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WFP State of Palestine Country Brief, April 2017

Attachments

Highlights

  • WFP assisted nearly 480,000 food insecure nonrefugees in Gaza and the West Bank in April, through both cash-based transfers (CBT) - using an electronic voucher redeemable in local shops - and in-kind food assistance. Women and children accounted for 70 percent of those assisted.

  • WFP is very concerned about the forthcoming interruption of food assistance in Gaza, foreseen as early as July, at a time of growing humanitarian needs.
    The continuation of food assistance, especially after the end of Ramadan where people’s vulnerabilities are at their highest, remains of utmost importance to support people’s eroded livelihoods and preserve the fragile stability of the Gaza Strip.

Operational Updates

  • In April, WFP assisted 478,987 poor and food insecure people: 245,505 people in Gaza and 233,482 people in the West Bank with food and CBTs. Approximately 214,000 (45 percent) were assisted in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development under the Palestinian Authority’s Social Protection System (food safety net).

  • In the area C of the West Bank, all of the 183 Bedouin and herding communities - with which WFP and UNRWA jointly assist with food assistance – have received at least one order for demolition, increasing the likelihood for forced displacement. WFP provides emergency food assistance to families whose houses have been demolished as part of a UN multi-sectoral response led by OCHA. In April, WFP assisted 56 people (8 families) with emergency vouchers for a total value of USD 780.

  • WFP, with the support of its local partner Ard El Insan, completed the training 150 government staff on IDP nutrition needs in emergencies in Gaza. These staff will be responsible for the management of designated emergency shelters in times of emergencies.

  • As part of the preparedness projects in support of the Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD), WFP has completed the setup of three Emergency Operations Rooms and three Emergency Coordination Rooms in the Governorates of Ramallah, Hebron and Qalqiliya. The PCD centres in these three Governorates now have the capacity to better coordinate their emergency response search and rescue operations for small, medium or large scale disasters within PCD or externally with local and international partners for a faster emergency response.

  • WFP is currently engaged in the formulation of its new five-year Country Strategic Plan (2018-2022) based on the findings and recommendations of the “National Strategic Review of Food and Nutrition Security in Palestine” commissioned by WFP to the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute. Under its new portfolio approach, WFP will target and prioritise assistance to all severely food insecure non-refugee populations in Gaza and the West Bank, Bedouins and herding communities in area C of the West Bank. And should funding allows, the CSP can assist the most vulnerable of the moderately food-insecure female-headed households across Palestine. WFP’s interventions will continue to be fully aligned with the Palestinian Authority’s National Policy Agenda and the new Social Development Sector Strategy, covering the period 2017-2022.