HELMAND - During a joint mission to Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province earlier this week, officials from six United Nations agencies met with local authorities on how they could strengthen their partnership in responding to the needs of local communities.

“We are here to reiterate our continuous support for the people of Helmand province and discuss issues related to peace and reconciliation, and humanitarian, development, political and security matters,” said the head of operations of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in the country’s southern region, Abdusamat Khaydarov.

Mr. Khaydarov, who was joined by representatives from another five UN bodies, made the comments to the governor of the province, General Mohammad Naim, in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, on Monday.

Although no UN agency has an office in the province, which is one of those most affected by Afghanistan’s long-running armed conflict, some 16 UN agencies still carry out activities in Helmand – in areas such as peace and reconciliation, reconstruction, development, education and health – through the assistance of local implementing partners.

Nonetheless, UN agencies still carry out such missions to Helmand regularly to assess the situation and discuss collaboration with the government representatives and other partners. The last mission took place three months ago.

Besides UNAMA, other UN agencies joining this week’s mission were the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration (IOM).

All of them assured the continuation of their assistance to the people of Helmand.

In his comments during the meeting with Governor Naim, the WFP representative, Abdul Satar Raufi, expressed concern about WFP-provided food items being sold in the local market instead of provided to people in need. Mr. Raufi also said the UN agency was planning to distribute 3,918 tons of food and non-food items to the needy population in Helmand province in 2014.

The Governor called for “stronger cooperation” between the local authorities and UN agencies while implementing their projects, in order to reduce malpractices and for effective aid delivery.

“We are thankful to the UN agencies for helping our vulnerable and needy people,” said General Naim. “We will make sure to do our utmost to facilitate the activities of the UN agencies in the province for the welfare of the people.”

According to the provincial profile of Helmand prepared by the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, the province has a total population of 879,500.

Security is one of the main concerns in the province with a number of armed groups active there. In its profile of the province, UNDP notes that due to insurgent activities resulting in the intimidation of teachers and the burning of schools, especially those for girls, the level of school attendance has been affected and number of schools operating, particularly in the province’s north, in areas such as Mosa Qala, Sangin, Kajaki, Nawzad, Baghni and Baghran, has been severely affected.

The province is also home to thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that some 28,000 people became IDPs in the month of May alone.

“The current situation of these IDPs is reported to be poor and in need of assistance in terms of food and non-food items. A major protection concern was the physical security of IDPs,” UNHCR stated in its monthly update for June this year.