Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Retargeting of UNHCR and WFP Assistance in Host Communities (2023)

UNHCR and WFP must prioritize families in greatest need of assistance, as neither organization has enough resources to help all the families that need support. Only families/persons registered with UNHCR who have a valid Asylum Seeker Certificate (issued by UNHCR and valid for one year) and have valid home visits (valid for two years) can be considered for monthly cash and/or food assistance from either organization.

UNHCR and WFP consider a variety of factors when deciding which families to prioritize for their monthly cash/food assistance. In general, families that are not able to meet their most basic survival needs on their own, have multiple vulnerabilities (e.g., debilitating medical conditions, severe disabilities, caregivers of such persons, etc.), and do not have anyone who is able to work, are the ones that receive the highest priority for UNHCR and WFP cash/food assistance.

UNHCR and WFP rely on the information and updates that refugees provide. We also use the information gathered during home visits to prioritize families for assistance. UNHCR and WFP also consulted extensively with the various refugee groups (e.g., different nationalities and profiles) so that their prioritization criteria are based on refugee feedback and vulnerability priorities. UNHCR and WFP have different funding available for monthly cash assistance. As such, UNHCR is unable to help as many families as WFP. Please note the prioritization criteria used by both organizations are largely the same.

The period of receiving the Joint Appeals has ended on 15-Aug- 2023 and the results of appeals will be shared gradually between the 5^th to 16^th of November for UNHCR results and from 29 October to the 16^th of November for WFP Appeals results, with noting that there is no Appeal on this appeal result. Noting that assistance eligibility criteria depend on the family situation, with priority given to the families most in need. However, for UNHCR or WFP to consider you for assistance, you will need to ensure that:

• Your Asylum Seeker Certificate (issued by UNHCR) is valid and renewed on time.
• You have a valid home visit assessment valid and renewed on time. Please note that the home visits are valid for two years and are conducted by a contractor called (Mindset).
• Your UNHCR registration file is up to date. This means that all births, deaths, marriages, divorces, new medical conditions and/or disabilities, and migration updates should be updated, as needed, within your UNHCR registration file. To update your files, please call UNHCR to arrange an appointment with UNHCR registration.
• Your phone number is correct in your UNHCR file. Please note that you can inform UNHCR about changes to your phone number by calling the UNHCR Helpline (064008000) or by making an appointment with UNHCR.

UNHCR and WFP will share the appeals decisions over the first two weeks of November. They will communicate these results via an SMS.

• UNHCR will send SMS notifications on the UNHCR appeals from 5 – 16 November
• WFP will send SMS notifications on the WFP appeals from 29 October – 16 November

UNHCR and WFP are not accepting further appeals of their joint appeal decisions. As such, there is no need for you to approach UNHCR offices. UNHCR cannot accept walk-in visitors for cash assistance-related matters without an appointment. Please know that to be considered for monthly assistance from UNHCR or WFP, you need to ensure that:

• Your Asylum Seeker Certificate (issued by UNHCR) is valid and renewed on time.
• You have a valid home visit assessment valid and renewed on time. Please note that the home visits are valid for two years and are conducted by a contractor called (Mindset).
• Your UNHCR registration file is up to date. This means that all births, deaths, marriages, divorces, new medical conditions and/or disabilities, and migration updates should be updated, as needed, within your UNHCR registration file. To update your files, please call UNHCR to arrange an appointment with UNHCR registration.
• Your phone number is correct in your UNHCR file. Please note that you can inform UNHCR about changes to your phone number by calling the UNHCR Helpline (064008000) or by making an appointment with UNHCR.

 

UNHCR and WFP are not accepting further appeals of their joint appeal decisions. As such, there is no need for you to approach UNHCR offices. UNHCR cannot accept walk-in visitors for cash assistance-related matters without an appointment. To make an appointment, please call the UNHCR Helpline.

