Highlights:
WFP's ShareTheMeal application, with campaigns currently focused on Syrian school children, allows users worldwide to contribute funds to WFP with a tap of their smartphones.
On 12 May the steering committee of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT) extended its full support to the humanitarian pillar presented by the European Commission. An Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) will be implemented to improve direct financial assistance to as many as one million vulnerable refugees, coupled with protective and humanitarian services.
Food assistance for 275,000 people was impaired in the Al-Hasakeh governorate of Syria due to access constraints through border crossings.
WFP launched two new resilience projects in the relatively stable governorates of Tartous and Al-Hasake inside Syria, to restore livelihoods and support improved agriculture.
Situation Update:
Syria
Aleppo Governorate
During the last week of May, ISIL launched a large-scale offensive in northern Aleppo governorate, seizing control of several villages and arriving within 2 km of A’zaz town. The advance is putting 165,000 IDPs at risk who are living in A’zaz and camps in the area. In anticipation of a possible take-over of A’zaz by ISIL forces, WFP partners distributed their prepositioned food rations sufficient for almost 30,000 people at the end of May in order to avoid possible food losses. Additional ready-to-eat food rations for 40,000 newly displaced people, enough to cover food needs for about five days, are currently being delivered through BAS to A’zaz, which are being prioritized to the most vulnerable IDPs.
Al-Hasakeh Governorate
Deliveries of WFP food assistance to Al-Hasakeh governorate continue to be impaired due to interrupted access through border crossing points.
Consequently, WFP stocks of monthly general food rations in the governorate have now been completely exhausted, which prevented the delivery of food assistance for a planned 275,000 people during the month of May. Limited amount of ready-to-eat rations that are left in the governorate are being carefully prioritized to meet the most urgent food needs of the most vulnerable people.
Jordan
Following additional registration and entry into Jordan, as of 25 May, 36,554 individuals were registered with UNHCR at the Berm for the purpose of receiving assistance. Due to the rapid scale-up of the operation, WFP was requested to take full responsibility of food assistance to stranded Syrian refugees at the border and has been doing so since the beginning of March.
Lebanon
WFP’s 2016 targeting and referrals process is ongoing to prioritize assistance to households with the highest levels of vulnerability. Simultaneous technical discussions are ongoing with UNHCR, focusing on closer harmonization of targeting. WFP and UNICEF will support a UNDP-led rapid poverty assessment of the Lebanese population from July. The assessment will contribute towards the creation of a food security baseline of the Lebanese.
Iraq
The political tension in Iraq arising from Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's decision to reshuffle the cabinet to tackle corruption continued throughout May and has resulted in the death of three people following the incursion into the Green Zone.
Turkey
On 12 May, the steering committee of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT) extended its full support to the humanitarian pillar presented by the European Commission.
An Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) will be implemented to improve direct financial assistance to as many as one million vulnerable refugees, coupled with protective and humanitarian services. The ESSN will be a joint effort between experienced humanitarian partners and Turkish authorities, establishing a single delivery system of assistance, through electronic cards, to allow refugees to cover their basic needs, and restoring normalcy to disrupted lives. The ESSN and associated measures will be rolled out in the second half of 2016. See press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1728_en.htm
Egypt
Household access to food driven by diminishing purchasing power continues to affect the food security of Egyptian households. The average Egyptian household spends more than 40 percent of their income on food, rising to more than 60 percent for the poorest families. The seasonal increase in food prices is continuing and the gap between inflation rates in producer and consumer prices is growing wider throughout 2016.