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Bangladesh + 2 more

Government of Japan Donates US$15 Million to WFP Response to Refugee Crisis in Bangladesh

DHAKA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$15 million emergency contribution from the Government of Japan to support WFP’s response to the refugee crisis in Bangladesh.

“We welcome this generous contribution”, said Christa Räder, WFP Representative and Country Director in Bangladesh. “This will make a huge difference in delivering life-saving food assistance and our ability to respond effectively to this refugee crisis.”

Japan’s contribution will support WFP’s general food distributions, electronic vouchers for food assistance, a cash for work programme, and WFP’s logistics sector and emergency telecommunications sector work.

WFP still needs US$55 million to feed more than a million people in Cox’s Bazar during the first response phase until February 2018: almost 700,000 who have fled since the August outbreak of violence in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, 300,000 who fled to Bangladesh previously, and 200,000 vulnerable members of their Bangladeshi host communities.

Japan’s contribution will fund almost a fifth of WFP’s total funding requirement for the first phase of this emergency.

Japan’s contribution will support WFP’s work as leader of the logistics and emergency telecommunications sectors. In addition to improving roads and building a bridge to improve access to supplies, WFP has constructed a shared logistics hub on behalf of the humanitarian community. WFP thanks the Government of Japan for its generous support of the response to this emergency.

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):

Maherin Ahmed, WFP/Bangladesh, Mob. +880-1755-64-2160

Shelley Thakral, WFP/Bangladesh, Mob. +880-1755-64-2150

Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 65132321, Mob. +39 346 7600521

Bettina Luescher, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41 22 917 8564, Mob. + 41-79-842-8057

Steve Taravella, WFP/New York, Tel. +1 646 556 6909, Mob. +1 202 770 5993

Challiss McDonough, WFP/Washington Tel. +1-202-653-1149 Mob. +1-202-774-4026

Francis Mwanza, WFP/London, Tel. +44 20 72409001, Mob. +44 7968 008474