Please know that to be considered for monthly assistance from UNHCR or WFP, you need to ensure that:

• Your Asylum Seeker Certificate (issued by UNHCR) is valid and renewed on time.
• You have a valid home visit assessment valid and renewed on time. Please note that the home visits are valid for two years and are conducted by a contractor called (Mindset).
• Your UNHCR registration file is up to date. This means that all births, deaths, marriages, divorces, new medical conditions and/or disabilities, and migration updates should be updated, as needed, within your UNHCR registration file. To update your files, please call UNHCR to arrange an appointment with UNHCR registration.
• Your phone number is correct in your UNHCR file. Please note that you can inform UNHCR about changes to your phone number by calling the UNHCR Helpline (064008000) or by making an appointment with UNHCR.

UNHCR and/or WFP notify all the families prioritized for cash assistance via SMS. This is why your phone number on file with UNHCR must be correct. Families prioritized for cash and/or food assistance will be notified by UNHCR and/or WFP by SMS. Prioritized families will also receive an SMS notifying them when their assistance transfers have been made.

To check your file’s status for UNHCR cash assistance, you can call the UNHCR Helpline (064008000) and select the ‘Cash Assistance’ option from the menu via the automated response system.

• If you do not have a valid home visit the automated system will inform you that your file “cannot be assessed for cash assistance”. You can request a home visit via the automated response system, and a ticket will be created, and a home visit will be organized for your family.
• If you do not have a valid Asylum Seeker Certificate. the automated system will inform you that your file “cannot be assessed for cash assistance” The system will advise you on how to book an appointment to renew your Asylum Seeker Certificate.

For WFP food assistance eligibility status, you can contact WFP through the following channels:

• WFP Facebook page (Food Assistance for Refugees Registered in Jordan).
• WFP Hotline: 0797778841 – 0797778851.
• Helpdesks are available in all governorates, open at specific times and locations, and are announced monthly on WFP’s Facebook page.

 

UNHCR and WFP consider a variety of factors when deciding which families to prioritize for their monthly cash/food assistance. In general, families that are not able to meet their most basic survival needs on their own, have multiple vulnerabilities (e.g., debilitating medical conditions, severe disabilities, caregivers of such persons, etc.), and do not have anyone who is able to work, are the ones that receive the highest priority for UNHCR and WFP cash/food assistance.

UNHCR and WFP rely on the information and updates that refugees provide. In addition, we use the information that is gathered during home visits to make prioritization decisions. UNHCR and WFP also consulted extensively with the various refugee groups (e.g., different nationalities and profiles) so that their prioritization criteria are based on refugee feedback and vulnerability priorities. UNHCR and WFP have different funding available for monthly cash assistance. As such, UNHCR is unable to help as many families as WFP. Please note the prioritization criteria used by both organizations are mostly the same.

Unfortunately, UNHCR and WFP do not have enough funding to support all families that need this monthly assistance. Therefore, UNHCR and WFP must prioritize which families are to receive this support. As a result, while some families will continue to receive monthly assistance from UNHCR and/or WFP, some families may not.

UNHCR and WFP consider a variety of factors when deciding which families to prioritize for their monthly cash/food assistance. In general, families that are not able to meet their most basic survival needs on their own, have multiple vulnerabilities (e.g., debilitating medical conditions, severe disabilities, caregivers of such persons, etc.), and do not have anyone who is able to work, are the ones that receive the highest priority for UNHCR and WFP cash/food assistance.

UNHCR and WFP rely on the information and updates that refugees provide. In addition, we use the information that is gathered during home visits to make prioritization decisions. UNHCR and WFP also consulted extensively with the various refugee groups (e.g., different nationalities and profiles) so that their prioritization criteria are based on refugee feedback and vulnerability priorities. UNHCR and WFP have different funding available for monthly cash assistance. As such, UNHCR is unable to help as many families as WFP. Please note the prioritization criteria used by both organizations are mostly the same.

Unfortunately, UNHCR and WFP do not have enough funding to support all families that need this monthly assistance. Therefore, UNHCR and WFP must prioritize which families are to receive this support. As a result, while some families will continue to receive monthly assistance from UNHCR and/or WFP, some families may not.

UNHCR and the World Food Programme aim to support as many refugees as possible with the limited resources they have available.  UNHCR aims to help families to meet their most basic survival needs, while WFP aims to help families to improve their food security. While UNHCR and WFP use the same overall approach for prioritizing families for their monthly assistance programmes, they use slightly different criteria in order to meet these objectives, which means that sometimes they help different families.

