In Numbers
1.61 million internally displaced people (IOM)
4.31 million returnees (IOM)
378,787 Iraqis assisted by WFP
228,851 Syrian refugees in Iraq (UNHCR)
Highlights
• In July, WFP delivered food assistance to 378,787 people in ten governorates, reaching 377,821 internally displaced people (IDPs) and 966 Iraqi returnees and people from vulnerable communities.
• WFP continues to coordinate with the Ministry of Migration and Displacement (MoMD) in support of IDPs, and delivered a “topup” to MoMD’s food basket in Anbar, Ninewa and Salah al-Din.
• WFP requires an additional USD 68.2 million to ensure that operations continue uninterrupted through January 2020.
Situation Update
• Following an incident in an Erbil restaurant, where a Turkish diplomat and two Iraqi nationals were killed, Turkish airstrikes increased in the Kurdistan Region (KR). The incidents had a limited impact on WFP operations, except for truck movement delays due to increased security controls at checkpoints.
• Implementation of WFP activities was affected by the delays in Mobile Money Transfers (MMT) payments to assisted people, after the Financial Service Provider (FSP) Asia Hawala changed its bank account. The new account is not yet approved for payments due to banking restrictions. The affected people were informed via SMS. The update is also being shared via the UNOPS call-centre, when people phone with an enquiry or complaint.
• As part of the testing phase of the digitalisation of Iraq’s social safety net, the Public Distribution System (PDS), WFP‘s partner Tiger Spike is developing the first iteration of a mobile smartphone application, “myPDS.” The test roll-out of PDS iris biometric registration continued in three locations in Anbar governorate. The first ePDS distributions took place in Duhok and Najaf in late July, and the second distribution cycle in Baghdad.
• A round of visits to the Duhok camps has shown that some IDPs own valuable productive and nonproductive assets, and that their economic status is better when compared to the first phase of the IDP targeting exercise. Together with the Board of Relief and Humanities Affairs (BHRA), WFP is planning to conduct a second phase of the IDP targeting exercise in three selected IDP camps in Duhok, with a focus on three major indicators to be collected through a house-to-house survey: asset ownership, income and expenditure. Once completed in September, the exercises will inform future targeting and programme planning.
• WFP has engaged a Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) Consultant who began working with the local government in Anbar, Baghdad, Basra, Erbil,
Duhok, Kirkuk and Ninewa, to assess the steps required to hand over the RRM to the government.
Over the next five months, WFP’s consultant will also evaluate potential emergency and disaster response management, as well as capacity building needs of the government.
• WFP is continuing formative research on Nutrition and Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) in the Kurdistan Region (KR), Anbar and Baghdad to inform an SBCC action plan.