Every month, USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (FFP) reaches 3 million people across all 14 governorates of Syria and 1 million refugees in neighboring host countries with emergency food assistance. FFP has contributed over $2.8 billion in food aid since 2012.
SITUATION
• The UN estimates that 13.1 million people inside Syria need humanitarian assistance. Of those, 10.5 million are food insecure, or unable to meet basic food needs.
• Soaring food prices, widespread displacement, disrupted markets and transport systems, damaged agricultural infrastructure, and diminished jobs and livelihoods have led to widespread food insecurity throughout Syria.
• Additionally, more than 5.6 million refugees from Syria reside in the neighboring countries of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. In many host countries, Syrian refugees lack legal livelihood opportunities and depend on emergency food assistance. Due to the length of the crisis, Syrian refugees and host communities are increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity, deteriorating living conditions, and protection risks.
• The protracted crisis in Syria continues to place an enormous cost on the surrounding countries. Over-burdened infrastructure, schools, and health clinics, coupled with borders closed to trade, are straining the generosity of countries hosting Syrian refugees.
RESPONSE
• Since Fiscal Year 2012, FFP has provided more than $2.8 billion in emergency food assistance for the Syria crisis—approximately $1.8 billion to assist vulnerable families inside Syria and over $1 billion for vulnerable refugees in neighboring countries, as well as more than $7 million for a regional food-security analysis program.
• FFP funding supports programs that reach approximately 3 million people inside Syria and an additional 1 million Syrian refugees each month. Inside Syria, FFP partners, including the UN World Food Program (WFP) and non-governmental organizations, provide flour to bakeries, monthly household food parcels or food vouchers to vulnerable Syrians, and ready-to-eat rations to newly displaced populations.
• Since 2012, WFP’s refugee operations, with FFP resources, have injected $3.8 billion into local economies in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey primarily through cash-based transfers and local food procurement. The programs result in significant benefits for the local economies by creating jobs in supermarkets and local shops, increasing business for food wholesalers and food producers, and generating tax revenue.