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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - - Last summer’s war in the Gaza Strip saw thousands killed and tens of thousands homeless. During the 52 day conflict, an innovative programme by the World Food Programme(WFP) and Ramallah-based tech firm OFFTEC provided a lifeline to 300,000 conflict affected people.

When their house was heavily damaged as a result of shelling, Reem and her husband Mo`een, together with their three children, were forced to seek shelter in the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. “We received at the hospital an electronic voucher from WFP to purchase food and sanitary items in a shop right next to the hospital”, Reem said.

The WFP-OFFTEC partnership began in 2010, and led to WFP country offices moving to vouchers around the world. The e-voucher cards enable WFP to efficiently reach hungry people in places where food is available in local markets and yet unaffordable.

OFFTEC`s solution has the idea of transforming coupon/physical vouchers into an automatic electronic and online system. “We are proud of our partnership with WFP whose staff risk their lives to make sure food is distributed to the needy.”said Jamil Daher, head of OFFTEC Palestine.

The innovative characteristic of the e-voucher system was particularly mirrored during the latest Gaza conflict through unique partnerships that were weaved between WFP and other UN agencies, such as UNICEF, and NGOs like Helpage. It allowed providing conflict-affected people, in addition to WFP`s food assistance, non-food basics such as water, hygiene, sanitary items, and school uniforms.

Innovation is integral to WFP`s vision to end hunger worldwide. In Palestine,WFP`s strategy is to support the Palestinian Authority to use new and innovative approaches to sustainably build food security, focusing on three pillars: relief, resilience and national capacity building and preparedness. The e-voucher programme has substantially contributed to this holistic approach.

“Effectiveness means a greater and sustainable impact”, says Daniela Owen, WFP Country Director and Representative in Palestine. “Our longstanding e-voucher partnership with OFFTEC has promoted the humanitarian act of food assistance to build economic resilience by linking safety nets to local production”, Owen underlines.

For more information on WFP: http://www.wfp.org/

For more information on OFFTEC: http://www.offtec.com/