“We are forced to withdraw a vital safety net at a time when people need it most, which has serious implications for food security, social cohesion and stability, leaving the most vulnerable families with even fewer options to cope,” said Marianne Ward, WFP Syria director.
Food insecurity throughout Syria
Last year, the agency reached 5.8 million people in the 14 governorates through emergency food assistance, nutritional support, livelihood programs and social protection initiatives. But the current shortage of funding is forcing operations to be reduced from 14 governorates to just seven.
“The reduction in WFP assistance is due solely to funding constraints, not a decrease in needs,”Ms Ward said.
Across Syria, more than seven million people are acutely food insecure, including 1.6 million facing emergency conditions, according to agency estimates.
The bread lifesaver disappears
The WFP has also suspended its national bread subsidy program, one of the country’s last remaining large-scale safety nets that previously helped millions of Syrians buy their daily bread.
The initiative supported more than 300 bakeries, providing them with fortified wheat and helping subsidized bread reach up to four million people each day in some of the most fragile areas of Syria.
Aid officials warn that the loss of affordable bread could quickly worsen hunger and force families to resort to increasingly desperate coping mechanisms.
Regional impacts
The funding crisis is also affecting Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, where many families remain dependent on humanitarian aid.
In Jordan, WFP has suspended cash food assistance for 135,000 Syrian refugees living in host communities, while reduced support continues for some 85,000 refugees in camps.
Without urgent and sustained funding, we risk reversing years of progress and pushing millions of people into greater food insecurity, both within Syria and in neighboring countries hosting refugees.
– Samer Abdeljaber
In Lebanon, refugee families continue to struggle with rising costs and limited income opportunities. In Egypt, attendance has been reduced to 20,000 Syrians.
“Across the region, vulnerable families face the cumulative effects of protracted crises, rising costs, and declining assistance.said Samer Abdeljaber, WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.
Funds to restore operations.
The WFP says it urgently needs $189 million over the next six months to sustain and restore critical operations inside Syria.
Timely funding would allow it to reach 1.6 million of the most vulnerable people, preserve nutrition programs and help maintain access to affordable bread at a crucial time in the country’s fragile recovery.
“Without urgent and sustained funding, we risk reversing years of progress and pushing millions of people into greater food insecurity, both within Syria and in neighboring countries hosting refugees, putting broader prospects for stability and recovery at risk.”warns Abdeljaber.