Working Together to Solve Hunger

							Fighting Hunger Worldwide




                            Working Together
                            to Solve Hunger
The Hungry Billion
About one billion people across the world struggle to get the food they need to lead
healthy and productive lives. Some need food assistance because they have fled their
homes in the face of war or civil strife. Others may be the victims of natural disasters such
as floods, droughts, earthquakes or hurricanes. Even in times of peace and tranquillity,
access to food becomes a challenge when prices shoot up, and more people fall into the
hunger trap because they cannot afford to buy the food they need.

WFP helps nations build food and nutrition safety nets to protect lives and livelihoods,
ensuring that the weak and the vulnerable – especially children – get the right food at
the right time.
WFP/Stephanie Savariaud/Ghana
                                   WFP/Boris Heger/Bolivia




                                                             WFP/Stevie Mann/Sudan
WFP/Mohamed Siddig/Sudan   WFP/Shehzad Noorani/Bangladesh
Fighting hunger worldwide
Every year, WFP provides food assistance to more than 90 million people in
over 70 of the world’s poorest countries. WFP’s unique role as the United Nations
frontline agency for hunger means it is present in some of the most remote,
dangerous and neglected corners of the world.

WFP provides emergency food assistance in the aftermath of natural or man-made
disasters and supports food assistance programmes that bridge the gap between
relief and recovery, helping communities to build a better future.

WFP targets food assistance at the hungriest of the hungry, protecting livelihoods,
providing nutritious food to those who cannot feed themselves and bringing
stability to communities engulfed in turmoil.
 WFP/Rein Skullerud/Pakistan
Getting food to those who need
it most
When disaster strikes, the humanitarian community relies on WFP to take the lead
and provide the trucks, planes, ships and helicopters to move staff and supplies to
where they are needed. If trucks are not available, WFP will use donkeys, elephants
and even yaks to carry relief items to the hungry. WFP also has the responsibility in
the UN system to provide emergency communications support, so that in the midst
of a crisis, aid workers can talk to each other and ensure a coordinated response.
WFP’s rigorous assessment process helps us to identify exactly where the hungry are
and what they need. Once our programmes are up and running, careful monitoring
and evaluation ensures that food assistance is delivered efficiently and effectively.
                                                                 WFP/Laura Melo/Nepal




                                                                                        WFP/Vanessa Vick/Uganda
WFP/Jim Farrell/Haiti




                                    WFP/Antonia Paradela/Sudan




                                                                                        WFP/Alejandro Chicheri/Afghanistan
Funded by you
Every cent counts because WFP depends entirely on voluntary contributions to
support its life-saving work. Most of our funding comes from governments, but
private corporations and members of the public are providing growing support –
both financially and through the sharing of expertise. Governments, the private
sector and individuals give because they trust WFP to use their money wisely.
Accountability is paramount and WFP provides donors with evidence to show that
their support is going directly towards feeding the hungry.
The right food at the right time
Good nutrition is the foundation on which life is built. By focusing on
providing the right nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life – from
the womb to two years of age – WFP can help lay the foundations that help
a child to grow into a healthy adult. Ensuring that children worldwide have
a healthy start in life is not only a worthy goal, it is in our global interest.
Our nutrition policy targets young children with nutritionally-enhanced
supplementary foods that pack an extra punch when it comes to delivering
the vitamins and minerals that children need to reach their full physical
and intellectual potential. Investing in nutrition is an investment in the
next generation.
                        Nourishing future generations
                        For children over the age of two, WFP’s   1,000 days plus                           approach
                        supports school meals programmes that provide a nutritious, healthy meal or snack
                        to an average of 22 million children in more than 60 countries every year. The daily
                        school meals provide a strong incentive for parents to send their children to school
                        and allow the children to focus on their studies, rather than their empty stomachs.
                        Schools are the centre of many communities in the developing world and school
                        meals programmes connect teachers, parents, cooks, children, farmers and local
                        markets. School meals can break the cycle of hunger, poverty and child exploitation
                        in the world’s poorest countries, helping to build a better future for the next
                        generation.
WFP/Marc Hofer/Uganda




                                                                                                                       WFP/Simona Palenga/Afghanistan
                                                                             WFP/Hilary Heuler/Cape Verde




                                                                                                                       WFP/Alejandro Chicheri/Haiti
Country-led solutions to hunger
WFP works closely with governments helping them to take ownership of
programmes designed to improve access to nutritious food. WFP plays a supporting
role, providing expertise and resources to support country-led initiatives to develop
food and nutrition safety nets. School meals programmes are among an array of
different country-led food security plans. One of the strengths of the school meals
programme is that governments can themselves take over from WFP when they
have the capacity to do so. In recent years, Cape Verde, Georgia and Azerbaijan have
joined more than 40 countries that have assumed responsibility for national school
meals programmes that were previously run by WFP.




