Aid for Syrian Refugees in Northern Iraq

“The voucher system is a very good system and for many reasons. One of them is that it gives the refugees a sense of normalcy. They go to the supermarket and they shop instead of us giving them food. It also gives them freedom of choice to buy the brands that they already know and the kind of food that they like,” said UN World Food Programme spokesperson Laure Chadraoui.

Sahel villagers fleeing climate change must not be ignored

Migration has always been a way of life in the Sahel, an arid belt of land that stretches across Africa just south of the Sahara. Many of the region's 100 million inhabitants lived for millennia as nomadic pastoralists who moved with their herds in search of water and pasture. But recently, changes in rainfall patterns and rising temperatures have led to a disturbing form of population movement: climate displacement. (..) These recurrent crises have pulled the most vulnerable Sahelians into a downward spiral wherein there is insufficient time to recover before the next shock hits.

What if Slacktivism Actually Could Feed a Hungry Child?

Online activism, much like the millennials known for it, suffers from a bad reputation. Dubbed “slacktivism,” social media activism — from “liking” an organization on Facebook to sharing a video on Twitter — often has been dismissed as pointless. Cynicism about slacktivism even inspired recent campaigns by Unicef Sweden and Crisis Relief Singapore in which the organizations ask for money, not Facebook love.

United Nations May Fall Short in Food Aid for Syria

The United Nations’ food agency said Tuesday that it might not be able to meet its goal of aiding three million Syrians in July. (..) Steve Taravella, a senior spokesman for the food agency in Washington, said that it had 700 trucks in the country, but that convoys had been unable to reach many distribution points in the past several weeks. (..) Ms. Elisabeth Byrs said it costs the World Food Program $29.3 million to $30 million each week to finance aid operations. The organization is seeking $763 million in contributions through the end of the year to help up to seven million Syrians, including four million people in Syria and almost three million refugees in neighboring countries.