Global

Budget: 12 000 000 USD

EOD: January 2021

NTE: December 2022

The Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities (SFERA) was established in 2004 to enhance FAO’s capacity to rapidly respond to emergency situations. Through strategic resource partner funding, SFERA provides FAO with the financial means and flexibility to react promptly to humanitarian crises, reducing the time between funding decision and action on the ground. During a crisis, many productive assets such as seeds, livestock and fishing gear are lost. FAO’s first priority is to help affected farming families produce their own food, rebuild their lives and livelihoods as quickly as possible while strengthening their resilience.When effective agriculture-based response is delayed, communities suffer a domino effect of further losses that plunge them deeper into poverty and reliance on external aid.

Global

Budget: Flexible

EOD: /

NTE: /

Through the Flexible Multipartner Mechanism, Belgium supports community engagements through the Dimitra Clubs initiative. For more than a decade, Dimitra Clubs have been powerful drivers for people’s empowerment and women’s leadership in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa countries. They are groups of women, men and young people – mixed or not – who organize on a voluntary basis to bring about changes in their communities and resolve problems using their own resources, without relying on external support. The clubs contribute to the achievements of FAO projects and programmes in areas like nutrition, peace, food security, climate change adaptation, and more. FAO facilitates their set up and provides them with training and coaching. They are self-managed and sustainable, triggering social and economic transformation in their communities.

Gaza Strip

Budget: 610 000 USD

EOD: 15 June 2021

NTE: 15 December 2021

Thanks to a contribution of USD from the Government of Belgium, through the Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities, FAO will restore the productive capacities of 1 600 vulnerable pastoral families (8 960 people) through the distribution of fodder. Barley and wheat bran will be distributed to protect these households’ livelihoods and reduce the losses of key productive assets. Supporting livestock-holding families with fodder distribution is critical and will contribute to the restoration of the agriculture sector. FAO will work closely with the MoA and local non-governmental organizations to deliver this support.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Budget: 585 000 USD

EOD: 15 December 2020

NTE: 14 December 2021

The project aims at mitigating the immediate consequences of conflict-induced displacement on food security by distributing crop seeds and tools to 5 600 households. This helps to boost their food production and prevent a rapid food security deterioration among displaced people, returnees and host communities. In order to ensure the timeliness of the intervention, strategic stocks of agricultural inputs have been pre-positioned in the areas where new episodes of violence or conflict are likely to occur, and distribution will be prompted by near real-time early warning information available at sub-national level, linked for example to episodes of violence and displacement. 

Ethiopia

Budget: 500 000 USD

EOD: 20 June 2021

NTE: 19 June 2022

FAO is implementing a project that will directly benefit 11 000 households (55 000 people). Beneficiaries will be provided with assorted agricultural inputs (short-cycle/drought-tolerant seeds including onion, teff and tomato) and trainings on good agronomic practices. Additionally, the project will support coordination efforts at the regional level to improve the collection and dissemination of information on agricultural interventions by Disaster Risk Management - Agriculture Task Force partners to enhance their planning and targeting.

Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador

Budget: 500 000 USD

EOD: 1 August 2021

NTE: 31 January 2022

The support of the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium, through FAO’s SFERA, will allow to strengthen the productive capacities of about 1 500 vulnerable families (7 500 people) by providing them with the necessary inputs and technical assistance to improve their water storage infrastructures and water management capacities for cultivation, fish production and household consumption, and enhance their agricultural, livestock and fishing production.

Haiti

Budget: 500 000 USD

EOD: 15 September 2021

NTE: 15 August 2022

Through the Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities (SFERA), FAO and Belgium are supporting the Haitian population affected by the recent earthquake and tropical storm Grace. The project entitled “Protection and rehabilitation of the livelihoods of populations affected by the earthquake”, funded by Belgium for an amount of USD 500,000, aims to provide emergency agricultural assistance to 4,200 vulnerable households (21 000 people) in three communes of the department of Grand'Anse.

Sudan

Budget: 500 000 USD

EOD: 1 November 2020

NTE: 31 October 2021

Through the Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities (SFERA), the Government of Belgium supports FAO in mitigating the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent floods on the food security of vulnerable farming households in Blue Nile, North Darfur and Sennar states. With Belgium’s backing, FAO will assist 1 700 households (8 500 people) by providing them with a COVID-19 protective kit and training on transmission prevention measures to enable them to safely restart their livelihood activities. Households will receive season-sensitive agricultural inputs, accompanied by cash transfers and trainings in good agricultural practices, to improve their food security and nutrition. Households will also receive assistance to rehabilitate their irrigation systems damaged by the floods

Madagascar

Budget: 400 000 USD

EOD: 1 May 2021

NTE: 28 February 2022

Through the Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities (SFERA), immediate cash transfer support will help meet the basic needs of the supported households, avoid continual decapitalization and strengthen their capacity for agricultural activities. The distribution of agricultural inputs made up of short-cycle seeds will ensure the start of the off-season and guarantee a possibility of staggered harvesting and a high tolerance to the deficit of precipitation, in addition to the provision of small materials, tools of irrigation and phytosanitary products. FAO will provide technical expertise and quality assurance of technical support to targeted beneficiaries in terms of improved technical route, according to the climate-smart agriculture approach and adapted to the management of livestock.

Lebanon

Budget: 100 000 USD

EOD: 15 May 2021

NTE: 14 May 2022

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – with USD 100 000 from the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium, through the Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities – will strengthen the MoA’s capacity to control desert locust invasions by providing the necessary equipment and pesticides. ULV sprayers (vehicle-mounted, backpack and hand-held) will be provided to the MoA, to be used by regional agricultural centres in the event of further incursions, alongside small quantities of desert locust pesticides. In addition, the CRC will organize training for the technical staff at the regional agricultural centres on surveillance using eLocust3g devices and the eLocust3m app, calibration and use of ULV sprayers, and evaluation and reporting.