local economy. Sudan is one of the least developed countries in the world and continues to face the impacts of protracted conflict and harsh climatic conditions.

ECHO’s generous contribution enables WFP to continue the roll-out of its innovative ‘hybrid’ transfer modality, whereby food-insecure populations are provided with a mixture of food, cash and vouchers for food.

ECHO has been a long-standing partner to WFP in Sudan, giving more than €153 million since 2012. ECHO’s contributions have helped sustain those affected by conflict, natural disasters and climate change