Country Brief, December 2021 - WFP Iraq

Operational Context

In Iraq, intermittent conflict and impact of climate change continues to affect the lives of people of Iraq. Alongside the return of families from camps, that continues since 2018, the situation and needs of internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees remain precarious. WFP Iraq’s assistance focuses on saving lives, changing lives: supporting the Government of Iraq's social protection work towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2: Zero Hunger. The challenges of rebuilding infrastructure, providing basic services, promoting social cohesion, creating jobs, developing skills, opportunities for youth and working towards gender equality whilst maintaining security have impeded the country’s efforts to make progress on the SDGs.

WFP’s Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2020-2024 in Iraq has an allencompassing goal of supporting the Government of Iraq to accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, shifting WFP’s role from implementing to enabling and capacity strengthening. This is critical in transitioning from crisis response to resilience building, and for longer-term peace and development. Mainstreaming gender-transformative and nutrition-sensitive programming is also key.

The first case of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 was recorded in Iraq in February 2020. Given the ongoing cases reported by the Ministry of Health, WFP and its partners continue to take additional measures to safeguard the health and wellbeing of people assisted. Supporting vulnerable families is even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has negatively impacted upon people’s food security.