Iraq News Now

E-food assistance to refugees in Camps

Turkey continues to be the country hosting the greatest number of refugees in the world, almost four million people. Of these, 3.6 million are Syrian while the rest are from other countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran.

By March 2019, around 140,000 of the most vulnerable refugees, mostly Syrians, are housed by the Government of Turkey in camps across the southeast region.

WFP partners with the Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) to provide them with e-voucher assistance in camps. The programme started in 2012 when, for the first time, WFP used e-voucher assistance from the onset of an emergency. Each household receives a card, topped up monthly with 50 Turkish Liras per person. These are redeemable in participating shops in exchange for food, giving beneficiaries choice and restoring independence to their lives.

The Government of Turkey manages the camps and provides an additional monthly voucher worth 50 Turkish Liras for both food and non-food needs.

Since 2012, WFP has injected USD 217 million into the Turkish economy through the e-Food Card Programme.

Objectives

WFP’s assistance aims to:

• Ensure vulnerable refugees can consume enough food and have a diverse diet;

• Reduce or stabilize negative coping strategies such as lowering food intake or sending children to work instead of school;

• Enhance national crisis-response capacities.

Achievements

Thanks to sustained assistance since 2012:

• 91 percent of households have acceptable food consumption;

• Refugees in camps generally have diverse diets;

• Women are involved in decisions on the use of assistance in 84 percent of households;

• A strong partnership has been built with the Government of Turkey and TRC.

Way forward

WFP will continue working with the Government to support assistance to refugees hosted in camps and is seeking funding to continue doing so in 2019.

With Turkey's annual food inflation reaching 31 per cent in January 2019, negative coping strategies, such as borrowing money, are increasingly being adopted by beneficiaries as a means of meeting food and other needs. Progress secured thanks to regular assistance over the past years is starting to reverse. In this context, WFP is concerned that the current transfer value is not sufficient to meet the needs of beneficiaries and is advocating for suitable solutions.

As some camps close and many camp residents choose to resettle in cities and villages, WFP encourages approaches that take into account the preferences and specific needs of camp residents, avoid multiple relocations, and prevent gaps in assistance to the most vulnerable.