TEHRAN - The World Food Program released a report on Monday, expounding on activities in Iran over the month of November.

WFP reached 32,642 beneficiaries including 32,107 refugees and 625 Iranian teachers as per the monthly target under unconditional resource transfers (URT), of whom 9,153 were women, 9,402 men, 6,723 girls, and 7,364 boys.

The refugees were assisted with a total of 347 MT of fortified wheat flour (9 kg per person per month) and vegetable oil (900 cc per person per month).

WFP cash entitlements are transferred at the beginning of each month to the debit cards issued in the names of the refugee heads of household.

Households headed by refugee women received Iranian Rials (IRR) 1,200,000 (US$ 4.5) per person per month, and households headed by refugee men received IRR 1,000,000 (US$ 3.7) per person per month.

After the summer break, the distribution of school meals consisting of milk and biscuits resumed in October in all settlements reaching 8,768 students and their teachers.

In November, WFP provided 2,312 refugee girls with a cash incentive of IRR 500,000 (US$ 2) transferred to their bank accounts.

This is a part of WFP Iran’s efforts to promote education for refugee girls by providing them with cash for each month of regular school attendance.

In the summer of 2022, the Norwegian Refugee Council and WFP joined hands to boost the capacity of the Bardsir settlement bakery in Kerman with NRC constructing a new building and WFP purchasing new bakery equipment to increase the bakery’s production.

In parallel, more households reported using short-term coping strategies, compared to 2021, resorting mainly to “reducing the portion size of meals”, “borrowing food” and reducing food quantities consumed by adults.

Around 80 percent of interviewed beneficiaries continued to prefer a mix of in-kind and cash assistance, as in 2021. In-kind only remains the least preferred assistance modality since 2019.

WFP Iran works under its Interim Country Strategic Plan (2018-2020) extended until the end of 2022 to align it with both the United Nations development assistance framework (2017–2021), which has been extended for one additional year, and the National Development Plan (2016–2022).

The new ICSP for 2023-2025 is also under development. WFP assists 32,000 beneficiaries yearly through unconditional food assistance, in addition to the provision of a girls’ education cash incentive, and a school feeding initiative consisting of nutritious school snacks.

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) are the main cooperating partners of WFP in Iran. BAFIA is responsible for coordinating all matters related to refugees and international agencies.

Bi-annual meetings take place between BAFIA, UNHCR, and WFP. Monthly operational coordination meetings are also held to monitor the refugee situation and discuss appropriate response actions.

MG