Attachments
In Numbers
556,593* people assisted in February 2024
140 mt of food assistance distributed
US$ 3 m cash-based transfers made
US$ 10.5 m (March – August 2024) net funding requirements
*Figures presented are estimates based on available data at time of publication
Crisis Response
• WFP continues humanitarian assistance supporting approximately 150,000 refugees and crisis-affected populations including Sudanese newcomers with monthly cash assistance in Greater Cairo, Alexandria, and Aswan.
• WFP’s cash assistance platform continues to facilitate the delivery of assistance from UN sister agencies including UNICEF, IOM and UNFPA.
• WFP is distributing daily ready-to-eat food (RTE) rations to displaced populations from Sudan upon their arrival in Egypt, at border crossings and key transit points. To date, more than 247,000 people received this critical food assistance. These RTE rations consist of locally sourced food items such as date bars, bread, beans, and juice, providing a total of 2,508 Kcal per package. With an average daily arrival of 350 individuals at both borders, the demand for aid remains critical.
• While providing immediate support to save lives for refugees and crisis-affected populations, WFP launched transitional programmes to shift from humanitarian support towards sustainable self-reliance building.
• As of February, WFP provided vocational training to nearly 170 Sudanese and Egyptians in Aswan, Alexandria, and Greater Cairo. Training topics included graphic design, social media management, tailoring, accessories, and computer maintenance.
Operational Updates
School Feeding
• WFP continued complementing the National School Feeding Programme implemented by the Ministry of Education and Technical Education through the provision of nutritional daily in-school snacks (fortified date bars) to 99,059 community-school students across nine governorates. WFP also provided conditional cash assistance to 56,700 families of community school children to increase vulnerable families’ food security.
Nutrition
• Under the ‘First 1,000 Days’ national nutrition programme,
WFP and the Ministry of Social Solidarity provided cash assistance to 73,794 pregnant and breastfeeding women enrolled in the national safety net ‘Takaful and Karama’.
• WFP, in collaboration with the National Nutrition Institute and the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MOSS), implemented social and behaviour change communication activities for ‘First 1,000 Days’ women in Damietta. These campaigns focused on promoting healthy practices, such as breastfeeding, proper Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, and balanced diets.
Climate Resilience and Smallholder Farmer Support
• To enhance the resilience of smallholder farmers in Upper Egypt, WFP and the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) provided subsidized fertilizers and machinery to 2,270 farmers, and trained 934 farmers on good agricultural practices, such as water-saving techniques, use of advanced machinery and heat-tolerant seeds.
• To help address Egypt’s water scarcity challenges, WFP and its partners upgraded four water canals, serving 71 consolidated feddans, to improve irrigation efficiency and reduce water loss for smallholder farmers in four Sohag villages.
• To support diversifying the income of smallholder farming households and improve their livelihoods, WFP’s partners provided in-kind microloans to 211 rural women.
• WFP and partners also introduced palm waste recycling through handicrafts to women in Aswan, promoting sustainable income opportunities.
• WFP and MALR started the data collection phase for the winter season strategic crops, a primary input for the artificial intelligence and machine learning module that accurately predicts the production and cultivated area of strategic crops.
Women and Youth Livelihoods and Empowerment
• To promote gender equality, under the "Waei" (Arabic for ‘Aware’) national awareness programme, WFP, the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MOSS) and the Ministry of Local Development trained 474 women from villages of the Hayah Kareema (Decent Life) initiative in Fayoum and Beni Suef. The trainings were on micro-enterprise management, lending, and e-marketing.
• Under WFP’s Youth Employment programme, 211 youth from six governorates completed mobile and computer maintenance trainings, conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, aiming to increase their employability and access to livelihoods.