WFP provides cash support to people in the flood zone
6,000 vulnerable households living within the flood zone - received Tk4,500 per household through the bKash mobile banking system
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has provided Tk4,500 for 6,000 vulnerable households (approximately 30,000 people) each living within the flood zone to help them prepare for the looming disaster.
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Federal Foreign Office of the Government of Germany funded the money which has been distributed through bKash mobile banking system.
"By offering an infusion of cash prior to the floodwaters actually reaching communities, vulnerable families now have the flexibility to purchase food or other basic relief items and make plans to move themselves and their livestock," said Richard Ragan, country director of the WFP in Bangladesh.
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During the monsoon season last year, WFP provided cash assistance through its Forecast-based Financing programme to 4,500 households.
The transfers were made to the most senior women of the household, and arrived three days ahead of the floods, enabling them to prepare, including buying food and transporting family members and livestock to safer places.
Forecast-based Financing is an innovative mechanism through which early preparedness and community-level actions are pre-planned based on credible meteorological forecasts.
It is funded and implemented before the disaster strikes, helping minimize losses and damage caused by climate-related hazards, and reducing the need for humanitarian assistance in their aftermath.
