Attachments
In Numbers
1.77 m people assisted In October 2019
US$ 36 m distributed in multi-purpose cash
US$ 0.49 m distributed through value vouchers
US$151.5 million six month net funding requirements (November 2019 – April 2020)
Operational Updates
• WFP, in partnership with the Turkish Red Crescent (TK/Kizilay) and the Turkish Government, with funding from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), continued to deliver assistance through the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN), the world’s largest humanitarian multi-purpose cash programme.
• In October, the ESSN assisted over 1.7 million vulnerable refugees across Turkey, providing each person with TRY 120 (USD 21) to help cover their essential needs. Of those, 7,849 people also received the monthly “severe disability top-up” payment of TRY 600 (USD 103).
• WFP supported 55,731 refugees in six camps across the southeast of Turkey with a monthly e-voucher worth TRY 50 (US$ 9) per person to buy food in participating shops.
The Turkish Government provided an additional TRY 50 on a separate card for both food and non-food items.
• On 7 and 9 October, WFP and partners conducted cooking workshops in Ankara and Istanbul respectively, with the participation of 38 trainees from the Mutfakta Umut Var (MUV or ‘Kitchen of Hope’) pilot project. Twenty-three participants were Turkish, and 15 were Syrian. Three quarters of the participants were female. The workshops were held with the aim of evaluating the capacity of participants for peer-to-peer training planned for the MUV project scale-up. Their performance was assessed in terms of techniques in using knives, creativity (such as cooking with ingredients other than basic ingredients such as potato and eggs)-and getting the amount of spices right for soup and other dishes. The participants were working with each other in an inter-active environment, putting their questions to the chefs. Representatives of the Norwegian embassy paid a visit to the workshop in Ankara, where they had the opportunity to observe the cooking activities and interact with participants and chefs.
• Memorandum of Understanding between WFP and the Turkish employment agency ISKUR was signed in October.
This will allow participants who have already completed the culinary skills phase of their MUV training to proceed to the ‘on-the-job training’ component at a partner hotel, restaurant or café. In November, participants are expected to start the second phase of the pilot Contact info: programme at assigned work places.