A local HARP-F partner stepped in and swiftly organized a food distribution when IDPs in lockdown in Myitkyina were running out of food in January 2021. St Joseph IDP camp went into lockdown on 10 January, after a teenager tested positive for COVID-19. The 44 people the boy had had contact with had all been tested and isolated, and camp residents have subsequently received masks and testing kits. But food and water supplies were rapidly dwindling for the 911 people living in the camp.
The camp management turned to one of our local partner, who, through a quick reallocation of some of its HARP-F funds, organised for all camp residents to receive eight days’ worth of the minimum food basket (rice, oil, salt and pulses) together with other food items such as eggs, noodles and garlic. This stop gap measure allowed the World Food Programme to take over the food distributions in the camp after this eight days period.