                                                                                        WFP/James Giambrone/Nepal
                                                                                          WFP/Rika Morioka/Myanmar
                                                              WFP/James Giambrone/Nepal




                                                                                          WFP/Marc Hofer/Uganda
                             WFP/Susannah Nicol/Afghanistan




Food in the hands of women
Almost two-thirds of the world’s chronically hungry people are women and girls.
Although women are often the main victims of hunger, they are also the most able to
provide ways out of hunger. In many countries, women farmers form the backbone
of the agricultural economy, hoeing the fields, sowing the seeds and harvesting the
crops that put food on the tables. WFP works to improve women’s access to food
and sustainable livelihoods by implementing food-for-work and food-for-training
programmes that take into consideration their distinct needs and priorities.
Working together
WFP works in partnership with governments and alongside other UN agencies to
mobilise the optimum response to humanitarian crises. The three Rome-based food
agencies, WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) work together on hunger solutions,
while WFP also coordinates its response to disasters with the Red Cross and Red
Crescent movement and around 2,400 non-governmental organisations – from the
large international agencies such as World Vision, Save the Children and CARE to
smaller national organisations. Using our logistics muscle and deep-field presence,
we provide vital support to the community of humanitarian agencies, in a
collaborative effort that is essential for smooth-running relief operations.

                                                                      WFP/Alejandro Chicheri/Haiti




                                                                                                     WFP/Rein Skullerud/Haiti
                                          WFP/James Giambrone/Nepal




                                                                                                         UNHCR/Roger Arnold/Haiti
Innovations to beat hunger
WFP is at the forefront of the quest to find innovative hunger solutions, designing
and testing programmes that deliver better results for hungry people. Technological
advances now allow us to deliver cash or food vouchers to the hungry via text
messages on mobile phones. In countries where drought or floods are an annual
hazard, WFP has been looking at options to provide index-based weather insurance
schemes.

We are also working with governments and the private sector to develop new
nutritionally-enhanced food products that will provide local solutions to hunger,
broadening the array of tools that WFP can use to combat undernutrition.




                                                                                      WFP/Tim Goudrian/Zambia
Purchase for Progress
Purchase for Progress (P4P) is an innovative WFP initiative that helps smallholder
farmers by offering them opportunities to access agricultural markets and to
become competitive players in the marketplace. P4P links WFP’s need for food
commodities with the technical expertise of a wide range of partners to help build
the capacity of farmers’ organizations to access credit, increase agricultural
production, and improve their ability to deliver a high quality product to markets.
P4P aims to transform the way WFP purchases food in developing countries and
offers a stable market outlet for smallholder farmers. By raising farmers’ incomes,
P4P aims to turn WFP’s local procurement of food for the hungry into a vital tool
that will result in long-term solutions to hunger and poverty.
                                     WFP/Charlie Barnwell/Mozambique
Protecting communities against
disasters
Preparedness is an important investment against man-made and natural
disasters. It buys WFP valuable time to respond and gives vulnerable people a
buffer against the repeated crises which strip away their resilience and push them
deeper into hunger. Working with governments and communities to reduce risks
and to plan ahead for potential emergencies saves lives and livelihoods. Our
changing climate means weather patterns are increasingly erratic and the threat
of hunger is multiplied. WFP has developed sophisticated tools to help its
partners prepare for natural hazards and to take the best actions possible to limit
their impact.




                                                                                      WFP/Michael Huggins/Mozambique
   WFP/Vanessa Vick/Uganda
                                                                            Printed: December 2010 - Photo credits: front cover: WFP/Alejandro Chicheri/Afghanistan; back cover: WFP/Richard Lee/Sudan
WFP’s five goals

• Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies
• Prevent acute hunger and invest in disaster preparedness and mitigation
• Restore and rebuild lives and livelihoods after wars and disasters
• Reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition
• Strengthen the ability of nations to curb hunger




World Food Programme
Via C.G. Viola, 68/70 - 00148 Rome, Italy
Tel: +39 0665131