Syrian refugees shop for food through assistance from Canadian Foodgrains Bank
WINNIPEG, Man. -- “Just like going to Safeway.”
That’s how Joan Barkman, a Program Officer at Canadian Foodgrains Bank, describes how Syrian refugees living in Lebanon get food from the organization to feed their families.
In August, Barkman and Foodgrains Bank Executive Director Jim Cornelius visited a store participating in a voucher program being implemented by Foodgrains Bank member agency Mennonite Central Committee.
While there, they observed refugees shopping for needed food and other household goods, going up and down the aisles with shopping carts.
“It was like a normal day at the grocery store,” says Barkman, even if the larger situation facing the refugees “is anything but normal”—a reference to how they have fled fighting in that country, finding shelter wherever they can.
During a conversation with the store owner, he told them that the voucher program was working well.
“He felt there was good oversight,” she said, adding that merchants also keep an eye on purchasers—if someone comes into a store more than once in a month with a voucher, it’s a flag that they may be using purchased or stolen vouchers.
The stores themselves are monitored by local partner agencies, which visit participating stores on a regular basis to check for quality. They also check to make sure the refugees aren’t being charged more than other customers.
“It’s not a big concern,” Barkman says of worries that refugees might be charged more. “The prices being paid by refugees are the same ones being paid by everyone else. The prices are right on the products for everyone to see.”
As for what recipients can buy, “the vouchers can only be used to buy approved products,” she says. “Alcohol and cigarettes are excluded.”
The monitoring continues after purchases are made. To be paid, merchants need to attach the receipt to the voucher and then submit it to MCC’s Lebanese partner, Popular Aid for Relief and Development (PARD). Staff at PARD examine the receipts to ensure only approved items are being purchased.
“Vouchers aren’t the solution for every food crisis, but they make sense in Lebanon and Jordan where there is a lot of food available in stores,” says Foodgrains Bank International Programs Director Grant Hillier.
Noting that the Foodgrains Bank usually provides actual food in other countries, Hillier goes on to say that vouchers are a more appropriate response in this situation.
The refugees, he says, “are mostly middle income people who have fled their homes in towns and cities. They are accustomed to getting their food at a grocery store—giving them a bag of grain or flour and cooking oil would not be helpful.”
In addition to providing $1.8 million for MCC’s voucher project, the Foodgrains Bank has also provided $782,000 for a combined voucher and food basket project being implemented by member agency World Renew through its local partner, the Lebanese Society for Educational & Social Development.
Altogether, the Foodgrains Bank has committed $5.2 million to help people affected by the conflict in Syria. This response is made possible with financial support from the government of Canada.
People who would like to support the Foodgrains Bank’s efforts to help people affected by the fighting in can go to the Syria Crisis Appeal page at http://foodgrainsbank.ca/syria_crisis_appeal.aspx to make a donation.
