Top 12 Things You Didn’t Know About the World Food Programme
We work with U.N. sister agencies, other partners and donors to deliver lifesaving food to the planet’s most vulnerable people. If you didn’t know us before, here are a few facts about the United Nations World Food Programme that might surprise you:
1.) The U.N. World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. It assists over 100 million people in 120 countries and territories.
Haiti: Admin officer Chiara Camassa at a U.N. World Food Programme’s warehouse in Port-au-Prince.
2.) Each day The U.N. World Food Programme has up to 5,600 trucks, 30 ships and 100 planes on the move, delivering food and other assistance in some of the most remote and challenging parts of the world.
Democratic Republic of Congo: The U.N. World Food Programme provides essential air transportation and other logistical support to the humanitarian community.
Related articles you might be interested in:
- Is the U.N. World Food Programme a Nonprofit?
- How the U.N. World Food Programme Fights Famine and Hunger
- 10 Innovations the WFP Uses to Deliver Food
Democratic Republic of Congo: The U.N. World Food Programme facilitates United Nations Humanitarian Air Service flights.
3.) The U.N. World Food Programme is the frontline agency responding to emergencies caused by conflict, climate shocks, pandemics and other disasters. We’re tackling ongoing emergencies in 20 countries or regions, the majority fueled by conflict.
Bangladesh: Cash grants allotted before floods hit allow families to prepare.
4.) The U.N. World Food Programme provides school meals to 15 million children, improving both their nutrition and their access to a potentially life-changing education. Since 1990, we’ve built the capacity of national governments, with more than 40 taking over school meal programs.
Kyrgyzstan: Free meals inspire parents to make sure their children attend schools such as this one in the village Dyikan.
5.) Contributions to the U.N. World Food Programme have increased in recent years, and in 2021 reached a record level of $9.6 billion — but there is still a funding gap. Rising needs due to the high cost of assisting people amidst drawn-out conflicts, climate-related disasters and the coronavirus pandemic mean that we need increased financial support now more than ever.
People’s Republic of Congo: A woman in Brazzaville waits her turn to buy groceries with U.N. World Food Programme urban cash transfers.
6.) The U.N. World Food Programme connects small-scale farmers to markets in more than 40 countries. Small-scale farmers produce most of the world’s food, and in 2021 we worked with nearly 1 million of them.
Laos: Members of the Akha community at a U.N. World Food Programme food distribution site in Luang Namtha region.
7.) Nearly 2 million acres of land and roads were repaired or rehabilitated through our Food Assistance for Assets initiative in 2021, which improves people’s long-term food security and resilience to climate change.
South Sudan: A boy washes a saucepan in the flood waters of Aweil.
8.) The U.N. World Food Programme delivered 4.4 million metric tons of food in 2021, the equivalent weight of 840,000 Asian elephants.
Kenya: Porters load part of the 4,500 tons of cargo being sent to Somalia.
9.) The U.N. World Food Programme has more than 20,600 staff, of whom more than 87% are field based.
Syria: Mothers in rural Deir Ez-Zor wait to collect food from a U.N. World Food Programme assistance point.
10.) We are the largest cash provider in the humanitarian community. $2.3 billion dollars of assistance was provided this way in 2021. Cash increases consumer choice and strengthens local markets.
Colombia: The U.N. World Food Programme and World Vision provide 5,000 food baskets to Colombians and migrants in Soacha, near Bogotá.
11.) The U.N. World Food Programme protected 12 million people in 2021 through climate risk solutions like cash transfers ahead of floods, droughts and storms which allow people in harm’s way to buy food, seeds and emergency items.
Bangladesh: Women line up at a market to take out cash from their mobile wallets.
12.) More than 50% of the people we serve are women and girls. In 2019, 60% of the participants in our Rural Resilience Initiative were women. This enabled 56,102 women across seven countries to better manage their climate risks with insurance policies that protect them from a range of risks to their livelihoods.
Zimbabwe: Farmer Rebecca received U.N. World Food Programme assistance after her corn crop failed earlier this year.
We will undoubtedly face enormous challenges next year as the number of severely hungry people continues to climb and we carry out the biggest scale-up in history. The accomplishments of 2022 will be a vital foundation as we work to bring lifesaving meals to millions more of the most vulnerable people on the planet. You can support our efforts by donating.
This post was written by Paul Anthem, Simona Beltrami and Mert Er and originally appeared on wfp.org/stories.