Your 2023 World Food Program USA Wrapped: Top Nine “Hits”

Photo: WFP/Michael Duff/2022
World Food Program USA
Published January 29, 2024

Our work is only possible because of people like you who read about and support World Food Program USA and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). However you found us, whether you searched for solutions to world hunger, happened upon one of our TikToks or subscribed to our emails, thank you for staying engaged.  

Here are the top pieces of content from World Food Program USA in 2023. 

You Looked for Solutions to Global Hunger 

1) You followed your curiosity by searching for “zero hunger solutions” and “how to solve world hunger.” These two phrases accounted for a whopping 4,020 total searches that brought folks like you to our site. 

2) From there, searches like that led 70,619 of you to our story on how to end world hunger, making it the most popular blog on our site last year. In it, we outline the six ways the U.N. World Food Programme works to build a Zero Hunger world including through climate insurance for small-scale farmers, cash assistance for communities living in extreme poverty, and malnutrition treatment for women and children.  

You Kept up With the Latest Hunger Updates 

3) Across all the news coverage of WFP’s work last year, it was the ABC World News Tonight with David Muir segment on South Sudan that garnered the most views. More than a million of you were struck by the footage filling your screens – mothers in South Sudan wading through floodwaters to collect water lilies to feed their children – and took action by donating to support the U.N. World Food Programme’s emergency response. That segment alone raised nearly $4.7 million dollars – a record breaker in our books. 

4) And of all our news headlines about global hunger, one stood out to you: “Increasing Risk of Hunger in Hotspot Areas Warns New United Nations Report.” The report, titled Hunger Hotspots, was released in May by the U.N. World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization. It warned of rising hunger in 18 places around the world including Sudan, Haiti and Burkina Faso. 5,526 people like you flocked to read the latest, making it the #1 press release last year. 

5) So, when an email from us landed in your inbox a month later sharing a second report as a “wake-up call” for the fight against hunger, you didn’t ignore it. 80,860 people – nearly half of everyone we sent it to – opened and read about the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report which revealed that 122 million more people were pushed into hunger since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict and climate extremes. It was the most-read email in 2023. 

6) We launched our TikTok channel just over a year ago, and you guys flocked to it for updates on the U.N. World Food Programme’s response to rising hunger. Your favorite one was this TikTok that gave you a quick scroll break and transported you to a farm in Sierra Leone. More than 43,400 likes and counting! 

@wfpusa

🇸🇱 #StopScrolling and spend 1️⃣ minute with us in #SierraLeone at a WFP Home Grown School Feeding farm. 🌾 With the help of partners and local governments, WFP is able connect smallholder farmers and schools within the community to supply daily vegetables and rice! 🍚💙 #schoolmeals #farm #farmtok #farming #farmlife #food #sierraleonetiktok🇸🇱

♬ original sound – World Food Program USA

You Supported Our Partners and Ambassadors   

7) Our partners power our work, and we’re glad you think so too. Last year, 137 of you liked this post on X (formerly Twitter) thanking The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its generous donation that enabled the U.N. World Food Programme to reach 1.6 million people with lifesaving food.  

8) One announcement in particular captured your attention in a big way, and we were proud to share it. Across Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, the top posts of 2023 were about The Weeknd’s direction of $2.5 million dollars from the XO Humanitarian Fund to the U.N. World Food Programme’s response in Gaza.

(WFP Goodwill Ambassador and multi-platinum global recording artist The Weeknd directed $2.5 million from his XO Humanitarian Fund toward WFP’s humanitarian response efforts in Gaza. This donation equates to 4 million emergency meals.
Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images for U.N. World Food Programme

9) Food connects us all, and it connected you to one page on our website more than any other: Recipes for Peace. 122,727 views or 113,163 people of you watched foodies from Diaspora communities in the U.S. prepare authentic meals from their home countries using the same kinds of ingredients that the U.N. World Food Programme delivers to at-risk communities around the world. You learned what’s inside a typical U.N. World Food Programme food box and found out how to get involved in our work.  

Want more? Visit our Action Center to get involved with our work and stay up-to-date on the latest hunger news and stories.