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Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) has launched its Ramadan Iftar campaign for Syrian internally displaced persons (IDPs) to alleviate their sufferings. |
The $203,000 project distributes one-month food packages to 8,000 families (48,000 people) in several IDP areas, including the Latakia countryside, Idlib countryside, Hama countryside, Aleppo and its countryside, and Taftanaz camps.
With the start of Ramadan, the QRC mission has carried out the project on a large scale. A full volunteer team will work throughout the month to distribute the food products, which the programme managers chose to procure from local sources, with a view to stimulating the local markets and helping small suppliers.
A main warehouse in the Idlib countryside was rented to be a hub for food storage, packaging and distribution among all the targeted areas.
The mission co-operated with some trustworthy local actors in selecting the families eligible for this assistance. Some local residents were also engaged in the conduct and co-ordination of distributions.
QRC secretary-general Saleh bin Ali al-Mohannadi said, “Amid the continuing humanitarian tragedy experienced by the Syrian brothers and as part of the numerous QRC relief and medical projects for Syrian refugees and IDPs, QRC allocated more than $200,000 to provide food for many most-needy Syrian families to fulfil their basic humanitarian needs and remove their deprivation and hunger during these blessed days.
“To identify which food items are most needed by the Syrian IDPs, the Turkey-based QRC mission made an assessment study, which found that purchasing the food supplies from outside Syria would not help the already troubled local economy as farmers would not be able to market their crops, labour would lack seasonal income-generating job opportunities, the Syrian people would rely only on relief aid.”
