United States Provides an Additional $20 million to the World Food Program in Lebanon

July 31, 2015

As part of our commitment and continued support to help those affected by the crisis in Syria, the United States is announcing the provision of more than $20 million to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Lebanon to deliver emergency food assistance to Syrian refugees.

The additional assistance will support WFP's distribution of food vouchers to refugees inside Lebanon.  Since 2013, the voucher program, funded in large part by the United States, has provided critical food assistance to refugees while also contributing approximately $1 billion to the economies of Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and Iraq.  The funding will bolster the Lebanese economy and reduce the strain placed on communities that have generously opened their doors to Syrian refugees.

The United States is the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian crisis, providing more than $4 billion in humanitarian aid, which includes over $1.2 billion in food assistance. USAID has contributed $311 million to the World Food Program in Lebanon since the beginning of the crisis in Syria.