WFP and Donor Community to source $1billion to assist Poor Countries.

THE World Food Programme (WFP) and the donor community are sourcing $1 billion to assist countries which are worst hit by the high food prices, the Executive Director of the programme, Mrs Josette Sheeran, has stated.
She said the entire humanitarian community was adopting strategies to better the lives of those who needed support, adding that WFP, which is the food aid organisation under the United Nations (UN), was working with the Ghana government in particular to assist in the procurement of local products and farm produce as part of efforts to achieve its objectives.
Mrs Sheeran was briefing the press after a tour of the construction site for the new United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.
She was accompanied by the Irish Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Overseas Development, Mr Peter Power.
The WFP Director, who attended the conference on Aid Effective held recently in Accra, said she had taken time off her busy schedule to acquaint herself with the work of WFP personnel working on the ground to ensure that the vision of the programme to save lives in West, Central and other parts of Africa was achieved.
"The UNHRD is a network of 'Interagency Response Facilities', which provides storage facilities, logistics and support services to humanitarian agencies, government and non-governmental organisations to reinforce capacity for humanitarian emergency response," she noted, hinting that their base in Accra was the UN's main humanitarian supply for the sub-region.
She said Ghana was chosen for the location of the UNHRD because the country had demonstrated its leadership role, and its position in the sub-region was strategic in the provision of humanitarian assistance to regions that needed quick responses.
She expressed her appreciation and commended the Irish government for the depth of their commitment, which, she said, was unparalleled by any other user agency of the depot in the fight against hunger.
"Ireland is a major leader in the fight against hunger," she said and thanked them for their life-saving contribution to the humanitarian response depot.
"By pre-positioning essential supplies here in Accra, Irish Aid, WFP and the wider humanitarian community are in a far better position to respond faster and more effectively than ever to humanitarian emergencies in the West African region," Mr Peter Power said.
According to the Project Engineer of the new UNHRD building, Mr Desmond Page, the building, when completed in January 2009, would provide about five thousand square metres of storage space, almost 10 times the current capacity of the old building for free to other user agencies in the region.
He said the additional storage space would help the humanitarian community to respond faster in delivering emergency assistance to countries within the sub-region and save costs, thanks to its strategic location in Accra.
The Country Director of WFP, Mr Martin Walsh, noted that because training formed an important aspect of UNHRD's services, the new building would have training facilities for up to 60 participants with three breakaway rooms and Internet access room.
"Last week, the UNHRD dispatched five river boats for WFP operations and plastic sheets on behalf UNHCR for the current floods in Togo and the heavy rains in Northern Ghana.
He said earlier this year, the Depot was crucial for different actors to send relief supplies to Chadian refugees in northern Cameroon, adding that a consignment of 25 metric tonnes of WFP high energy biscuits was dispatched from Accra to the most vulnerable and food insecure victims at the onset of the floods in the Northern Region of Ghana in 2007.
Mr Walsh stated that the users of the UNHRD had grown from seven to 27 and noted that currently the users of the Depot in Accra included the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Humanitarian Children’s Rights (UNHCR), International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and World Vision, with several more agencies indicating their desire to use the facility.
"To date Ireland has provided $2.5 million towards the UNHRD Network as well as their in-kind donation of a Project Engineer until the end of the construction," he disclosed and expressed his appreciation for the Irish government's support.