Food Vouchers Programme in Syria - People In Need
Channel: Člověk v tísni
Date: 2016-04-25

People in Need (PIN) and its partners on the ground have been directly involved in the provision of relief aid in northern Syria since 2012. 

Over the last four years, PIN has grown to become one of the key providers of humanitarian aid in northern Syria, and currently supports over 700,000 people per year.

PIN provides multi-sectoral assistance to the most vulnerable across Aleppo and Idlib governorates. Our programming includes: Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL); Agriculture; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH); Education; and Capacity Building. In communities where multiple sectors are covered by PIN, we ensure that the different projects are well-coordinated with one another in order to provide complementary assistance.  We combine emergency response assistance with resilience building initiatives in order to provide comprehensive and stabilizing support in our areas or operation.

Food vouchers for food security:

In addition to distributing food kits and free daily bread in Syria, People in Need provide vulnerable households across Aleppo and Idlib governorates with food vouchers.

The food vouchers ensure the same nutritional value as the distributed food kits and allow families to choose which commodities to buy from the shortlisted stores. Around one hundred stores are involved in the programme – to ensure the competitiveness and wide range of the commodities. In these stores, beneficiaries have access to fresh and local produce. Our local employees pay the shop owners in return for the vouchers. 

This approach stimulates the local economy as well as local agricultural activity.

It is with the generous support of the European Commission’s Humanitarian aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO); the German government,via a German Alliance2015 partner organization Welthungerhilfe; and the UK’s Department for International Development that this assistance is delivered.