Assistance/USAID WFP pledge – USAID press release/Non-UN document

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

USAID pledges $5 million in food aid for "new poor"

In January, USAID's Office of Food for Peace in Washington made a $5 million in-kind contribution toward the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) Emergency Operations Appeal for the West Bank and Gaza, filling a gap in the amount of wheat flour to meet current needs. The Emergency Appeal, valued at $32 million, targets 530,000 of the most vulnerable Palestinians affected by closures and curfews. USAID's contribution totals 8,940 metric tons of wheat flour and is expected to arrive in the region this spring.

The food will be used as part of the Food-for-Work and Food-for-Training activities that target a category of Palestinians now referred to as the "new poor." This category, which represents some 340,000 Palestinians, is comprised of households who have lost their income, assets and livelihoods, and have a limited capacity to earn income. Examples are farmers who lost their agricultural produce due to the inaccessibility to markets, poor traders whose shops have been destroyed, and daily wage earners who have lost jobs because their movements have been restricted.

Recently, the WFP implemented a wide range of Food-for-Work and Food-for-Training programs with partners Catholic Relief Services, Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees and the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, directly benefiting 220,000 of the "new poor." The timely arrival of this food will prevent a looming food pipeline shortage facing vulnerable Palestinian populations.

The USAID – West Bank/Gaza mission has provided $6 million to WFP since April 2002. USAID's assistance has been instrumental in the purchase of locally-produced Palestinian olive oil from poor farmers and wheat flour from Palestinian commercial millers for distribution to families who cannot afford to purchase these items. USAID's contributions have also helped pay for logistical cost overruns incurred as a result of checkpoints, closures, the back-to-back system of moving food into Gaza (WFP's trucks are not allowed into Gaza; they must unload the food from one truck and reload to another inside Gaza), security clearances at the port, and other logistical problems associated with providing food aid in the West Bank and Gaza.