Egypt Refugee Appeal For Refugees from Africa, Iraq and Yemen 2018 | Page 49

Egypt Response Plan 2018 STRATEGIC VISION & RESPONSE PLAN The objectives for the basic needs and livelihoods programmes: 1. Assistance to the most vulnerable provided to meet basic needs. 2. Self-reliance and safe livelihoods are improved. The focus will remain on the provision of support to refugees with the most socio-economical and protection related vulnerabilities. These refugees will be supported with unconditional cash grants and monthly food vouchers, supplemented where appropriate with conditional grants for education, as well as maternal and child health services. In terms of basic needs, refugees will continue to be supported with multi-purpose unconditional cash, including for unaccompanied children, and seasonal cash grants. This in addition to the promotional education and reproductive health grants. To date, funding has only allowed for the provision of cash grants based on the calculation of a monthly basket of recurrent non- food items (i.e., rent, transportation, communication, hygiene). To ensure that individual food and nutritional needs are more effectively met, funding will be sought to provide a top-up of the cash grant. Also, depending on the available funding, UNHCR and U NICEF plan to jointly provide winterization support to the most vulnerable. WFP plans to provide 20,000 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers with food assistance in the form of a monthly food voucher of approximately USD 22 (periodically adjusted to prevailing market prices and exchange rate). This amount is equivalent to 400 EGP and in line with the current national minimum expenditure basket. Refugees and asylum-seekers will be able to redeem their food assistance in over 50 selected contracted supermarkets located in areas where most refugees are residing. Targeting will be based on vulnerability indicators resulting from periodic socio-economic food security vulnerability assessments. Similar to other interventions, the provision of food assistance depends on the level of available donor contributions. The voucher scheme helps to restore a sense of normalcy and dignity to the lives of refugees and asylum-seekers by allowing them to purchase foods of their choice and thereby meet their individual consumption and nutritional needs more effectively. Given these benefits, the geographic spread of refugees in urban areas and Egypt’s existing infrastructure and functioning local markets, food vouchers were adopted as the primary modality of WFP assistance. In addition, WFP’s nutrition assistance for pregnant and lactating women will be implemented in consultation with national health counterparts and collaboration with selected private clinic operators through the provision of conditional value vouchers for the value of 22 USD (400 EGP) to purchase locally produced high energy food items. Entitlements for assistance will be tied to regular primary healthcare visits with a view to improving nutrition and levels of pre-antenatal care. The livelihoods programmes in 2018 will concentrate on skills development, entrepreneurship and improving access to wage employment. A well-rounded approach is required to facilitate work opportunities that consider decency and protection. In addition, UNHCR plans to collect recent information on the African, Yemeni and Iraqi population to inform better programming. The wage employment track will focus on building skills that are demanded in the labour market and on facilitating refugees’ and asylum-seekers’ access to jobs. Legally registered employers and employment agencies will be profiled, and those who demonstrate perspectives for decent employment will be linked to job seekers from Africa, Yemen, and Iraq. Interventions in specific sectors, such as food processing and the domestic work sector, will be extended within a protection framework. Salary subsidies and six-month on-the-job training and apprenticeship programmes will also be provided, to help people gain experience and increase employability. Livelihood partners will also continue to support refugees in starting their own businesses and provide training and business development services 49