Almost 150,000 internally displaced persons in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province have received food from World Vision and the World Food Programme.

Initiated in June following a massive displacement of people as a result of conflict between the Pakistani military and Taliban militants, the project provides nearly 25,000 households with wheat, chickpeas and lentils, vegetable oil, salt, sugar and tea until the end of the year.

At a time when the price of staples is at an all-time high as a result of the global food crisis, the food distributions are a welcome relief, both to the displaced persons and to the families who are struggling to support them.

Even before the conflict, this region was characterized as “food insecure” due to lack of employment and livelihood opportunities and because of high insecurity. The situation there is now much worse, as many have lost seasonal crops because of the conflict.

World Vision staff are taking into account the local cultural norms and values when they distribute food. A separate distribution point has been established for women, for example, in an effort to protect their privacy and need to stay separated from males outside of the family.

They are also simplifying the distribution process by assigning people specific dates to collect their ration.  “We changed the trend of open distribution, in which thousands of people use to rush on the same day.  Many thousands used to go back empty handed,” explains Touqeer Ahmed, World Vision Pakistan Commodity Officer.

One widow describes seeing distribution points totally overwhelmed by swarms of people, as she and her five grandchildren fled from a refugee camp.  “It was my luck that my distribution point happened to be in the hands of World Vision and they really gave me my rations in grace and respect,” she said.

As some IDPs return home, World Vision and other agencies are assessing whether they need to provide food to returnees in their home villages.