Egypt

WFP in Egypt is supporting the Government respond to the COVID-19 crisis and is the first on the ground providing much-needed assistance to vulnerable affected communities. WFP is taking concrete steps to expand its assistance to reach more families with cash transfers to protect them against livelihood risks and deprivation caused by the COVID-19 economic shock, primarily targeting families of children and teachers in community schools, casual and informal sector workers and female-headed households.

Due to the closure of all schools, the modality for distribution of in-school snacks is being adjusted. WFP will continue to provide families of children in community schools (one-classroom schools built in remote areas) with food vouchers waiving the attendance conditionality previously enforced. An additional 5,000 families who suffered the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis will receive unrestricted cash assistance.

During the COVID-19 emergency, WFP is waiving the conditionality of periodic medical health visits for the receipt of assistance to pregnant and nursing refugees, who will receive cash assistance to ensure their minimum food needs are met. This is to discourage women from going to medical centers to protect them from risks of COVID-19. WFP is extending this support to more than nine nationalities of refugee and asylum seeking pregnant and nursing women during this time of emergency.

WFP supports vulnerable communities in rural Upper Egypt and border governorates in improving their resilience to socio-economic shocks and climatic changes through various interventions including the rehabilitation of assets, technology transfer and diversification of incomes. Activities that do not entail human interaction are continuing during the COVID-19 crisis while group activities such as awareness-raising sessions have been put on hold based on the Government’s curfews and suspension of public gatherings.

As part of support measures to the national social safety nets during the COVID-19 crisis, WFP will provide cash transfers to the most vulnerable Egyptian pregnant women and mothers of children under 2 years of age. Women will receive a top-up to their national Takaful cards to be used through the existing Government’s retailer’s system to redeem nutritious food baskets after the temporary exemption of the condition of medical visits.

WFP is scaling up its assistance to refugees and asylum seekers affectted by the COVID-19 crisis to reach a total of 150,000 beneficiaries. WFP Egypt is temporarily switching its assistance from food vouchers to unrestricted cash redeemed through a financial service provider. This allows refugees and asylum seekers to redeem their assistance from any of the 125,000 service points available across Egypt minimizing mobility and risks of exposure to COVID-19, especially with the state-imposed partial curfews.

As part of WFP’s COVID-19 response, WFP has agreed with the Ministry of Manpower and other stakeholders to provide 20,000 families (100,000 total beneficiaries) of affected casual labour workers with unconditional cash transfers for four months to mitigate job and income loss.