Assistingalmost 100 million peoplein around83 countrieseach year, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives,delivering food assistance in emergenciesandworking with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.
As the international community has committed toend hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition by 2030,one in nine people worldwide still do not have enough to eat. Food and food-related assistance lie at the heart of the struggle to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.
On any given day, WFP has 5,600 trucks, 30 ships and nearly 100 planes on the move,delivering food and other assistanceto those in most need.Every year, we distribute more than15 billion rationsat an estimated average cost per ration ofUS$ 0.31. These numbers lie at the roots of WFP’s unparalleled reputation as anemergency responder, one that gets the job done quickly at scale in the most difficult environments.
WFP’s efforts focus onemergency assistance,relief and rehabilitation,development aidandspecial operations.Two-thirdsof our work isin conflict-affected countrieswhere people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict.
In emergencies, WFP is often first on the scene,providing food assistanceto the victims of war, civil conflict, drought, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, crop failures and natural disasters. When the emergency subsides, WFP helps communitiesrebuild shattered lives and livelihoods. We also work tostrengthen the resilienceof people and communities affected by protracted crisesby applying a development lens in our humanitarian response.
WFP development projects focus onnutrition, especially for mothers and children, addressing malnutrition from the earliest stages through programmes targeting thefirst 1,000 daysfrom conception to a child’s second birthday, and later throughschool meals.
WFP is the largest humanitarian organisation implementing school feeding programmes worldwide and has been doing so for over 50 years. Each year, WFP providesschool meals more than 16 million children in 60 countries, often in the hardest-to-reach areas.
In 2018, WFPpurchased3.6 million metric tons of food. At leastthree quartersof it comesfrom developing countries. By buying foodas close as possible to where it is needed, we can save time and money on transport costs, and helpsustain local economies. Increasingly, WFP meets people’s food needs throughcash-based transfersthat allow the people we serve to choose and shop for their own food locally.
WFP also providesservices to the entire humanitarian community, including passenger air transportation through theUN Humanitarian Air Service, which flies tomore than 280 locationsworldwide.
Funded entirely by voluntary donations, in 2018 WFP raised a record US$7.2 billion. WFP has more than17,000 staff worldwideof whom over90 percentare based in the countrieswhere the agency provides assistance.
WFP is governed by a36-member Executive Board. It works closely with its two Rome-based sister organizations, theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationsand theInternational Fund for Agricultural Development. WFP partners withmore than 1,000 national and international NGOsto provide food assistance and tackle the underlying causes of hunger.