With the rapid rise in numbers of refugees at the end of the 1970s and the protracted nature of most large-scale operations, levels of emergency food aid supplied to refugees increased dramatically during the 1980s. Approximately 50 per cent of the total food relief provided to refugees in this period was channelled through the multilateral International Emergency Food Reserve (IEFR), administered by WFP. However, as an emergency facility the IEFR was not appropriate for supplying the non-emergency needs of protracted refugee feeding operations. The modalities of the IEFR, and, importantly, the actual support provided to it by donors, made its use for protracted and very large emergencies problematic, adding greatly to the work of instigating and sustaining supplies at camp level and contributing to deficiencies of quantity, quality and timeliness of food assistance to refugees. Although food aid provided by WFP for protracted refugee operations is now resourced separately from the IEFR, food aid provided through multilateral channels remains subject to ways in which bilateral donors resource those channels. © 1992 Oxford University Press.

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food aid Refugees International Emergency Food Reserve aid provision