The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of US$7.1 million from Denmark to provide emergency food assistance for thousands of Iraqi families affected by the continuing crisis in Mosul.
This contribution will enable WFP to provide vital assistance to tens of thousands of families. They will receive ready-to-eat food as an immediate response, followed by monthly food rations or cash-based transfers. WFP supports an increasing number of families across Iraq with unrestricted cash or e-vouchers to spend in designated stores each month.
“We are very pleased and grateful for this contribution from Denmark, which will help us provide food assistance to people who are displaced or otherwise affected by the conflict,” said Sally Haydock, Country Director and Representative of WFP in Iraq.
Since the onset of the Mosul offensive on 17 October, WFP has assisted more than 376,000 people with ready-to-eat food; almost 300,000 of them have also received monthly food rations. This includes families choosing to stay in their homes; so far, WFP and its partners have distributed food in more than 100 villages and suburbs in and around Mosul.
“Last week I visited some retaken areas of Mosul and one of the many camps around the city. Families there have been through enough. In some places, fighting is ongoing, and now it is cold and miserable as well. Making sure they do not have to worry about how to feed their children is at the core of WFP’s mandate,” Haydock added.
More than 3 million Iraqis have been displaced by conflict since June 2014. WFP supports families who reach safety with life-saving canned food, dried dates, and biscuits. When they are settled in camps, they are provided with monthly allowances of wheat flour, rice, chickpeas, oil, salt and sugar.
WFP provides assistance in all 18 governorates of the country. In November, WFP assisted 1.4 million people throughout Iraq, of whom more than 350,000 received cash or e-vouchers. WFP increasingly provides cash or electronic vouchers in areas where shops are functioning, as it allows families to purchase food of their own choice while at the same time boosting the local economy.
This new contribution places Denmark as the fourth largest donor to WFP’s Iraq emergency operation. Overall, Denmark remains one of WFP’s most important donor of flexible funds which allows a swift and efficient response where needs are greatest.
