KSRelief supports WFP to provide vital food assistance in Yemen and Bangladesh
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$18.6 million contribution from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief) which will be used to provide urgent food assistance in Yemen and to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in the Cox’s Bazar area in Bangladesh.
“WFP is grateful for KSRelief’s timely support for our response to both crises and values our ongoing partnership with the centre,” said Abdallah Al-Wardat, WFP Director in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Region. “We have been working with KSRelief since its establishment and look forward to continuing our partnership to reach people most in need.”
Within the overall contribution, US$17.6 million will be used to provide monthly food assistance for nearly 500,000 people in Yemen for three months through food rations or vouchers. Yemen is facing one of the worst hunger crises in the world, with nearly 18 million people not knowing where their next meal is coming from.
The remaining US$1 million will enable WFP to provide food assistance to some 28,000 vulnerable Rohingya refugees for three months. More than 880,000 Rohingya refugees live in camps in the Cox’s Bazar area – one of the poorest districts of Bangladesh – and continue to need urgent assistance.
“We are quite satisfied with the ongoing partnership with WFP, and this agreement will support the urgent humanitarian needs of the Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh,” said Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Advisor to the Royal Court and Supervisor General of KSRelief. “The second agreement comes as part of the centre’s cooperation with WFP to provide immediate, comprehensive and sustainable support to avert famine in Yemen.”
The agreements were signed during a ceremony in Riyadh in the presence of KSRelief Supervisor General Dr. Al Rabeeah and WFP GCC Director Al-Wardat.
KSRelief is the institution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia tasked with coordination of the country’s international relief efforts. Since its inception in 2015, KSRelief has contributed over US$200 million to WFP for food assistance programmes in more than 20 countries.
“We seek to strengthen our partnership in the field of humanitarian action to fight hunger and provide emergency food assistance as well as improve the nutritional status of the world's needy,” added Dr. Al Rabeeah.
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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Reem Nada, WFP/Cairo, Tel. +201066634522
Shelley Thakral, WFP/Bangladesh, Tel. +8801755642150
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