In the course of January-March 2007, more than 20,000 impoverished households from Moldova, including from the left bank of the Nistru River, which were affected by last summer’s drought, will receive fodder supplied by the UN as part of the project “Relief and Technical Assistance Response to the Drought in Moldova”. According to a communique released by the UN, fodder will be distributed in 15 districts most affected by drought, 3 of them being in Transnistria, thanks to the financial support of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and other donors. The quantity of fodder distributed to each family will be sufficient to feed a cow for 80 days and will, therefore, ensure preserving livestock in the most vulnerable households in the country. The total quantity of fodder will comprise 9,000 tonnes, of which nearly 2,000 tonnes will be distributed to districts from the left side of the Nistru River. Recipients were selected in cooperation with local and regional public authorities and will include families owning a milking cow and meet one of the following criteria: families receiving welfare, is supported by one person only; is supporting a disabled person; has three or more children; doesn’t posses land and its members are unemployed; families with pregnant or nursing women. The UN Project “Relief and Technical Assistance Response to the Drought in Moldova” was launched this September and will be implemented during a period of six months with a total available budget of approximately 8 million USD. The financial support is provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the European Commission through its Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Government of Norway, the Government of Italy, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The project is managed by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Population Fund, the United Nations Children Fund, other UN agencies and the Government of Moldova as well as non-governmental organizations and local public authorities which are implementing partners of the project. Until now, 20,500 families from the country affected by the drought have benefited through UN from packages consisting of seeds, fertilizers and fuel. At the same time, pregnant and nursing women from 19 districts, most affected by the drought, have received food packages consisting of vegetal oil, rice, sugar, flour, hominy, dry yeast and beans.