WFP has been working in Iraq since 1991. With the large-scale displacement of people seen in 2006 and 2007, food emerged as a priority need for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq. In response to this need, on 1 January 2008 WFP launched an emergency operation to feed up to 750,000 people inside Iraq. This operation is a stop-gap measure, providing vulnerable IDPs, who have crossed governorate lines, with a complementary food ration until they are absorbed into the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the area of their displacement. This emergency operation is scheduled to end on December 31, 2009. In line with the recent survey findings identifying pockets of vulnerability, WFP is expanding the scope of its assistance from April 1, 2009 until December 31, 2009, to include other vulnerable groups. During this period, WFP aims to assist 1.4 million vulnerable people in Iraq including IDPs, malnourished children under 5 years, pregnant and lactating women, tuberculosis patients, primary school children, female-headed households, and small farmers in the most food insecure areas of Iraq.
This period in 2009 will also include innovative pilots in school feeding as a safety net, targeted nutrition interventions and capacity building in Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping and food security monitoring. This will lay the groundwork for a relief and recovery operation beginning in 2010 to address the needs of vulnerable groups and build the capacity of the Government at the institutional and local level to design and implement effective safety net programmes to protect vulnerable groups and integrate them into society and the economy at large.
The Government of Iraq released a draft ‘road map’ for reforming the Public Distribution System (PDS) in August 2008. This draft proposes phasing out the PDS from its current practise of providing a blanket food ration to all citizens of Iraq to targeted assistance to the vulnerable. WFP leads the interagency Baghdad-based Task Force that was set up to advise the Government on PDS reform