Royal directives: Social Development Ministry begins distributing food vouchers to 30k families

AMMAN — Under directives from His Majesty King Abdullah, the Ministry of Social Development on Tuesday began distributing magnetic food cards to 30,000 underprivileged families.

The cards are being distributed in governorates across the Kingdom to unemployed workers, daily wage workers and those benefitting from Royal initiatives for the housing of underprivileged families, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The initiative previously targetted underprivileged families, the elderly, orphans and people with disabilities. This year, however, it includes the unemployed and daily wage workers whose work was interrupted due to the coronavirus crisis, Petra said.

Earlier in the month, His Majesty King Abdullah directed the government to find solutions for protecting daily wage workers, who play a vital role in building the country, meeting their basic needs and improving their living conditions.

According to the Social Development Ministry, the prepaid magnetic cards enable beneficiaries to buy JD100-worth of food supplies from military and civil service consumer corporation branches across the Kingdom.

Beneficiaries of the Royal initiative are chosen based on a unified national registry at the National Aid Fund and the civil registry, Petra reported.

The food assistance initiative will cover the needs of each family for a six-month period and will be distributed twice — on the occasion of His Majesty King Abdullah’s birthday and the holy month of Ramadan — to cover families’ needs for a total of one year, Petra said.

These initiatives are carried out through partnership between the Royal Hashemite Court and concerned bodies and institutions.