WFP Caribbean
Country Brief
August 2024

In Numbers
54 mt of food assistance distributed
USD 195,070 cash-based transfers madeUSD 15.5 m six months (September 2024Feburary 2025) net funding requirements,
13,411 people assisted.
in July- September 2024

Philip Keir received cash assistance provided by
WFP in Petite Martinique after Hurricane Beryl••••

The multi-Country Office was established in 2018 and assists
governments and regional institutions in strengthening theiremergency preparedness and resilience capacity in the face ofshocks, including through social protection, disaster risk
management and food systems.
••Population: 7.1 million

Income Level: lowermiddle, upper-middle,
high-income

Contact info: Jael Browne, Reporting Officer (jael.browne@wfp.org)
Country Director: Brian Bogart
Further information: www.wfp.org/countries/caribbean
Photo credit: @ WFP/ Kelvin Christopher

48%

Operational Updates

Operational Context
The WFP Caribbean Multi-Country Office covers 22 countries andterritories in the English-and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. As acollection of Small Islands Developing States and costal countries(SIDS), climate change, economic and other shocks are significant
threats for the region owed to their size, location, and reliance on
imports. Already weakened by high indebtedness and limited
fiscal space, these compounded impacts have created significant
challenges to national economies in protecting people,livelihoods, and infrastructure. The pandemic and the cost-ofliving-crisis have led to an increase in vulnerability in theCaribbean negatively affecting food security, livelihoods, andincomes, with the greatest impacts on the poorest populations.
In May 2024, WFP estimated that 3 million people or 43 percent ofthe population were moderately or severely food insecure in thesub-region. The pandemic renewed focus on the need for more
resilient systems in the sub-region, including the strengthening offood systems to better withstand shocks.

52%•In July 2024, following the impact of Hurricane Beryl,
WFP provided food assistance to 9,928 people in
Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines tomeet their immediate food and nutrition needs.
WFP, in partnership with the government ofGrenada, provided a top-up to the Public Assistance
Programme, reaching 3,483 people on mainland
Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
Following the triggering of Grenada and Jamaica’s
tropical cyclone and excess rain policies under theCaribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, WFPis providing technical assistance for the design of alonger-term government led cash programmes.
Based on the partnership between the WFP and theCaribbean Development Bank via the CanadaCARICOM Climate Change Adaptation Fund, apercentage of the payout will be used to provide
cash assistance to affected people.
Additionally, WFP is collaborating with thegovernments of Jamaica and St. Vincent and theGrenadines to launch cash assistance programs for
populations affected by Hurricane Beryl. In Jamaica,
WFP is working with the Ministry of Labor and Social
Security to implement a 2-month cash transfer
program, distributing funds via Western Union's 235
locations to 3,414 households by the end of August.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, WFP will directly
assist 1,600 households, particularly in the southern
Grenadines. The WFP is also aiding in data collection
and analysis to support household targeting for
current and future cash assistance programs.
Alongside the National Emergency Management
Organization, WFP has managed 7,371 emergency
reports from the public, detailing their needs andsituations. WFP-hired casual labourers havecompleted data entry, and the information has been
analysed and cross-referenced with damage
assessments from the Ministry of Transport’s
physical planning unit to identify gaps andproperties still needing evaluation. A pending
dataset from the Ministry of Housing will help
confirm homes that require further assessments.
In partnership with the Caribbean Disaster
Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), WFP isstrengthening disaster response by enhancing
visibility, analytics, and coordination across thesupply chain.

Operational Updates Continued

WFP Country Strategy
Multi-Country Strategic Plan (2022-2026)
Total Requirement(in USD)

85.3 m

AllocatedContributions (in USD)

43.9m

Six Month Net Funding
Requirements (in USD)

15.5m

Strategic Result 1: Resilience Building
Strategic Outcome 1: National government and regional institutionsin the Caribbean have strengthened capacity to prepare for, adapt
and respond to shocks and climate change
Activities:•Provide technical assistance and capacity strengthening tonational governments and regional institutions in areas of WFP’sexpertise.

•Strategic Result 2: Crisis Response
Strategic Outcome #2: Crisis affected populations in the Caribbean
are able to meet their food, nutrition, and other needs during and in
the aftermath of shocks.
Activities:•Provide emergency food assistance through cash-based and/or
food in-kind transfers to shock-affected populations.

•

Strategic Result 3: Crisis Response
Strategic Outcome #3: Common services and platforms enable
government in the Caribbean to have rapid, effective, andcoordinated response to shocks.
Activities:•Provide support to nationally or regionally led emergency
responses•Partnerships•The WFP is working closely with the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) to drive the digital transformation ofsocial protection in Guyana. These discussions are focused on
identifying how IDB's support for the Ministry of Human
Services and Social Security can be complemented by WFP'sexpertise, with the goal of enhancing service delivery,
information management, and reporting capabilities througheffective implementation and scaling of digital strategies.

•WFP is currently mobilizing private sector and other resources
to provide assistance to persons affected by Hurricane Beryl in
the fisheries sector, where there was significant impact tolivelihoods.

•WFP continues to work along with the wider humanitariancommunity including with the United Nations Technical Teamand donors to provide support to countries impacted byhurricane Beryl.

Challenges•The multi-country impact of hurricane Beryl presents achallenge for the implementation of WFP’s capacity
strengthening programme in countries not affected by thehurricane. Human resources are stretched should there be aneed to respond to yet another emergency in 2024.
WFP Caribbean Country BriefAugust 2024••The establishment of a supply chain control tower has
improved oversight of emergency supplies, enabling
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines and Grenada to makedata-driven decisions on stock requirements,quantities, and distribution points. To date, the control
tower has tracked supplies equivalent to 70 twentyfoot shipping containers for 23 partners across 8
delivery locations. This strategy has minimized
duplication, streamlined joint shipping, shorteneddelivery times, and generated significant cost savings
for all involved partners.
Grenada now benefits from the roll out of the CDEMA
Logistics System, with increased visibility of logistics,relief and other stocks that can be mobilized in anemergency. A total of 14 participants fromgovernment agencies were trained on the system. The
CLS enhances the Government's capacities byenabling more effective coordination andmanagement of emergency logistics and relief efforts
through improved warehouse stocks.
Mobile Storage Units (MSUs) were set up in St. Vincent
and the Grenadines and Grenada to coordinate andstore relief items. WFP is supporting the Governmentswith inventory management and is developing astructured protocol to define roles andresponsibilities, ensuring efficient warehouse andinventory operations in St. Vincent and theGrenadines.
With WFP’s support, the Jamaica Ministry of Labor andSocial Security has increased usable storage space at
the Central Food Warehouse by 20%. Ongoingassessments are focused on removing non-essential
items to further enhance capacity. Additionally,streamlined receipt and dispatch areas are being
developed to boost productivity and improve daily
logistics for managing emergency resources.
WFP donated thirty 5-kW mobile generators to thegovernment of Jamaica to provide emergency power
supply to frontline staff working in isolatedcommunities.
The WFP led Emergency Telecommunications Cluster
installed internet connectivity in four shelters in Union
Island and to government offices in Elizabeth County
in Jamaica to enable response capacity.

DonorsChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, European
Union, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office,
Government of Canada, Government of New Zealand,
the United States Agency for International Development,
Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID BHA), UN
Joint SDG Fund.