JERUSALEM – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will support more than 5,300 vulnerable women in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, using the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) electronic voucher platform.

UNFPA will use WFP’s existing money transfer platform to provide each woman with USD 100 loaded onto an electronic card. They can use the card to purchase various food, personal and household hygiene products at WFP’s 300 stores in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In Gaza, 4,000 women will benefit from this intervention in addition to 1,300 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Assistance will target the most vulnerable women and girls, including many at risk of gender-based violence, helping to ensure better protection and improve their livelihoods and dignity.

Many families are forced to make difficult choices to cope with the financial and emotional stress they are under. They sometimes resort to selling their assets or reducing the number of meals they eat. This assistance helps to alleviate some of these stresses. It comes at an opportune time as recent hostilities in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem have exacerbated the already difficult socio-economic situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This intervention was made possible thanks to the generous contributions of the Government of Canada, the Government of Spain, the United Nations Central Emergency Fund (CERF).

“We are extremely pleased to join forces with WFP to carry out this essential work,” said UNFPA representative in Palestine, Kristine Blokhus. “Our two organizations share a commitment to provide much needed assistance to vulnerable Palestinian women and their families during this difficult time.”

Earlier this year, UNFPA used WFP’s cash transfer platform to support 600 women in the West Bank and East Jerusalem who were victims of gender-based violence.

“We are offering our innovative digital cash transfer platform to all humanitarian and development organizations working in Palestine to meet the multiple needs of people,” said WFP Country Representative and Director Samer Abdeljaber. “WFP and UNFPA are bringing together our unique expertise through this strategic partnership to better serve the most vulnerable and continue to work to save and change lives in Palestine.

The WFP platform serves tens of thousands of people in Gaza and the West Bank. More than ten United Nations organizations and international NGOs used this platform in 2020-2021 to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people, injecting US $ 4 million into the local economy.