WFP has been operating in Syria since 1964, and has since provided more than US$500 million worth of food assistance in the country through development and emergency operations.
Current unrest
WFP and other UN agencies and partners, are preparing for scaling up their humanitarian intervention in Syria following a government-led humanitarian assessment mission which indicated that at least one million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance. WFP is also coordinating food security and livelihood information and operational planning with other agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UNHCR, to ensure rapid relief transport and delivery when and as needed.
Food security and drought-affected areas
Syria has been hit by four consecutive years of drought since 2006 resulting in crop failure, compounded by encroaching desertification and rising food and fuel prices. The 2007-08 drought was the worst in 40 years and families have been unable to recover because of subsequent partial crop failures. In 2009, WFP launched an emergency response to the drought assisting a total of 300,000 smallholder farmers and herders in Northeast Syria.
Assistance to Iraqi Refugees in Syria
Since the onset of the conflict in Iraq in 2003, Syria has hosted the largest Iraqi refugee population in the region. As of 2007, WFP has been providing the vulnerable among them with food assistance. In 2010, WFP started an Electronic Voucher System (EVS) which has proved to be an effective and efficient model to distribute food to refugees living in an urban context. The project reached a total of 95,000 Iraqi refugees and is now phasing out due to limited resources.
Food-for-Education
In 2010, WFP launched a “Food-for-Education” development project. It aims to encourage children and illiterate women living in rural areas to attend schools or literacy classes in return for food assistance. During 2010-11, WFP with the Syrian Government reached more than 50,000 people (45,750 children and 5,000 women). In June 2012, WFP will hand over this project to the government.