Jordan

Food security has been a key concern for refugees in camps and communities, with their decreased income due to loss of informal labour opportunities and their weakened market access associated with lack of financial resources. The results of WFP’s June 2021 mobile vulnerability analysis and mapping (mVAM) showed 23.4 percent of refugees are food insecure, with an additional 60 percent vulnerable to food insecurity.

Female-headed households, small households, and households with disabilities have disproportionally poor food consumption. 93 percent of refugee households are below the refugee poverty line with 35 percent below the abject poverty line. 

 Jordan has suffered from the socio-economic impact of COVID-19. According to the World Bank, Jordan’s economic growth suffered significant loss in 2020 and 2021. Jordan’s unemployment rate reached 25 percent during the first quarter of 2021, youth unemployment rates reached an unprecedented 50 percent while income losses have escalated further. The pandemic has also been detrimental to the children’s emotional and physical health with rising levels of stressful home environments, unequal access to digital services, food insecurity and lack of education all exacerbating their vulnerabilities.

WFP has been a strategic and operational partner of the Government of Jordan since 1964 assisting vulnerable and food insecure Jordanians and, supporting the national management of the refugee crisis and its consequences. 

WFP’s operations are innovative, rely on new technologies and contribute to the national economy. Jordan was the first country in the world where WFP used the innovative Blockchain technology to support its cash transfers to Syrian refugees.