I think we are all in agreement that the biggest challenge we have is getting access to the people who need us the most. I've been very concerned about the situation of the people in the governorates controlled partially or fully by ISIL.
This is a country that has two or three generations who expect to get their food. If you give them cash, they don't buy food; they buy other things. There is a social conditioning that leads them to expect. There has been no public distribution system distributions in these governorates in some places for 12 months.
We talk a lot to the truck drivers who go into these areas. Trade continues, so there is some food going down there, but we don't know how much, and we don't know what the situation is actually like when you get off the main arteries. Where there are markets, the trucks go in. We're looking at doing this remote monitoring, as I mentioned to you.
The other challenge is reaching the people we need to reach and making sure our assistance continues to go to them. Funding is something I'm going to begin to worry about now. We have sufficient finances to keep our cash and voucher programs going only until May of this year. For people who receive a voucher, the imperative is not to have the cash now. But for people who don't have access to markets and who need food, I need three months in order to put these parcels together and bring them in. So money is an issue. Of course, it always is.
These are the things Canada can do. You are one of our biggest partners. You partner with us in a number of ways. Yesterday when I was talking to my counterparts here, we also talked about the possibility of Canada coming in and giving us experts. We need to start targeting and doing some assessments. Then we can bring in Canadian partners to help us with that. It makes our credibility better when we have our donor partners. It gives us different perspectives. I think it is very important for Canada to keep a high level of conversation regarding the humanitarian situation when we are talking about political and potentially military conflict. It is very important—as Ms. Amos, the emergency relief coordinator, has said—that politicians remember that there are people on the ground who are impacted by their actions. If that is something that Canada can do, we are certainly very grateful for that.
Thank you.