BCF, LDS distribute food parcels to over 10,000 families across Kurdistan Region, disputed areas

The Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF), in cooperation with Latter-day Saint (LDS) Charities, announced on Wednesday a new program for food distribution to 10,000 families across provinces in the Kurdistan Region as well as disputed territories between the regional and federal government.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF), in cooperation with Latter-day Saint (LDS) Charities, announced on Wednesday a new program for food distribution to 10,000 families across provinces in the Kurdistan Region as well as disputed territories between the regional and federal government.  

The joint program by the BCF and the LDS is intended to support low-income families whose livelihoods have taken a hit due to the COVID-19 curfew and lockdown measures, put in place by both the Kurdistan Region and Iraq to curb the spread of the virus, according to a statement on the BCF website.

The food aid will reach families in need in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok provinces as well as disputed territories in Diyala, Kirkuk, and Mosul provinces, the BCF said.

The BCF will distribute the aid door-to-door in each province, according to the organization’s media center.

“The parcels contained essential food items that are necessary for a family of five to seven members,” Rawaj Haji, the director of BCF Media and Research Center, noted, adding that each 25-kilogram parcel contained “sugar, rice, cooking oil, tomato paste, and bulgur” that will feed them for 10 to 15 days.

In late June, the two charity groups, BCF and LDS, delivered food aid to a refugee camp named Barika, in the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province, which shelters a significant number of Syrian-Kurdish refugees who have fled the Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011. 

Read More: BCF, LDS distribute 2,000 food parcels to Syrian refugees in Sulaimani province

The BCF usually provides food and necessary assistance to vulnerable communities in partnership with international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as government entities.

In mid-June, Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration, in coordination with the BCF, delivered food packages to over 900 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Bahrka IDP camp in Erbil province.

Read More: BCF, Iraqi displacement ministry deliver aid to IDP camp in Erbil                                                       

The BCF is one of the most active humanitarian NGOs in Kurdistan, and it regularly provides substantial amounts of aid to displaced persons and refugees in Iraq, the Kurdistan Region, and northern Syria. It also has multiple programs which aim to improve the lives of displaced children.

The organization was founded in 2005, shortly after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. In its own words, it “strives to honor the great legacy of Mulla Mustafa Barzani, the leader of the Kurdish Liberation Movement and influencer of the contemporary Kurdish nation.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany