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Syria + 5 more

Germany and World Food Programme Feed Syrian Families

BERLIN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) this week welcomes a generous contribution of US$218 m (€185 m) from Germany to continue providing a lifeline of support for Syrians affected by the ongoing conflict.

“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.”

Beasley met German Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Berlin Wednesday.

Germany is WFP’s second largest government donor and has been vital in helping WFP maintain its humanitarian response inside and outside Syria through its commitment to multi-year predictable funding. This has allowed WFP to plan for the longer term and prevent disruptions to its life-saving assistance.

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. WFP supports three million vulnerable people in Syria every month, mainly through food rations that contain rice, wheat flour, vegetable oil, lentils, sugar and salt.

In addition, a portion of the funds will go to WFP’s refugee operations in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt where WFP provides live-saving humanitarian assistance to more than three million vulnerable Syrian refugees and host communities through electronic food vouchers.

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The United Nations World Food Programme - saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org (mailto:firstname.lastname@wfp.org)):

Bettina Luescher, WFP/Berlin, Mob. + 4916099261730

Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 6513 2321, Mob. +39 346 7600521

Francis Mwanza, WFP/London, Tel. +44 (0)20 3857 7411, Mob. +44 (0)7968 008474

Abeer Etefa, WFP/Cairo, Mob. +2010 66634352

Marwa Awad, WFP/Damascus, Mob. +963 958 882 900

Dina Elkassaby, WFP/Damascus, Mob. +963 952 882 501