WFP Egypt Country Brief, April 2025

In Numbers

• 474,000* people assisted in April 2025
• 81 mt of food assistance distributed
• US$ 3 m cash-based transfers made US$ 22 m (May – October 2025) net funding requirements

*Figures presented are estimates based on available data at time of publication.

Critical Funding Shortfalls

• WFP Egypt faces a critical funding shortfall in the coming months. If no further funding is received, WFP may be forced to suspend vital humanitarian aid to crisis-affected populations in August 2025.

Operational Updates

Crisis Response

• WFP continued to provide humanitarian support through monthly unconditional cash assistance to around 200,000 refugees, crisis-affected people and asylum seekers. Due to funding shortfalls, WFP has to stretch the available resources through a gradual decrease as of April of the number of beneficiaries assisted and the value of the cash assistance.
• WFP is supporting pregnant and breastfeeding refugee women (PBW), reaching up to 10,000 vulnerable refugee women with children aged 0-24 months in April through cash assistance, conditional upon attending health checkups at WFP-contracted hospitals.

Self-Reliance for Refugees, Crisis-Affected Populations and Host Communities

• WFP provided vocational training to over 930 refugees, crisis-affected populations and host community members in April, bringing the total to over 7,250 people since January 2024. As of March 2025, almost 710 people have successfully received their micro-grants under the mentorship and microgrants programme that promotes the establishment and growth of small enterprises.

School Feeding

• WFP provided cash assistance to nearly 32,100 families of community school students, conditional upon their children’s school attendance, to protect their livelihoods against economic shocks. About 92,140 students in ten governorates also received in-school fortified snacks.

Nutrition

• Under the ‘First 1,000 Days’ national nutrition programme, WFP and the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS) provided cash top-ups to about 43,800 pregnant and breastfeeding women registered under the national social protection programme, ‘Takaful and Karama (‘Solidarity and Dignity’).
• WFP, in collaboration with the National Nutrition Institute (NNI) and the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MOSS), held a workshop on the ‘first 1000 days’ for 895 newly appointed community workers in five governorates.

Support to Smallholder Farmers

• In April, WFP reached approximately 9,240 smallholder farmers across Egypt through various initiatives, including training on agricultural techniques, and green silage and compost production.
• WFP and the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation raised awareness among 1,946 individuals across various regions on sustainable practices and strategies to mitigate and adapt to environmental shocks.
• A total of 954 women learned best practices for duck raising, and 70 beneficiaries were trained in best beekeeping methods, to support their livelihood and food security.

Women and Youth Empowerment

• WFP, with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and local NGOs, trained over 400 rural women in business, gender awareness, and marketing; 200 also received vocational training in tailoring and handcrafts. The programme has now trained nearly 8,900 women in entrepreneurship, with over 1,800 launching their own businesses through microloans. Beneficiaries are primarily women under the 'Takaful and Karama' safety net, household breadwinners, and mothers of community school students. To ensure efficient microloan management, 70 employees from Takaful Association and partner NGOs responsible for the loan portfolio received standardized training in lending, financial, and accounting systems.
• Following a successful employment fair in Sohag in January, 30 percent of participating youth secured jobs across eight businesses, and six launched their own ventures. Building on this success, WFP, with the Ministry of Labour, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), and a local NGO, organized a second Employment and Culture Fair in Beni Suef. The fair featured over 400 job openings from eight companies and was attended by 95 graduates. Beyond job matching, it offered career workshops, success stories, private sector insights, and cultural performances to challenge stigma around technical vocations.