Iraq: 3RP Monthly Update - May 2016: Food

52,407 Syrian refugees received food assistance.

Modalities of food distribution:

• Food vouchers: in 8 camps (Domiz 1&2, Arbat, Basirma, Darashakran, Gawilan, Kawergosk and Qushtapa).

• Unrestricted cash: pilot distribution at Akre Castle camp.

• Food Parcels: Ad hoc distributions in all 9 camps.

MAY HIGHLIGHTS:

A total of 52,407 Syrian refugees received assistance from WFP in May. This included 5,475 refugees supported with in-kind assistance, as well as 46,066 who had their e-vouchers topped up. Of the latter, 23,452 were female, including 4,457 girls under five years old.

In May, the voucher rates for Syrian refugees in Iraq were restored to USD 28 for the extremely food insecure and USD 19 for the moderately food insecure.
This is due to the generous USD 623 million donation from Germany for Syrian refugees around the region.

Ad hoc in-kind distributions took place in all of the nine refugee camps in Kurdistan Region - Iraq. This was a response to new arrivals in the camps, and the need to fill gaps while registering beneficiaries in the SCOPE system. The ad hoc in-kind distributions are a temporary mitigation measure to cover gaps in voucher assistance and will last for up to three months.

The post-distribution monitoring report covering the first quarter of 2016 was published in May. The survey found that female-headed households seem to be disproportionately affected by decreasing levels of food security. In general, dietary diversity remained high, indicating that refugee households are eating from various food groups even as food consumption may be decreasing.