OPT / PALESTINIAN FOOD INSECURITY

Two United Nations agency heads today expressed concern at deteriorating food security in the West Bank and Gaza where one in three Palestinian households now struggle to feed their families. WFP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:51
• Production Date: 21 June 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST - UNRWA; WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: NUTRITION; TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY ISRAEL
• Geographic Subject: PALESTINE; PALESTINE
• MAMS Id: U130621g

Description

STORY: OPT / PALESTINIAN FOOD INSECURITY
TRT: 2.51
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH: NATS

DATELINE: 18 JUNE 2013, KHAN AL AHMAR BEDOUIN VILLAGE, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (OPT) / 19 JUNE 2013, SILET AL-HARTHEA, JENIN GOVERNORATE, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (OPT) / 21 JUNE 2013, JERICHO, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (OPT)

Shotlist

18 JUNE 2013, KHAN AL AHMAR BEDOUIN VILLAGE, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (OPT)

1. Wide shot, Khan al Ahmar Bedouin village
2. Med shot, village as seen from trucks
3. Wide shot, WFP trucks approaching the village
4. Wide shot trucks and sleeping child
5. Various shots, distribution of food
6. Med shot, recipients taking away food
7. Wide shot, village
8. Med shot Ertharin Cousin, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) sign memorandum of understanding
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, UNRWA Commissioner-General:
"Our mandate will only be stronger if we partner with agencies that have specific global expertise in this area and this is what we want to achieve through the agreement with the World Food Programme"
10. Various shots, Bedouin woman baking bread
11. Med shot, family eating bread

21 JUNE 2013, JERICHO, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (OPT)

11. Various shots, food Shop in Jericho
12. Various shots, WFP Executive Director meeting Palestinian woman participating in the WFP voucher programme
13. SOUNDBITE (English) WFP Executive Director, Ms Ertharin Cousin Jericho
"Over the last three years WFP has provided over 100 million dollars in voucher support to ensure that Palestinian families who otherwise wouldn't have access to enough food have the access that is necessary to feed their children, and what is really important about this programme is that over 80 percent of the commodities that we provide are commodities produced by Palestinians for Palestinians"

19 JUNE 2013, SILET AL-HARTHEA, JENIN GOVERNORATE, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (OPT)

14. Med shot, woman participant in the WFP voucher programme buying food
15. Close up, eggs
16. Close up, using voucher card.
17. Med shot using the card
18. Wide shot, women leaving store with food.
19. Med shot, family eating

Storyline

Two United Nations agency heads today expressed concern at deteriorating food security in the West Bank and Gaza where one in three Palestinian households now struggle to feed their families.

Ertharin Cousin, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) visited a Bedouin village between Jerusalem and Jericho where a food distribution carried out jointly by the two agencies was taking place.

Cousin said, Over the last three years WFP has provided over 100 million dollars in voucher support to ensure that Palestinian families who otherwise wouldn't have access to enough food have the access that is necessary to feed their children, and what is really important about this programme is that over 80 percent of the commodities that we provide are commodities produced by Palestinians for Palestinians"

Preliminary results of a joint UN survey carried out by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, WFP, UNRWA and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), found that in 2012, a total of 1.6 million people – or 34 percent of households in Palestine – were food insecure, a dramatic rise from 27 percent in 2011. Contributing factors include high unemployment rates, stagnant economic growth, the financial problems of the Palestinian Authority, the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza.

In nearby Jericho, Cousin met shoppers using electronic vouchers from WFP to buy olive oil, salt and other groceries, most of which are produced locally in Palestine. In the past three years WFP has injected more than $100 million into the Palestinian economy through local purchase and the redemption of electronic food vouchers. This investment supports local businesses and generates employment.

WFP reaches approximately 650,000 food-insecure, non-refugee households in Palestine – the poorest of the poor. UNRWA provides food assistance to more than one million food insecure Palestine refugees across the Middle East.

During the visit to the village of Khan al Ahmar, the two agency heads signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in an agreement which will deepen and expand ties between the two agencies.

Grandi said, “Our mandate will only be stronger if we partner with agencies that have specific global expertise in this area and this is what we want to achieve through the agreement with the World Food Programme"