Egypt Refugee Appeal For Refugees from Africa, Iraq and Yemen 2018 | Page 47

Egypt Response Plan 2018
9
BASIC NEEDS &
LIVELIHOODS
SECTOR RESPONSE
UNHCR is working with the following partners in the basic needs and livelihood sector: the World Food Programme
(WFP), Caritas Egypt, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Plan International. While WFP, CRS and UNHCR jointly
appeal for support of the basic needs and livelihood sector in this document, Caritas Egypt and Plan International
will implement UNHCR’s basic needs and livelihood projects in 2018.
CURRENT SITUATION
Economic and financial reforms at the end of 2016
pushed inflation to a historic peak in June 2017, leading
to increased pressures on households to meet their
basic needs. With more than quarter of the population
living under the national poverty line coupled with an
unemployment rate at 12.5 per cent, jobs and better
economic conditions remain priorities for Egypt’s future.
Although there are evident improvements in the economy,
Egypt continues to face major challenges that include
poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, spatial and social
disparity, gender-based inequality, and environmental
degradation.
Rising inflation in food and non-food prices, fluctuations in
foreign currency reserves and deterioration of exchange
rates remain a risk to food accessibility for vulnerable
people as Egypt is a net food importer. The Food Security
Index developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
shows that Egypt is moderately food secure, while the
national Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) shows
that 15.9 percent of the population have poor access to
food. 10 To respond to these challenges, the Government
implements a large social protection system that provides
food subsidies to vulnerable members of the population,
including pregnant and lactating women, school children,
people with disabilities and the elderly. However, national
safety nets are overstreteched after more than three
years of economic slowdown and do for now not allow
refugees and asylum-seekers to be included under the
national social protection schemes. Nevertheless, there
are encouraging signs of economic recovery in Egypt
including an increase in overseas exports, a resurgence
in the tourism sector, reflecting an expected increase of
the gross domestic product by 5 per cent in 2018. 11
UNHCR provides unconditional multi-purpose cash
assistance to the most vulnerable sub-Saharan
African, Iraqi, and Yemeni refugee families, in efforts to
mitigate against negative coping mechanisms. Those
selected have very low or no sources of income, lack
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adequate social or communal support and have specific
vulnerabilities such as female-headed households,
unaccompanied children, elderly people, and people
living with serious medical conditions or disabilities. Due to
insufficient funding, UNHCR has been constrained to limit
the provision of unconditional cash grants to a monthly
average of 3,500 vulnerable refugee and asylum-seeker
families, covering 9,100 people in 2017.
Households supported with cash grants represent the
most vulnerable, prioritized from an already deprived
population. The need for cash assistance is much greater
than the available funding. The funds disbursed range
from EGP 600 to 1,800, depending on the size and level of
vulnerability of the family, and only cover approximately
40 per cent of their basic nee