World Food Programme
Encyclopedia
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food aid branch of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger
Hunger
Hunger is the most commonly used term to describe the social condition of people who frequently experience the physical sensation of desiring food.-Malnutrition, famine, starvation:...

 worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children. From its headquarters in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 and more than 80 country offices around the world, WFP works to help people who are unable to 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.

Overview

The WFP was first established in 1961 after the 1960 Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Conference, when George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....

, director of the US Food for Peace
Food for Peace
Public Law 480 also known as Food for Peace is a funding avenue by which U.S. food can be used for overseas aid....

 Programmes, proposed establishing a multilateral food aid programme. WFP was formally established in 1963 by the FAO and the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

 on a three-year experimental basis. In 1965, the programme was extended to a continuing basis.

Organization

The WFP is governed by an Executive Board which consists of representatives from 36 member states. Josette Sheeran is the current Executive Director, appointed jointly by the UN Secretary General and the Director-General of the FAO for a five-year term. She heads the Secretariat of WFP.

WFP has a staff of 9,139 people (2007) with 90% operating in the field.

Goals and strategies

WFP strives to eradicate hunger
Hunger
Hunger is the most commonly used term to describe the social condition of people who frequently experience the physical sensation of desiring food.-Malnutrition, famine, starvation:...

 and malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....

, with the ultimate goal in mind of eliminating the need for food aid itself.

The core strategies behind WFP activities, according to its mission statement, are to provide food aid to:
  1. save lives in refugee
    Refugee
    A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...

     and other emergency situations
  2. improve the nutrition and quality of life of the most vulnerable people at critical times in their lives
  3. help build assets and promote the self-reliance of poor people and communities, particularly through labour-intensive works programmes


WFP food aid is also directed to fight micronutrient deficiencies, reduce child mortality
Child mortality
Child mortality, also known as under-5 mortality, refers to the death of infants and children under the age of five. In 2010, 7.6 million children under five died , down from 8.1 million in 2009, 8.8 million in 2008, and 12.4 million in 1990. About half of child deaths occur in Africa....

, improve maternal health, and combat disease, including HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

. Food-for-work programmes help promote environmental and economic stability and agricultural production.

Activities

In 2006, WFP distributed 4 million metric tons of food to 87.8 million people in 78 countries; 63.4 million beneficiaries were aided in emergency operations, including victims of conflict, natural disasters and economic failure in countries like Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, and Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

. Direct expenditures reached US$2.9 billion (€2.1 billion), with the most money being spent on Emergency Operations and Immediate Response Account. WFP’s largest country operation in 2006 was Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

, where the Programme reached 6.4 million people. The second and third largest WFP operations were, respectively, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 and Kenya. In 2007, WFP's Sudan operation will require some US$685 million, €595 million to provide food assistance to 5.5 million people (2.8 million in Darfur
Darfur conflict
The Darfur Conflict was a guerrilla conflict or civil war centered on the Darfur region of Sudan. It began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in...

 alone).

Not all food aid is international. Sometimes the World Food Program with the help of numerous NGOs organizes food distribution within a country. In Sudan, for instance, the WFP buys about 100,000 metric tons of food – mostly sorghum
Sorghum
Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...

 – from the country's own production in the eastern and central part of the country. That amount constituted one-sixth of the annual requirement of 632,000 metric tons for 2008.

WFP focuses its food assistance on those who are most vulnerable to hunger, which most frequently means women, children, the sick and the elderly. In fact, part of the response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake consisted of distributing food aid to women as experience built up over almost 5 decades of working in emergency situations has demonstrated that giving food to women helps to ensure that it is spread evenly among all household members. In 2005, food assistance was provided to 58.2 million children, 30 percent of whom were under five. In 2006, WFP assisted 58.8 million hungry children. 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.

Myanmar

During the 2007 Burmese anti-government protests
2007 Burmese anti-government protests
The 2007 Burmese anti-government protests were a series of anti-government protests that started in Burma on 15 August 2007...

 the United Nations reported that food shipments out of Mandalay Division
Mandalay Division
Mandalay Region is an administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering Sagaing Region and Magway Region to the west, Shan State to the east, and Bago Region and Kayin State to the south. The regional capital is Mandalay. In the south of the division lies...

 to half a million people in the northern districts were being disrupted. This problem added the shortage of funding over its three year operation and the poverty caused by the government's eradication of opium farming. Military cooperation with the food shipments was quickly resumed.
See also: "where we work" by WFP'

Funding

WFP operations are funded by donations from world governments, corporations and private donors. In 2006, the Programme received US$2.9 billion, €2.1 billion in contributions. All donations are voluntary. The organization's administrative costs are only seven percent—one of the lowest and best among aid agencies. On 6 November 2006, Josette Sheeran was appointed to replace James T. Morris as Executive Director of WFP by the Secretary-General of the UN and Director-General of FAO in April 2007. Previously, Sheeran served as the Under Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs
Under Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs
Under Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs is an undersecretary position within the United States Department of State. The Under Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs serves as senior economic advisor at the State Department and advises the Secretary of...

