SYRIA / HOMS

WFP reached Al-Houle in rural Homs for the first time since May 2013 and delivered food for 20,000 people. Trucks carrying food rations for another 20,000 people arrived in Ar-Raqqa Governorate for the first time in six months. WFP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:57
• Production Date: 12 March 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
• Geographic Subject: SYRIA
• MAMS Id: U140312c

Description

STORY: SYRIA / HOMS
TRT: 1:57
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS

DATELINE: 11 – 12 MARCH 2014, HOMS, SYRIA

Shotlist

11 MARCH 2014

1. Wide shot, car on the street
2 – 4. Various shots, destruction
5. Wide shot, children riding bikes
6. Med shot, children walking
7. Med shot, aid distribution
8. Med shot, man tying a box of aid to a motorbike
9. Close up, child in the stroller with a WFP sack
10. Med shot, woman walking of with the stroller
11. Wide shot, women crossing street
12. Med shot, a family on a sidewalk
13. Close up, woman with baby

12 MARCH 2014

14. SOUNDBITE (English), Dina El-Kassaby, WFP Spokesperson:
“Across the country, the World Food Programme is aiming to reach over 4 million people every month, but the greatest challenge we are facing right now is insecurity and access to besieged communities, because one-off and sporadic convoys and deliveries to people in need are not enough we need constant access monthly access to families across the country.”
15. Various shots, aid distribution
16. Med shot, woman cooking
17. Various shots, family eating

Storyline

WFP reached Al-Houle in rural Homs for the first time since May 2013 and delivered food for 20,000 people. Trucks carrying food rations for another 20,000 people arrived in Ar-Raqqa Governorate for the first time in six months.

Locally-negotiated ceasefire allowed convoys into areas of Rural Damascus and rural Dara’a. Five WFP trucks delivered food for 17,500 people in camps for displaced people north of Idlib. Among the camps were some that had not been reached directly by WFP since the start of the conflict in 2011.

However, worsening security is creating setbacks in some areas, such as the Northeast governorate of Deir-Ezzor. Although an inter-agency convoy delivered food and other humanitarian supplies to 27,000 people there last month, a sudden deterioration in security on the roads leading to Deir-Ezzor is preventing the dispatch of more food in March.

In February, WFP assisted 3.7 million people in Syria and more than 1.5 million refugees in neighboring countries. The UN food agency aims to reach as many as 4.25 million people inside Syria every month, but insecurity is leaving half a million people without food assistance.

This year, WFP has appealed for $2 billion US dollars to feed around 7 million Syrians displaced in their country or who have fled to neighboring countries. WFP needs US$309 million to cover the food needs of vulnerable Syrians until the end of May.

Delays in funding have an impact on operations, as it takes close to three months from the moment WFP purchases food until it arrives in Syria and is dispatched for distribution.

Funding is also essential for WFP operations in neighbouring countries, where over 1.5 million Syrian refugees depend on the UN food agency’s food vouchers. WFP often uses vouchers to provide assistance where markets are functioning but people cannot afford to buy food. Vouchers provide people with more choice; they can buy fresh foods such as fruit, vegetables and milk that are not normally included in conventional food rations.