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12
Does Food Assistance matter?
The Impacts of Food-for-Work in
Mugu, Nepal’s mid-western district
Introduc� on
138
Changing paradigms of aid eff ec� veness in Nepal
-Miriam Bishokarma
Food assistance is an issue that o� en gets into mires of controversy.
While its life-saving roles in confl icts or natural disasters are unques� oned,
its developmental role together with longer-term impacts on recipients
are o� en ques� oned (BMZ 2005; Habte Bulgu 2008; OECD 2005). At the
root of these doubts lies the assump� on that food assistance would create
“dependency” of recipients or recipient countries (e.g. BBC 2006; Elliesen
2002; Makenete et al. 1998; Moore/Stanford 2010).
In the Nepalese context this assump� on on the dependency-crea� ng
aspects of food assistance is prevalent (e.g. Ghale 2009; see also the
discussion in Nepali Times 2011a, 2011b). At the same � me, the need for
food assistance prevails due to high rates of undernourishment, especially
in the mid- and far-western mountain regions of the country (WFP 2009c).
The main agency of food assistance in Nepal is the United Na� ons World
Food Programme (WFP), which distributed food to 1.6 million people in
2009 (WFP 2010b). The aim of such interven� ons is not only to safe lives in
emergencies, but to contribute to longer-term food security of recipients,
thereby refl ec� ng the organisa� on’s double mandate of life-saving and
developmental role (WFP 2008a). One main concept in this context is so
called “food-based social safety nets”, which is part of a broader strategy to
fulfi l these double roles.