 United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...

 and as the managing editor of the Washington Times.

In July 2009, the agency reported that it was forced to cut services due to insufficient funding. These include regions of Uganda, Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Guinea. The BBC reports that this shortfall is due to the current economic crisis which has increased the number of people in need and reduced the amount richer nations are willing to donate. The agency says it needs US$6.7 billion, €5 billion in the current financial year. However, UN members have promised only US$3.7 billion (€2.5 billion), and have actually provided only US$1.8 billion (€1.4 billion), barely a quarter of the total the WFP asked for.

FITTEST (Fast IT and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team)

The Fast Information Technology and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team (FITTEST), is a group of technical specialists within the IT (information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

) division of the World Food Programme (WFP). FITTEST provides IT, telecommunications and electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

infrastructure to support humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...

 operations anywhere in the world.

Humanitarian emergencies demand rapid interventions that are efficient, coordinated and effective. FITTEST responds to emergency requests and ensures staff are on the ground and ready to operate within 48 hours.

FITTEST is based in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

, United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

. The geographical location of this city facilitates the team’s deployment to emergencies around the world.

Operating on a cost-recovery basis, FITTEST is a unique cell within the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 system. Receiving no direct contribution from Governments or other humanitarian donors, FITTEST ensures its sustainability by operating in a similar way to a commercial company. The team operates on a limited margin (7.5%) which it uses to cover costs and initial training for its members. Such a method of operating ensures the application of very high service standards as FITTEST only survives if its 'clients' continue to utilise its services.

Official partners

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
ECHO (European Commission)
The Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission , formerly known as the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, is the European Commission's department for overseas humanitarian aid...

, EuropeAid
EuropeAid Development and Cooperation
The Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid Directorate General is one of the departments of the European Commission. EuropeAid operates under the authority of the European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs.- Background :...

, USAID; UN agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (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 TNT N.V.
TNT N.V.
TNT N.V., more commonly known as TNT, is an international express and mail delivery services company with headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. In the Netherlands, TNT operates the national postal service under the name TNT Post. The group also offers postal services in eight other European...

, YUM! Brands, DSM N.V., and Cargill.
You can also donate grains of rice by answering questions at www.freerice.com. For each question you get correct you donate 10 grains of rice.

Actor Drew Barrymore is Ambassador to the World Food Program and donated $1 Million US dollars in 2007.

World Hunger Relief Week

In 2007, the World Food Programme joined forces with YUM! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company, to launch the first annual World Hunger Relief Week, a global campaign to increase awareness about hunger, engage volunteers, and raise critically needed funds to help WFP serve the world's areas of greatest need. World Hunger Relief Week 2007 leveraged the power of nearly 35,000 restaurants around the world, sparking a global movement to end hunger and generating an overwhelming outpouring of support from millions of customers, employees, franchisees and their families. Nearly one million Yum!, KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's and A&W All American Food employees, franchisees and their families volunteered close to 4 million hours to aid hunger relief efforts in communities worldwide, while helping to raise $16 million throughout the World Hunger Relief Week initiative for the World Food Programme and other hunger relief agencies around the world.

Grassroots efforts

In 2004, the WFP tasked Auburn University
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...

 in Auburn
Auburn, Alabama
Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama with a 2010 population of 53,380. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area...

, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, with heading the first student-led War on Hunger effort, after a 2002 Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 pilot. Auburn founded the Committee of 19
Committee of 19
The Committee of 19 is a committee of students at Auburn University that direct the War on Hunger efforts on campus and in the local community. In 2004, Auburn University was chosen by the World Food Programme, an agency of the United Nations and the largest humanitarian organization in the world,...

, which has not only led campus and community hunger awareness events but also developed a War on Hunger model for use on campuses across the country.

WFP has launched a global advocacy and fundraising event called Walk the World
Walk the World
“End Hunger. Walk the World” is an annual event to raise awareness for the problem of child hunger and funds for WFP's school meals programmes....

