OCHA Virtual Briefing on the Humanitarian Situation in South Sudan - Closing Remarks

OCHA Virtual Briefing on the Humanitarian Situation in South Sudan

Transcription of Dr. QU Dongyu, Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Thursday, 6 May 2021

Closing Remarks

 

Thank you to all the donors, colleagues and partners for working together to support all these issues in South Sudan.

I fully agree with Germany and other friends, IPC is about evidence-based consensus, about the national ownership. Of course, they should also be timely and track-based. Because for all these ‘challenge places’ – they have a lot of challenges for our colleagues on the ground.

I ask my colleagues to work more closely together with other partners and WFP and NGOs. And then, we can improve the data as accurate as possible. And IPC is the only indicator. So far everyone can think on the same page.

Second, I say for FAO’s side, we only get 25% of what we asked this year. It’s much less than we expected. Because we want to help the local people produce locally, and that’s the only solution to cease this situation.

Last year we purchased about 10,000 tonnes of crop seeds. This year is probably half of that. So, I strongly encourage all the donors to support it timely.

Sowing season has started. As I said it so many times, and I shared my mission with Mark, if you donate one kilo of seeds, you can serve 10 kilos of food for feeding after the harvest.

So, it’s timely. I think let’s work together on the ground. As my colleague Peter mentioned, the capacity is there of all the UN and NGOs working in South Sudan. But we need to support them to work, make them more deliverable and more tangible.

Over to you. Thank you Mark. Also thank you for your leadership, Mark! You really contribute your life, your passion to humanitarian. I want to come to this this afternoon to sincerely support you. You set a good model for us, for me, to carry on. I know you are officially being retired. So, you are still working. I think, that’s something I have to learn from you. You know, it’s not easy. We work for the vulnerable people, not for the rich people.

Thank you, Mark.