A Bradford-based international aid charity is distributing food coupons to support 5,000 refugees in a camp in Jordan.

The Emirates Jordanian Camp, home to 1,500 Syrian refugees, has been built specifically for widows, children and the families of those killed by violence in Syria. By the end of this month, it will reach its capacity of 5,000 people.

International programmes director for the NGO Human Relief Foundation, Dr Salah Daak, said: “It is a great honour to have been given a project on this scale. HRF has been working with Syrian refugees since the conflict began. We have been providing thousands of refugees with food coupons to cover cost of three meals per day every month in Jordan. Now a further 5,000 refugees a month will receive food through HRF programmes.”

The food vouchers are given to refugees living in the camp, which can be exchanged for dairy products, meat, chicken, fish, fruit and vegetables – items which are not included in ordinary food rations.

The hope is to replace the practice of handing out meals and instead give out vouchers, which research shows reserves the dignity of beneficiaries.

HRF has also received funding to carry out a conflict sensitivity and peace building project in the country, and is working towards the safe delivery of Syrian refugee babies by funding maternity care for pregnant refugee mothers.

It says a gift of £80 offers women the chance to have their children in a hospital. Where it not for these donations, they would be left to give birth in unsanitary refugee camps, where the risk to mother and baby are much higher.