Bhubaneswar: The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and Odisha Government on Thursday signed a pact to work on improving household food and nutritional security by strengthening livelihood initiatives, reaching thousands of state-supported Women’s Self-Help Groups (WSHGs).
“This is a significant partnership for achieving nutritional security in Odisha focused on empowerment, livelihood and incomes of women,” said WFP Country Director in India, Bishow Parajuli.
“Such focused initiatives are important to address and reduce vulnerabilities around food security as highlighted by the COVD-19 pandemic,” he added.
One agreement has been signed between WFP Country Director, Bishow Parajuli and Secretary, Department of Mission Shakti, Sujata R Karthikeyan at a virtual ceremony.
“Sustainable livelihoods lead to improved household food and nutritional security and ultimately result in holistic empowerment of women This collaboration will support Women’s Self-Help Groups (WSHGs) by providing technical assistance and capacity development, directly contributing to long-term food security and developing a replicable model,” said Sujata R Karthikeyan.
“Working with SHGs to create livelihood opportunities , improving household nutritional security and increasing women’s participation in decision making are some of the core objectives for the Department of Mission Shakti,” she added.
The partnership, effective till December 2023, will also be focusing on improving the linkage of women groups with government procurement systems, increasing awareness on entitlements, building capacity of women’s groups, and developing monitoring tools and undertaking evaluations to improve function of the groups.
The event was among others attended by Sudhanshu Nayak, OSD , Binod Kumar Jena, Deputy secretary and other officials. Officials from Mission Shakti. The Deputy Country Director WFP , Eric Kenefic, Head of WFP Odisha office Himanshu Bal and officials from WFP country and state offices attended the event too.