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oPt

WFP oPt SitRep, March 2011

Attachments

Overview of WFP activities in oPt

WFP has been providing food assistance to the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) since 1991. The Country Office is located in Jerusalem, and is supported by an office in Gaza, two sub-offices (Nablus and Hebron) and one port office (Ashdod). WFP employs over 110 staff in the oPt, both national and international.

WFP currently meets the food needs of the most vulnerable non-refugees in the oPt through two operations:

  1. A Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) in the West Bank (2011-2012);
  2. An Emergency Operation (EMOP) in the Gaza Strip (2009-2011).

A new PRRO for the West Bank for the period 2011-2012 was approved at the November 2010 session of the WFP Executive board. The PRRO targets a caseload of 454,500 non-refugee beneficiaries, with a focus on priority areas such as Area C and the Seam Zone. Assistance is provided through: (i) Emergency relief for the destitute; (ii) Livelihood support for vulnerable households (general food distributions and vouchers); (iii) School Meals in the most food-insecure areas, and (iv) a new Voucher-for-Work and Voucher-for-Training compo-nent to contribute to and promote self-reliance by preserving agricultural assets to restore liveli-hoods. This activity is on hold due to a lack of funding.

Following its successful roll-out, the Urban Voucher EMOP has been integrated as part of the liveli-hood support for vulnerable groups component in urban and semi-urban areas. The caseload may be gradually expanded to 90,000 beneficiaries by the end of 2011, should the funding situation al-low it.

The Gaza EMOP will be running until December 2011. The EMOP currently targets 313,000 non-refugee beneficiaries through general food distributions, vouchers and school feeding, i.e., 70 per-cent of the non-refugee population in Gaza, aiming at meeting the immediate needs of the popula-tion affected by the conflict as well as improving the food consumption of families and individuals in need. The pilot voucher enables 15,000 beneficiaries to access a range of various commodities including protein-rich food (dairy products and eggs) directly from small and medium-sized shop keepers while saving cash for other essential food and non-food commodities.

WFP thrives to maintain the enrolment of children and enhance concentration levels in schools through the daily distribution of snacks to 92,000 schoolchildren, included in the total caseload. However, this activity is currently suspended due to a lack of funding.