Highlights
• 3.2 million Syrian refugees, non-Syrian refugees and host community were assisted by WFP in December 2019.
• WFP Egypt’s campaign on ShareTheMeal, WFP’s charity app that allows smartphone users to feed a child in need on their phone, raised a total of US$ 150,000 in support of women livelihood and micro-loan activities. Out of 700 initiatives, Egypt’s ShareTheMeal Campaign was also recognized with WFP’s Innovation Award for 2019.
Situation Updates
Protests continued in Iraq (except in the Kurdistan Region and some northern areas), spurred by disenfranchised people because of a lack of employment opportunities, perceived corruption and a lack of basic services.
In Lebanon, protests and road closures by protestors continued throughout December across the country. Protestors demanded political solution to the deterioration of the economic situation. As many businesses have been closed, both food supply and heating are affected.
WFP Response
WFP Iraq is working with UNICEF and UNFPA as well as UNDP on the eventual handover of the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM). A workshop with the relevant government actors to review the capacity development plan was held in Erbil in December 2019. WFP Jordan and the Ministry of Social Development signed an agreement to provide winter food parcels for 10,000 vulnerable families in Jordan starting in early January. Furthermore, the first cycle of beneficiary validation (SeptemberDecember 2019) concluded by mid-December with the biometric validation of about 81,000 refugee households. As part of WFP’s One Refugee Policy, WFP Egypt supported 98,330 refugees of different nationalities through general food assistance.