World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Toqa’s collection of woolly hats is one of the the only things she took with her when her family fled their home in Syria. It's among few reminders of the home she left behind before coming to Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Determined to become a doctor, she's at the top of her class at school where WFP provides nutritious snacks to children like her.

For Syrian mothers like Um Abdou, life as a refugee has been a battle to keep her family from going hungry. She didn't hesitate to sell all her jewelry for food, but it wasn't long before she had no more to sell. Today, food vouchers provided by WFP are putting food on the table for her and around 300,000 other refugees in Lebanon as they wait for the conflict to end.

Syrian families living at the Harran camp in Turkey began receiving electronic food cards last month, allowing them to buy their own food at local supermarkets. Meat, fruit, vegetables and spices are just some of the things they can buy with the cards. To find out  how the programme is helping families at Harran, we talked to three Syrian mothers who were shopping for food.

After two years of conflict in Syria, more and more families are in need of food assistance. WFP is scaling up to reach 2.5 million people in the country by April, and another 800,000 refugees in neighbouring countries. Here are three examples of how that assistance is helping families to get through the conflict.

After two years of conflict in Syria, Muhannad Hadi, the head of WFP's emergency operation, explains what has been done to meet the hunger needs of Syrian families affected by the fighting. He also underlines that, despite the logistical and security challenges, the organization is determined to stand by the people of Syria until the crisis is over.

WFP is providing Syrian refugees in Turkey with electronic vouchers they can use to buy some of their favourite foods from home at local shops. One of few comforts to families living in camps like the ones in Hatay, the programme has also given a boost to the local economy.

During her recent trip to Syria, WFP Senior Spokesperson Abeer Etefa met Souad, a 27-year-old mother whose family lost their home to the fighting. Eking out an existence in an empty building near the battles lines, she and her family are surviving on food provided to them by WFP. 

To meet the growing humanitarian needs inside Syria, WFP is aiming to expand its reach rapidly, raising the number of people receiving emergency food aid by 1 million in the next three months.

Live from Damascus, join WFP's Abeer Etefa for a Google+ Hangout at the centre of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Abeer has spent the week travelling around the country to visit WFP operations on both sides of the front lines. This unique event will be broadcast live on Google+ and on YouTube Friday 1 February at 12:00pm NYC / 5:00pm London. Watch here

WFP is aiming to scale up to assist more families in Syria, but requires greater humanitarian access in order to reach them, Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said Wednesday during a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.