First, UNHCR and WFP each reviewed all the appeals that were submitted to their organizations. They reviewed the information in the appeals, as well as the case file of those that appealed, to prioritize families based on their capacities to meet their most basic survival needs.

Next, the two organizations came together to compare these case priorities and to make a final decision on which families would be prioritized for monthly assistance, and which would not.  As neither UNHCR nor WFP have sufficient funding to help all families that want help, extremely tough decisions need to be made, and only those families that need this assistance to survive have been prioritized for such assistance.

If you reported changes in your family circumstances in your appeal that were not reflected in your UNHCR case file, the UNHCR registration team should have contacted you to make an appointment to update your file.

If you reported changes in your address and/or living conditions in your appeal, UNHCR’s contractor,  Mindset, should havecontacted you to arrange a call or in-person home visit to update your information in the UNHCR case file.

If that has not happened as expected, call the UNHCR Helpline (064008000) and select the ‘Cash Assistance’ option from the menu via the automated response system to ask about your status.

UNHCR and WFP can only make decisions on the information that is in your case file, including from the home visits.  It is the refugee’s responsibility to make sure that their case file with UNHCR is accurate and up to date, and that their home visits are completed every two years.   As UNHCR and WFP communicate with refugees largely via SMS, it is critical that UNHCR and WFP have your current cell phone number on file.

UNHCR and WFP have limited resources for their monthly assistance programs.  This means that they cannot help everyone that asks for this assistance.  The agencies must prioritize those families in greatest need of this type of assistance for their very survival.

Please not that home visits are required for anyone requesting monthly cash assistance from UNHCR or monthly food assistance from WFP.

You might be contacted to arrange a home visit assessment, depending on your situation. The assessment might be a short phone call or a longer in-person visit to your home.

 

What does the visit include?

• The home visit involves our contractor, Mindset, asking you questions about your family members, your family’s ability to make ends meet, what your living situation is like, etc.
• A phone-based home visit usually lasts about 20 minutes.
• An in-person home visit usually takes longer—about 45 minutes. Please note that all family members must be present during the pre-scheduled home visit.  Our contractor, Mindset, will contact you as needed to set up an in-person home visit appointment.

It is critical that UNHCR and WFP have your correct cell phone number. If the phone number that UNHCR or WFP has on file is incorrect or outdated, you may risk being reported as “unreachable” or “refused the visit”.  This means that your appeal for monthly assistance will not be considered.

 

 

As you may be aware, UNHCR is in the process of updating its targeting approach for its monthly cash assistance programme. This is a complex process, and it takes time to develop a targeting approach that is accurate and that truly prioritizes those refugee families that are in greatest need of cash assistance.  Since July 2023, UNHCR’s targeting model has been updated based on the extensive feedback from the refugee community—whether through online appeals, refugee participation in community meetings, or visits to UNHCR offices. You may have been prioritized for cash assistance based on the July 2023 targeting model; however, with the updated model, it has been found that other families have greater needs at the moment.

As UNHCR has limited funding for this monthly cash assistance programme, it does not have enough money to help everyone that needs or requests it.  UNHCR must therefore priorities those families that need this monthly assistance for their survival

UNHCR considers a wide variety of factors to prioritize which refugee families for UNHCR’s monthly cash assistance programme.

UNHCR relies primarily on UNHCR registration data—that refugees themselves report–and the results of refugee family ‘home visits’–which require the presence of all family members on the case file. UNHCR takes all this information, prioritizes families based on their assessed needs and capacities, and considers family size and characteristics, housing and living conditions, and economic status and earning potential.

Since UNHCR does not have enough funding to support all the refugee families that need monthly financial support, we must prioritize those families with the least capacity and resources to take care of themselves financially. Please note that UNHCR does its best to verify the information refugees report to UNHCR objectively.

UNHCR’s cash assistance is a humanitarian programme that is dependent upon donor funding.  In the past UNHCR has received reliable donor funding for its monthly cash assistance programme.  Looking towards the future, it isn’t clear if this will continue to be the case.

UNHCR urges you to find alternate sources of income, as its ability to provide refugees with cash assistance may change over time. We appreciate that this is not easy.