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WFP Palestine Country Brief, September 2021

Attachments

In Numbers

350,000* people assisted In September 2021

US$4.1 m in cash-based transfers made 910 mt of food distributed

US$ 22.1 m six-month (October 2021 – March 2022) net funding requirements

Operational Updates

• In September 2021, WFP reached about 350,000 people in need through cash-based transfer and in-kind food support. The total amount of cash delivered to people in need was fully redeemed in September, injecting the local economy with USD 4.1 million.

• WFP worked with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health on the preparation of the nationally owned Social Behavior Change Communications (SBCC) action plan, the launch of which took place on 14 September.

• WFP’s planning for the launch of WFP’s nutrition SBCC activities in Gaza and the West Bank also continued during September. The SBCC activities, which will be implemented through WFP local partner Juzoor, are planned to launch in October and will focus on reducing anaemia amongst pregnant and lactating women and mothers of children under the age of five years.

• WFP and its local partners have started the next phase of the resilience-building interventions where WFP is supporting 200 smallholder farmers in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The selected smallholders will receive a comprehensive package of agricultural input and necessary training in the coming months to enhance their resilience and diversify income sources. Some beneficiary families from the previous round whose agricultural assets were impacted by the May armed escalation due to household’s displacement, or lack of irrigation and pest control, will receive WFP’s support to ensure repairment of damages. Around 400 smallholders have benefited from these interventions over the last two years.

• After an initial ten-month pilot, in August WFP began providing emergency multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) assistance (US$ 265 per household per month) for three months through a contribution from the EU to around 24,000 people (4,000 families) who were affected by the escalation of violence in May. MPCA is particularly useful in reaching both emergency and recovery outcomes providing humanitarian support while also stimulating the local economy.

• WFP Palestine is taking the first steps to develop the new Country Strategic Plan (CSP), the guiding document for the next five years that outlines the strategic approach to reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs): SDG 2, Zero Hunger, and SDG 17, partnering to support the implementation of the SDGs, in Palestine. The current CSP started in 2018 and will run until early 2023, after which the new CSP will begin, fully aligned with the new and updated national plans and priorities, as well as the updated UN inter-agency planning on development engagement.