World Food Programme

"WFP" redirects here. For other uses, see WFP (disambiguation).

World Food Programme

The World Food Programme logo and the headquarters in Rome
Abbreviation	WFP
Formation	19 December 1961 (1961-12-19)
Type	Intergovernmental organization, Regulatory body, Advisory board
Legal status	Active
Headquarters	Rome, Italy
Head	David Beasley
Parent organization	United Nations General Assembly
Website	wfp.org
Politics portal

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. According to the WFP, it provides food assistance to an average of 91.4 million people in 83 countries each year. From its headquarters in Rome and from more than 80 country offices around the world, the WFP works to help people who cannot produce or obtain enough food for themselves and their families. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group and part of its executive committee.

It is a priority of the World Food Programme to work towards the Sustainable Development Goal 2 which aims to achieve "zero hunger" by 2030. This is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015 and aspires to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture". The consequences of hunger and malnutrition cause poor health and also slow progress in many other areas of sustainable development like education (Sustainable Development Goal 4) and employment (Sustainable Development Goal 8).

The World Food Programme was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.

History

WFP was established in 1961 after the 1960 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference, when George McGovern, director of the US Food for Peace Programmes, proposed establishing a multilateral food aid programme. The WFP launched its first programs in 1963 by the FAO and the United Nations General Assembly on a three-year experimental basis, supporting the Nubian population at Wadi Halfa in Sudan. In 1965, the programme was extended to a continuing basis.

Background

The WFP works across a broad spectrum of Sustainable Development Goals. This is because food shortages, hunger and malnutrition cause poor health, which subsequently impacts on progress in other areas of sustainable development, such as education, employment and poverty (Sustainable Development Goals Four, Eight and One).

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and lockdown has placed significant pressure on agricultural production, disrupted global value and supply chain. Subsequently, this raises issues of malnutrition and inadequate food supply to households with the poorest of them all gravely affected. This is causing "132 million more people to suffer from undernourishment in 2020".

Funding

WFP operations are funded by voluntary donations principally from governments of the world, and also from corporations and private donors. In 2018, funding was US$7.2 billion, of which the largest donors were the United States government ($2.5 billion) and the European Union ($1.1 billion). Donor contributions were largely channelled into the highest-level, conflict-driven hunger crises, leaving less to address lower-profile emergencies, or for strategic work.

Organization

Leadership and staff

David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme

The WFP is governed by an executive board which consists of representatives from 36 member states. David Beasley, previously Governor of the U.S. state of South Carolina, was appointed executive director in March 2017, having been appointed jointly by the UN Secretary-General and the Director-General of the FAO for a five-year term. He heads the secretariat of the WFP, which is headquartered in Rome. The European Union is a permanent observer in the WFP and, as a major donor, participates in the work of its executive board.

In 2018, the WFP had 17,000 staff.

Logistics Cluster

The Logistics Cluster is an Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) humanitarian coordination mechanism whose primary role is supporting emergency responses. One of eleven sectoral coordination bodies, it was set by UN General Assembly resolution 46/182 in December 1991 and extended in the Humanitarian Reform of 2005, with new elements adopted to improve capacity, predictability, accountability, leadership and partnership.

The Logistics Cluster provides coordination and information management services to support operational decision-making and improve the predictability, timeliness and efficiency of humanitarian emergency responses. Where necessary, the Logistics Cluster also facilitates access to common logistics services. Due to its expertise in the field of humanitarian logistics, the World Food Programme (WFP) was chosen by the IASC as the lead agency for the Logistics Cluster. WFP hosts the Global Logistics Cluster support team in its headquarters in Rome. WFP also acts as a ‘provider of last resort’ offering common logistics services, when critical gaps hamper the humanitarian response.

Activities

United Nations C-130 Hercules transports deliver food for the Rumbek region of southern Sudan (2004).

The WFP unloads humanitarian aid at the Freeport of Monrovia during Joint Task Force Liberia (2003).

