Sharjah: The Sharjah-based humanitarian project, The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), has teamed up with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to meet the vital food needs of 17,000 of the poorest non-refugees in the Gaza Strip for one month.
Through this partnership, TBHF will help WFP transfer funds in the form of food electronic cards to families in need. The food card allows families to buy nutritious food of their choice at retailers in their neighbourhoods partnering with WFP.
Food e-cards or WFP’s Cash Based Transfers (CBTs) contribute to supporting the local economy, including 75 local retailers and food producers and processors. More than $110 million (Dh404.02 million) has been invested in Palestine’s economy through CBTs since 2011.
“The Big Heart Foundation works to alleviate hardships experienced by Arab families across the globe and is continuously involved in assessing programmes that it could help with,” said Mariam Al Hammadi, director of TBHF’s ‘Salam Ya Seghar’ initiative.
“We were attracted to this particular project because it provides food for those in need and, most importantly, it does so by providing them with choice,” she said.
WFP’s CBT programme in Palestine is providing financial support to more than 170,000 non-refugees, including around 72,000 people living in the five governorates of the Gaza Strip. “There is a real need for assistance in the Gaza Strip, as more than 75 per cent of households that WFP assist include children and women. Women are sole or primary earners in approximately 25 per cent of households WFP provides assistance to, and many of them are elderly, have health issues or special needs. By teaming up with the WFP we know that we are working with an organisation that is best able to identify the families most in need of assistance,” added Al Hammadi.
