São Tomé and Príncipe
- 66%
- of Sao Tomeans live on less than US$ 3.20 a day
- 132/162
- Sao Tomé's ranking in the 2019 Gender Inequality Index
- 215,056
- population
As the second smallest economy in Africa, São Tomé and Príncipe covers two islands and several – mostly uninhabited – islets in the Gulf of Guinea. Around one-third of the just over 215.000 inhabitants live on less than US$ 1.9 per day, and more than two-thirds are poor, based a poverty line of US$ 3.2 per day. Eradicating extreme poverty, malnutrition and socio-economic development constraints is still among the country’s biggest challenges.
São Tomé and Príncipe faces significant challenges due to its insularity, remoteness – which translates into high export costs – and irregular landscape. Land surface and workers are limited, which prevents economic diversification and makes the country vulnerable to terms-of-trade shocks. Additionally, the nation is prone to natural hazards and climate change, which has negatively effects on agriculture, makes transport difficult and affects infrastructure.
What the World Food Programme is doing in São Tomé and Príncipe
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Country capacity strengthening
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WFP’s work in capacity strengthening contributes to transformative change in systems, not only individuals. We achieve this in collaboration with the government, UN agencies and national actors. WFP’s agenda focuses on revision of policies and legislations, reinforcement of institutional effectiveness and accountability, planning and financial mechanisms, programme design, delivery and M&E, and ensures engagement of non-governmental stakeholders.
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School feeding
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The government, local actors and WFP collaborate to deliver, monitor and achieve sustainable results for the national home-grown school feeding programme, targeting 25 percent of the total population. WFP enables institutional systems to grow by revising policies, reinforcing institutional accountability and financial sustainability, and incorporating a gender-transformative, nutrition-sensitive and environmentally-sustainable approach.
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Smallholder farming
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To reinforce the national food value chain system, WFP stimulates the local economy by sustainably linking smallholder farmers’ production to local markets. WFP collaborates with the government and national counterparts to strengthen smallholder farmers’ capacities, reinforce institutional information management, coordination and decision-making mechanisms, and ensure reliable analysis and tracking of the agriculture market and its main workforce.
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Gender equality
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In collaboration with national bodies, community leaders and members, WFP supports the government in ensuring equal access to development opportunities for vulnerable girls and women, and strategic engagement of men, as part of its school feeding and smallholder farming agendas. We do it through facilitating gender awareness and advocacy interventions and supporting the design and delivery of gender-transformative capacity strengthening activities.
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Crisis response
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To minimize the socio-economic impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has requested support from WFP in the areas of food security and nutrition to implement the National Contingency Plan. In collaboration with local authorities, communities and governmental bodies, WFP is providing direct food assistance to 5,000 vulnerable girls and boys, and their parents, from 209 schools in six districts, and to the remote region of Principe.
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Humanitarian air service
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The country is facing an unprecedented health, humanitarian and socio-economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. WFP is supporting the government, WHO, UNICEF, along with other key local actors, in receiving and delivering food and medical supplies, and facilitating prompt and strategic deployment of passengers to ensure life-saving response to assist the population and ensure humanitarian aid reaches all the most vulnerable districts.
Sao Tome and Principe news releases
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Find out more about the state of food security in Sao Tome and Principe
Visit the food security analysis pageOperations in Sao Tome and Principe
Contacts
Office
Avenida das Naçoes Unidas, São Tomé, São Tomé and Principe
São Tomé
São Tomé & Príncipe