487,318 people received assistance in July — WFP

AMMAN — The World Food Programme’s (WFP) statistics show that the total number of its beneficiaries reached 487,318 in July 2021.

The WFP, through the Country Strategic Plan (2020-2021), is rebalancing its portfolio towards Jordan, in alignment with the country’s priorities connected to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

The agency, in its country brief, pointedout that “the focus is on strengthening the capacities of national institutions, strategies and programmes, in addition to providing support for livelihoods to bring transformative and equitable results for Jordanians and refugees”.

WFP’s mobile vulnerability analysis and mapping approach, implemented in June 2021, showed that 23.4 per cent of refugees in the Kingdom are food insecure and 60 per cent vulnerable to food insecurity.

Commenting on the latest WFP Jordan Country Brief, economist Isam Qadamani told The Jordan Times that organisations like the WFP help reduce the financial burdens of the government, thereby improving the situation in the country.

“The funding situation and foreign aid helps Jordan provide services to refugees and they did not stop even amid the ongoing coronavirus situation,” he added. 

The July 2021 brief shows that WFP has targeted beneficiaries in July based on their vulnerability status. With the WFP’s redirection of funds, around 21,000 persons were excluded from assistance. However, almost 3,700 people who did not receive WFP support before have now been included. 

Currently, Jordan, which is an upper-middle-income country with a population of 10.96 million, hosts almost 670,000 Syrians and around 88,000 refugees of other nationalities registered with UNHCR. The majority of refugees come from Syria, and others from Iraq, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia.

In July, WFP provided monthly food assistance in the form of cash transfers to approximately 472,000 refugees — 51 per cent of whom were women — in camps and host communities.

Economist Mazen Marji said that most foreign aid and funding programmes “do not go towards developing a country but help gain stability”.

“The economic situation in Jordan is not getting better,” he added  

WFP Jordan raised around $500,000, representing 62 per cent of the target, through a fundraising campaign to support refugees in the Kingdom through SharetheMeal app, the world’s first app against global hunger.