WFP

In Depth

SURVIVING ON FOOD AID AND HOPE: LIFE AMONG THE DISPLACED OF AZERBAIJAN

More than ten years after the Azeri-Armenian conflict came to an end, nearly 300,000 Azerbaijanis displaced by the war are still dependent on food aid and likely to remain so. Nana explains how her hopes for her grandchild keep her going.

“Nana” (grandmother) has been living in a dugout on a dusty plain in a remote part of Azerbaijan since 1992, when she fled her village after it was engulfed by the Azeri-Armenia conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh.

Her home is part of a settlement in which the houses are holes in the ground, covered with sticks, plastic or cardboard.

Mosquitoes and snakes are often present as uninvited roommates, and living conditions are harsh, with limited access to water and sanitation.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Despite the gloom, Nana remains hopeful, especially for the future of the children. Sending her grandchild to school is her mission.

“How else will we express our thoughts and feelings to the world, if my grandchild does not attend school?” she asks, concern etched into her face.

SCHOOL FEEDING

WFP has been running a school feeding programme in Azerbaijan since 2003 which now involves 99 schools, reaching some 5,300 children.

The UN agency provides a basket of fortified food rations for each enrolled student as an incentive for maintaining attendance. Most of the children come from families displaced by the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

FRONT-PAGE STORY

The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the mountainous enclave was a front-page story; journalists flocked to cover it and the international community united to resolve it.

After more than five years of intermittent fighting, the war dragged to a halt in 1994 with a ceasefire but no peace settlement. As a result, the people it displaced live in a painful limbo, no longer the focus of the world’s attention.

RELIANCE ON FOOD AID

A recent WFP food security and nutrition report – the first of its kind in Azerbaijan – warned that nearly 300,000 of the 800,000 Azerbaijanis displaced by the conflict will continue to rely on food aid for the foreseeable future.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) constitute over 10 percent of Azerbaijan’s population, making them one of the largest groups of IDPs in the world in per capita terms.

CRUMBLING SHELTERS

After more than ten years, most of the displaced – including Nana – still live in crumbling, “temporary” shelters.

Deprived of their homes and land, and with limited employment opportunities, they are highly dependent on external assistance.

Moreover, the unsanitary living conditions have worsened the already poor nutritional condition of displaced women and children.

IMPOVERISHED SURVIVORS

WFP provides food rations to nearly 130,000 of the most impoverished survivors of the conflict, 70 percent of them women and children.

Since 1994, WFP has supplied 90,000 metric tons of food, assisting over 500,000 people affected by the war.

FUNDING SHORTFALL

However, WFP’s three-year, US$21 million operation in Azerbaijan, which began in January 2003, is currently facing a funding shortfall of US$5.6 million.

If more funds aren’t pledged soon, Nana and the people like her will be left without food.

Their lives are surely hard enough as things stand; to stop supporting them now would mean depriving them of even the hope of a better future.

Tales from limbo

Introduction

Adil Garayev's story

Miriam's story

Adil Aslanov's story

Nana's story

Displaced in Azerbaijan

According to WFP's Food Security and Nutrition Report, some 400,000 to 600,000 rural Azerbaijanis face food insecurity, and nearly 300,000 of the 800,000 Azerbaijanis displaced by the conflict with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh are likely to continue to rely on food aid for the foreseeable future.

The report covered around 3,500 households in six of the country’s ten economic zones, including the mountainous regions of Lankaran Astara in the south and Ganja Gazakh in the west, both of which border Nagorno Karabakh.

Since leaving Nagorno Karabakh 12 years ago, many displaced Azerbaijanis still live in sub-standard conditions and have severely limited assets.

Only 40 percent of the households covered by the survey have access to agricultural land, and in all instances most of the produce grown was for family subsistence.

An overwhelming majority are heavily dependent on the government’s monthly allowance of US$6, and nearly 90 percent purchase food on credit or borrowed money.

Despite receiving food aid, the bulk of additional expenditures are on food or medical care, and more than half of the families have at least one member suffering from a chronic illness, the report said.

The survey also found that children living in rural areas were likely to be born malnourished, with about one in five described as being "smaller than normal" or "very small" at birth.

More than 30 percent of rural children under the age of five were stunted, ranging from about 25 percent in the central region of Orta Kur to 40 percent in Daglig Shirvan, where nine percent of women of reproductive age were malnourished.

Micronutrient deficiencies are also problematic in rural areas, with 25 percent of the households reporting goitre problems among family members and only two-thirds of the sample households adequately using iodized salt.