Examples of programmes

• In 2008 the WFP coordinated the five-year Purchase for Progress (P4P) pilot project. P4P assists smallholding farmers by offering them opportunities to access agricultural markets and to become competitive players in the marketplace. The project spanned across 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and trained 800,000 farmers in improved agricultural production, post-harvest handling, quality assurance, group marketing, agricultural finance, and contracting with the WFP. The project resulted in 366,000 metric tons of food produced and generated more than US$148 million in income for its smallholder farmers.
• In 2010 the WFP responded to the 2010 Haiti earthquake by distributing food aid only to women, as experience built up over almost five decades of working in emergency situations has demonstrated that giving food only to women helps to ensure that it is spread evenly among all household members. School-feeding and/or take-home ration programmes in 71 countries help students focus on their studies and encourage parents to send their children, especially girls, to school.
• In 2017 the WFP launched the Building Blocks programme. It aims to distribute money-for-food assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan. The project uses blockchain technology to digitize identities and allow refugees to receive food with eye scanning.
• In 2020 the WFP was feeding more than 12 million Yemenis a month, 80% of whom were in areas controlled by Houthi forces.

Emergency Response procedures

The WFP has a system of classifications known as the Emergency Response Procedures designed for situations that require immediate response. This response is activated under the following criteria:

1. When human suffering exists and domestic governments cannot respond adequately
2. The United Nations reputation is under scrutiny
3. When there is an obvious need for aid from the WFP

The Emergency Response Classifications are divided as follows, with emergency intensity increasing with each level:

• Level 1 – Response is activated. Resources are allocated to prepare for the WFP's local office to respond
• Level 2 – A country's resources require regional assistance with an emergency across one or multiple countries/territories
• Level 3 (L3) – The emergency overpowers the WFP's local offices and requires a global response from the entire WFP organisation

Partnerships and initiatives

The WFP coordinates and cooperates with a number of official partners in emergencies and development projects. These partners include national government agencies such as DFID, ECHO, EuropeAid, USAID; UN agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); non-governmental organizations such as Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services and Norwegian Refugee Council; as well as corporate partners such as Boston Consulting Group, DSM N.V., and Cargill.

Recognition and awards

The World Food Programme won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its “efforts for combating hunger”, its “contribution to creating peace in conflicted-affected areas,” and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.

Reception

Ineffectiveness of aid

Kenyan economist James Shikwati said in a 2005 interview with Der Spiegel: "aid to Africa does more harm than good". According to him, the food aid increases corruption as local politicians have the opportunity to steal some of the aid to bribe voters or to sell the aid in the black markets killing the local agriculture. He claims that the WFP people as an organization "are in the absurd situation of, on the one hand, being dedicated to the fight against hunger while, on the other hand, being faced with unemployment were hunger actually eliminated". He suggests that WFP answers too easily to the calls of the corrupted governments.

Shikwati also suggests the WFP supplies too much of food aid leading to reduction of the production of local farmers as "no one can compete with the UN's World Food Programme".

Internal culture

Some surveys have shown internal culture problems at WFP, including harassment.

List of executive directors

The following is a chronological list of those who have held the Executive Director of the World Food Programme position:

1. Addeke Hendrik Boerma (Netherlands) (May 1962–December 1967)
2. Sushil K. Dev (India) (January 1968–August 1968) (acting)
3. Franciso Aquino (El Salvador) (July 1968–May 1976)
4. Thomas C. M. Robinson (United States) (May 1976–June 1977 acting; July 1977–September 1977)
5. Garson N. Vogel (Canada) (October 1977–April 1981)
6. Bernardo de Azevedo Brito (Brazil) (May 1981–February 1982) (acting)
7. Juan Felipe Yriart (Uruguay) (February 1982–April 1982) (acting)
8. James Ingram (United States) (April 1982–April 1992)
9. Catherine Bertini (United States) (April 1992–April 2002)
10. James T. Morris (United States) (April 2002–April 2007)
11. Josette Sheeran (United States) (April 2007–April 2012)
12. Ertharin Cousin (United States) (April 2012–April 2017)
13. David Beasley (United States) (April 2017–present)

See also

• Asia Emergency Response Facility
• Fight Hunger
• Food Force, an educational game
• Walk the World
• World Food Council

External links

• Official website World Food Programme
• World Food Programme on Nobelprize.org