Key partner Germany has made a major 218 million dollar contribution that will allow the United Nations World Food Programme to keep feeding three million vulnerable people in conflict-wracked Syria through November, WFP said on Wednesday.
“Syrians have endured unspeakable hardship over the last seven years of conflict. WFP is working every day to help the most critically affected families put food on the table, work that is a basis for building peace,” said WFP Executive Director, David Beasley.
“Since day one of our work in Syria, we have had Germany by our side as one of our most reliable partners. We could not do our work without them,” Beasely said after meeting German Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Berlin Wednesday.
The contribution from the German Federal Foreign Office will enable continued delivery of WFP’s lifesaving food and nutritional assistance for families inside Syria over the next two months, the UN agency said.
Part of the German funds will assist WFP’s refugee operations in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt where WFP provides essential humanitarian assistance to more than three million vulnerable Syrians as well as host communities through electronic food vouchers.
WFP said it supports three million needy people inside Syria very month, mainly through food rations that contain rice, wheat flour, vegetable oil, lentils, sugar and salt.
Germany is WFP’s second largest government donor and its commitment to multi-year predictable funding has been vital in helping WFP continue operations inside and outside Syria, said the agency.
The funding has allowed WFP to plan for the longer term and prevent disruptions to its life-saving assistance, the agency said.
