Ref. Ares(2018)3412189 - 27/06/2018
Ref. Ares(2018)4147635 - 07/08/2018
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Monthly Report on the European Commission’s Milk Contribution to Syria
March 2017
1. Background
WFP Syria has been implementing a school meals programme since 2014, and it has gradually
been scaled up in different parts of the country. The assistance has traditionally consisted of
providing a fortified date bar to children in supported schools, which were selected based on
a high prevalence of food insecurity, high number of IDPs and low education indicators.
In 2016, the European Commission made a contribution to WFP’s school meal programme in
Syria that allows WFP to procure 17,500 mt of UHT milk produced in the EU. The milk will be
used in combination with fortified date bars, and will be distributed across two academic
years (2016-17 and 2017-18) to children in schools across Syria.
Each child will receive 200 ml of UHT milk (120 kcal), as well as 80 gram of fortified date bars
(340 kcal), bringing the total kcal delivery to almost 500 kcal; 30 percent of the daily energy
requirement for school children. To ensure delivery of a comprehensive assistance, WFP
targets schools already assisted by UNICEF through trainings, teaching material and school
supplies.
In January 2017, WFP made the decision to include a quantity of the procured milk into the
general food assistance (GFA) programme targeting children from 5 to 12 years of age. This
decision was necessitated by operational factors mainly linked to the short shelf life of the
milk. Following a modification request in March 2017, WFP and ECHO agreed that the amount
of milk reallocated to GFA will not exceed a total of ten percent, or five percent per each
academic year, of the total milk tonnage to be procured and distributed under this action
(17,500 mt). Any milk reallocated to the GFA programme will be distributed in areas with a
high concentration of IDPs and may also be used for inter-agency convoys to hard-to-reach
and besieged areas. There are currently no plans to distribute milk in areas covered by cross-
border operations from Jordan and Turkey, as WFP and UNICEF are currently not supporting
schools in these areas.
2. General Accomplishments
During the month of March, WFP dispatched 1,173.193 MT of milk to schools under WFP’s
school feeding programme, benefitting 258,868 children across Syria. No milk was distributed
under the GFA programme in March.
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In total, 4,153.394 MT of milk has been dispatched since the beginning of the programme in
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late 2016, of which 3,670.577 MT has been dispatched under the School Feeding programme
and 482.697 MT under the GFA programme.
Dispatches of Milk in March 2017
Dispatched to Schools
Allocated to GFA
Quantity of milk dispatched
1,173.193 MT
0
in March
Number of children
benefitting from the
258,868
0
dispatched milk in March
Cumulative quantity
dispatched since the
3,670.577 MT
482.697 MT
beginning of the programme
2. Challenges
Bureaucratic hurdles and operational constraints remained the biggest challenge that WFP
faced during the reporting period. Due to the absence of facilitation letters to dispatch milk
to schools in Rural Damascus governorate, WFP was able to dispatch for only half of the
caseload of the planned caseload of approximately 200,000 children in the governorate.
Likewise, in As-Sweida governorate, WFP was unable to commence with the planned
expansion of the School Meals programme for a total of 60,000 children due to a lack of
facilitation letters. Lastly, in Tartous, logistical constraints resulted in a delay in dispatches in
the governorate.
3. Any Other Updates
WFP conducted trainings in both Dar’a and As-Sweida governorates to sensitize school
principals and teachers in storage and handling of milk at school level. This training is part of
WFP’s standard capacity building module that is repeated bi-annually in each targeted
governorate on storage, handling, implementation, orientation of the programme and
reporting requirements.