The World Food Program cuts aid to more than 194,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan

The World Food Program in Jordan cut off its cash assistance to more than 194,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, due to the lack of adequate funding for all those eligible for support.

Dara Al-Masry, the information and communication officer at the United Nations World Food Program in Jordan, announced that the program needs $62 million for the next six months.

She said: “If the funding shortage continues, the program will be forced to cut aid to the rest of the refugees, whose number is estimated at 326,000, including those in the camps after next July.”

Dara Al-Masry explained that this project costs the program $16.5 million per month, and that she “is concerned about the amount of funding available to the program and the lack of funding pledged by donors,” noting that the World Food Program is working with the governments of donor countries and the Jordanian government to secure the necessary funding.

The World Food Program’s Media and Communications Officer called for “effective measures to be taken to save the future of Syrian refugees, who are facing escalating challenges, after ten years of the Syrian crisis.”

She indicated that the humanitarian needs of the Syrian refugees “still exist, with the increase in poverty resulting from the Corona pandemic, and the presence of an increased risk of delayed development plans that enabled refugees to rebuild their lives and contribute to the Jordanian economy and societies.”

Al-Masry said that “a quarter of the refugees in Jordan suffer from food insecurity, and 65% of the refugees in Jordan are on the verge of food insecurity after studies conducted by the program.”

The media official described the refugee situation as difficult, and explained that the assistance provided by the program constitutes about 60% of the income of refugee families.

The World Food Program meets the needs of more than 500,000 Syrian refugees and other nationalities in Jordan through the provision of cash assistance, which is disbursed from shops approved by the programmes.

The records of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) included 753,676 refugees as of March 16, 2021, of whom 664,898 were Syrian refugees, of whom 128,131 thousand refugees lived in the camps (Al-Zaatari, Azraq, and Mrajeeb Al-Fhood).

UNHCR estimates that more than 80% of Syrian refugees live below the poverty line, while Jordanian government statistics indicate that there are 1.3 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, about half of whom are not registered with UNHCR.