UN agency launches 72-hour campaign to raise urgently needed funds to feed Syrian refugees

 

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday launched an ambitious 72-hour campaign to raise 64 million U.S. dollars so that the UN agency could then reinstate Syrian refugees’food vouchers in December, a UN spokesman told reporters here.

“The three-day campaign asks members of the public to donate one U.S. dollar towards WFP’s food aid for Syrian refugees,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

The WFP executive director, Ertharin Cousin, said that even one dollar can make a difference, adding that “For you, it’s a dollar; for them, it’s a lifeline.”

The appeal follows the WFP’s announcement on Monday that it will halt a food voucher programme targeting 1.7 million destitute Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.

“Without WFP vouchers, many families will go hungry, but if funding arrives this month, the WFP will immediately resume assistance,” Dujarric said.

The refugees use the electronic vouchers to purchase food in local shops and without them many families will simply go hungry. As many of them already live in very precarious conditions, the UN agency warns that the consequences of halting food assistance will be “devastating.”

The 72-hour campaign hopes to pull in 64 million U.S. dollars to be immediately implemented during the month of December and is urging donors and members of the public to follow the WFP’s link wfp.org/forsyrianrefugees to donate online.

In addition, the agency said, donors will be asked to swap their profile pictures on social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook with a badge representing the “1 Dollar for Syrian Refugees” campaign.

“We know that people care — and we’re asking them to show it, by giving even this small amount to Syrians in need,” the WFP said in a press release. “All it takes is 1 dollar from 64 million people.”

Since the Syrian conflict broke out in 2011, the WFP has succeeded in meeting the food needs of both refugees and millions of displaced people inside Syria, despite the fighting and problems of access. The UN agency has stressed that it is critical for this funding and cooperation to continue.