A six-month relief project facilitated by the World Food Programme (WFP) to support the most vulnerable people in urban areas who have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic ended in January.

The project which covered a total of 10 500 households, representing 42 500 people (52 percent women) in the urban councils of Maseru, Mafeteng, Mohale's Hoek, Quthing and Qacha's Nek offered each household a sum of M831 per month.

The project was financially supported through a European Union’s (EU) contribution of M55.5 million to provide the much needed relief assistance to the most vulnerable people in Lesotho affected by three consecutive years of drought and the recent socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The contribution was part of a larger EU grant of M87.3 million to support joint emergency response interventions led by the WFP in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Organisation of Migration (IOM).

WFP assisted 34 000 severely food insecure people living in urban areas of the five worst affected districts by expanding the government’s Public Assistance Programme.

“We thank the EU for their continuous support to the emergency response operations the WFP is rolling out across the country to complement the government’s COVID-19 Food Security Response Plan,” Aurore Rusiga, the WFP’s Country Director in Lesotho had earlier noted.

The EU’s funding came at a crucial time when over 40 percent of the population of Lesotho was experiencing acute food insecurity.