Working Together, Delivering as One

In Tadjourah, an arid city surrounded by camels and goats, volcanic rocks and the red sea, some 180 km from the capital city of Djibouti, lies the joint office of UNICEF and WFP. The small but committed team tirelessly works to realize the zero hunger, zero poverty, good health and well-being, good quality education and gender equality goals, in the race towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda of the United Nations.

Here rains are sporadic, worsening the conditions of livestock and livehoods, especially in West Dikhil, North Tadjourah and West Obock. The country of Djibouti is facing extreme dry conditions, which reverberates on people’s living conditions.

In February of 2022, the Government of Djibouti issued a drought alert in the country, highlighting that the persistence of low groundwater levels and deteriorated vegetation could negatively impact acute malnutrition cases in the country.

As a matter of fact, according to the latest IPC classification food insecurity and malnutrition in Djibouti results, recently released, the projections from July to December 2023 are, unfortunately, far from reassuring.  285,000 people (24% of the population) will be in the crisis and emergency phases of food and nutrition security (IPC Phase 3 and 4), including 100,000 people (8%) in emergency (IPC phase 4) and 185,000 people (16%) in crisis (IPC phase 3) in Djibouti.  Moreover, 2,900 women will suffer from acute malnutrition, with 5,500 severe cases in children, aged 6 to 59 months.

Ibrahim Meike works as a field monitor for WFP and ensures that food security and nutrition needs of young people, mothers and men are met. “In this office we are nine WFP Staff” starts Ibrahim “so we work together to make sure women and men in the rural areas get all the healthy and nutritious food that they need”. At the Tadjourah field office, WFP serves 2,100 Yemeni living in Markazi refugee camp in Obock, and with 10,150 beneficiaries reached in the whole Tadjourah area.

Abdallah Hamadou, programme officer for UNICEF Tadjourah works as a social and behavioral change officer, as well as he oversees social protection, health, and nutrition of children. “UNICEF and WFP work well together, as they complement one another, using different approaches to reach the most vulnerable communities. Together, we better use our resources, and we avoid duplication of programmes”.

Thanks to the 2017 United Nations Reform, aiming for a nimble, flexible and more collaborative UN Way of working, UNICEF and WFP are operationalizing a series of management initiatives that will make the UN Organization more agile and effective in delivering on its mandates, and more responsive and accountable to Member States.

“At the end, we are here to serve the most far-reaching rural communities. The city of Tadjourah may seem tiny, but people’ needs are many”

“We are committed, and we strive to achieve our objectives under the UN Reform, and are tracking progress against these, using innovative ways of working” comments Ambiya Mohamed, WFP acting Head of sub-office. “When WFP started the UN common premise in Tadjourah, in 2022, we wanted to better coordinate on our common nutrition interventions WFP-UNICEF, give and receive quickly feedbacks on projects implementation and ensure to improve our communication, so we could operate in the same locations, for the people who need our assistance the most”.

“To increase our resilience and synergy, we have also established a car-pooling initiative, for staff to pool resources, green operations and reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere, as well as saving costs” Basharat Ghani, Head of Finance and Management Services of WFP Djibouti, adds up. “In the month of June, we made the initiative functional, where WFP, as the service provider, shares its cars services with UNICEF, so that staff can improve joint field-visits and facilitate the joint agencies’ interventions.  WFP wishes to leave no stone unturned to fulfil its commitment towards environment and global warming and in that context, a solar energy project and some other greening initiatives are under progress”.

“At the end, we are here to serve the most far-reaching rural communities. The city of Tadjourah may seem tiny, but people’ needs are many” affirms Eva Saadallah, UNICEF Head of sub-office.

“If we want to intervene and reach the highest possible amount of people, ensuring food security and nutrition for all, we must act together, pooling resources, people, equipment, to both raise awareness and mobilize funds under the UN flag and following the UN reform, which sees the agencies as part of a bigger umbrella under which each technical agency brings in her own contribution” Daouda Diop, Deputy Representative of Operations, UNICEF Djibouti, concludes.

The UN Common premise in Tadjourah and the car-pooling initiatives shine a light on the relentless work of the United Nations in the country of Djibouti, thanks to the management services team of both agencies, to green operations, reduce costs and ensure a better coordination and synergy of programmes.

Together, we deliver as ONE.