Jordan

Jordan hosts the second highest share of refugees per capita in the world, mostly from Syria. Food security has been a key concern for refugees in camps and communities.
WFP/Mohammad Batah

Host to Refugees

Jordan has a young, largely urban population of 10.9 million. While the country is considered food secure with a score of 8.8 on the 2020 Global Hunger Index, food security is challenged by a multitude of structural and political factors including high poverty rates, unemployment, slow economic growth and increased cost of living.

93% of refugee households are below the refugee poverty line. The results of a WFP June 2021 analysis showed 23.4% of refugees are hungry, with an additional 60% at risk of hunger.

 

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A woman and her two daughters at a refugee camp in Syria WFP/Marwa Awad
Make a difference in Jordan

Hunger Stats

WFP’s Work in Jordan

WFP has been present in Jordan since 1964. The UN agency assists Jordanians at risk of or facing hunger while supporting the national management of the refugee crisis.
In this photo Mido poses with three of her children (From left to right - Mariam, aged 7, Shamsa, aged 4, and 12 month old Fatun) inside the small shelter they now call home in an IDP camp in Kabasa, Dolow. Also pictured is a bag of super cereal which is part of the nutritional supplementation the receive from WFP.

After a forth consecutive year of drought and increasing security concerns the family left the settlement where they lived and made their way to Dolow. It was a brutal month-long journey - barefoot and only with the clothing they wore. Along the way Mido lost one of her five children to hunger and he was buried enroute. 

Mido said, “We left our home because we had nothing left – we just had drought and hunger.” 

The family now live in a small dome-shaped shelter made from a patchwork of fabrics and plastics in the Kabasa IDP camp. Mido shares cooking utensils with her mother and siblings who have a larger shelter next door to theirs. 

The shelter is in a new extension to the camp, that has developed with the influx of new arrivals fleeing the drought.

Mido’s youngest daughter Fatun suffers from moderate acute malnutrition and they have been referred to the health clinic to receive WFP funded nutrition supplements (plumpy’sup and super cereal) to keep malnutrition at bay
Food Assistance
WFP meets the basic food requirements of nearly 500,000 refugees through cash assistance. This includes Syrians living in camps and the community, along with around 10,000 refugees from other countries like Iraq, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia. WFP uses innovative technologies like blockchain and iris scanners to give refugees living inside camps access to the assistance, while refugees living outside of camps use ATMs to withdraw cash or use e-cards at one of the 200 contracted shops across the country.
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Bags of food for distribution
Emergency Response
WFP provides tools, systems and training to the government to enhance its own emergency preparedness and response, leveraging WFP’s extensive experience and expertise in the planning and delivery of humanitarian assistance.
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A young boy wades through a flooded area in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
School Meals
WFP directly supports Jordan’s Ministry of Education to ensure that more than 420,000 Jordanian and refugee children have access to nutritious snacks at school. The program also provides jobs for around 700 workers who prepare the meals in 17 kitchens across the country. Women and people with disabilities are continuously encouraged to fill these roles.
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