Assistance through the World Food Programme (WFP) for Internally Displaced Persons and Vulnerable People in the Republic of Azerbaijan

April 5, 2007

On March 30 (Fri), the Government of Japan, in response to a request from the World Food Programme (WFP), decided to contribute US 100,000 dollars (about 11,100,000 yen) out of its funds to the WFP for its Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation, Assistance to IDPs (internally displaced persons) and other vulnerable groups in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

About one million IDPs in Azerbaijan have been leading a difficult life for more than 10 years. Of them, 70% still live in provisional housing such as public institutions and wagons, and more than 70% of the labor-force generation are out of work. Those IDPs need assistance from the government and the WFP. As assistance for 154,000 IDPs and impoverished peoples in the regions where there are many refugees in Azerbaijan, this assistance from the Government of Japan will be used for general food distribution, school feeding and food for work (FFW), in which the people engaged work for repair, improvement and construction of such as local schools, sanitary facilities like toilets and irrigation channels.

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