The World Food Programme (WFP), has welcomed its New Country Director and Representative, Ms Rukia Yacoubas who assumed office in Accra on Tuesday.   

 

Ms Yacoub has a Masters Degree in Science in Human Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has worked as WFP Deputy Country Director in Yemen from 2014-2016, and in Egypt from 2009-2014.

 

A statement issued in Accra by the WFP said she brings to her post a wealth of experience in implementing, managing and co-ordinating humanitarian and development programmes, both in least-developed and lower-middle income countries, a statement issued by the WFP-Ghana said.

 

During a five-month period in Yemen, Ms Yacoub, the statement said she  worked on a large emergency operation which provided life-saving food assistance to more than six million people.

 

“Ms Yacoub’s development work in Egypt, a lower middle-income country, is particularly relevant to Ghana at this stage of the country’s development.”    

 

As Country Director, she aims to focus on developing WFP’s Enhanced Nutrition and Value Chains project (ENVAC),a cutting-edge model programme that links nutrition, agriculture and food-processing.

 

The ENVAC, which uses a market-based approach to provide specialised nutritious foods to vulnerable women and children to prevent stunting, would assist almost half a million people over five years. 

 

Ms Yacoub who has also worked in Rwanda, South Sudan, Italy and Switzerland, and  “wants to expand WFP’s take-home ration programme which offers an incentive for adolescent girls in food-insecure areas to complete junior high school”.  

 

The statement added that the Take-home rations did not only help girls break out of the cycle of hunger and poverty and secure a better future, but also help battle gender inequality. 

 

GNA