. On one single day each year, hundreds of thousands of people in every time zone all over the world walk to call for the end of child hunger. In 2005, more than 200,000 people walked in 296 locations. In 2006, there were 760,000 participants in 118 countries all over the world. This event is part of the campaign to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...

, specifically to halve the number of people who suffer from hunger and poverty by 2015.

A growing number of grassroots global events and celebrations such as International Day of Peace
International Day of Peace
The International Day of Peace, also known as the World Peace Day, occurs annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to peace, and specifically the absence of war, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone. It is observed by many nations, political groups, military...

, World Party Day
World Party Day
World Party Day is celebrated every year on April 3 as a synchronized global mass celebration of a better world and the active creation of desirable reality.-History:...

 participants, and Peace One Day
Peace One Day
Peace One Day was founded by British documentary filmmaker and actor Jeremy Gilley in September 1999. The charity promotes the idea of one day a year free of conflict and war, one day of a global truce regardless of all kinds of conflict. The UN had already declared the third Tuesday of September...

 recommend WFP on radio broadcasts as an immediate reach out action, putting help within reach of anyone with the information that a quarter feeds a child for a day. Fill the Cup
Fill the Cup
The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian aid agency. In 2009, WFP plans to feed over 100 million people in 77 of the world’s poorest countries. The ‘Fill the Cup’ campaign aims to use the symbol of the Red Cup to raise awareness of global hunger, specifically...

 campaign takes just 25 US cents to fill one of the "red cups" that the World Food Programme uses to give hungry children a regular school meal of porridge, rice or beans. Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...

, Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...

 and Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...

 are among notable celebrities who endorse WFP.

In 2006, the Committee of 19
Committee of 19
The Committee of 19 is a committee of students at Auburn University that direct the War on Hunger efforts on campus and in the local community. In 2004, Auburn University was chosen by the World Food Programme, an agency of the United Nations and the largest humanitarian organization in the world,...

 hosted a War on Hunger Summit at which representatives from 29 universities were in attendance. At this summit, the model for a student-led War on Hunger initiative was presented with strong support.

World Food Program USA

World Food Program USA (formerly Friends of WFP) is an advocacy and fundraising charity that supports the WFP in the United States.

Present contribution

The World Food Program is now working in the Horn of Africa by streaming food into the countries of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, Djibouti
Djibouti
Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

 and Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

. These nations were subjected to a severe drought situation, declared a famine situation by the UN on 20 July 2011. This drought has been declared as the "worst drought" of the Horn of Africa in 60 years. Approximately 12 million people are in danger of death due to starvation. The Program aims to feed one hungry person for a day in this region with just 50 US cents or 35 eurocents.

Criticism

Critics claim the World Food Programme to be harmful to the aided countries. Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

n economist James Shikwati says in an interview with Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...

: "aid to Africa does more harm than good". According to him, the food aid increases corruption as local politicians steal some of the aid to bribe voters and/or sell the aid in the black markets killing the local agriculture. He claims that the WFP people as an organisation "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, and 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 Program".

See also

  • Asia Emergency Response Facility
    Asia Emergency Response Facility
    Asia Emergency Response Facility, or AERF, is a Special Operation of the United Nations World Food Programme, designed to establish an emergency response facility in Asia....

  • Fight Hunger
    Fight Hunger
    Fight Hunger is a global initiative, based in Rome, Italy, calling for the end of child hunger by 2015. It is organised by the World Food Programme and its partners, and comprises different activities throughout the year...

    : Walk the World
  • Food Force
    Food Force
    Food Force is an Educational game published by the United Nations World Food Programme in 2005. Due to its content, it is considered a serious game . Players take on missions to distribute food in a famine-affected country and to help it to recover and become self-sufficient again...

    , an educational game
  • Food security
    Food security
    Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...

  • Walk the World
    Walk the World
    “End Hunger. Walk the World” is an annual event to raise awareness for the problem of child hunger and funds for WFP's school meals programmes....

  • World Food Council
    World Food Council
    World Food Council was a United Nations organization established by the UN General Assembly in December 1974 by recommendation of the World Food Conference. Its headquarter was in Rome, Italy. WFC's goal was to serve as coordinating body for national ministries of agriculture to help reduce...

  • World Party Day
    World Party Day
    World Party Day is celebrated every year on April 3 as a synchronized global mass celebration of a better world and the active creation of desirable reality.-History:...


External links

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