Our
work
WFP has a presence in over 120 countries and territories. We save and change lives, with the goal of a world with zero hunger.
We provide emergency relief
Our early-warning systems, ready-to-deploy emergency workforce and global supply chain capacity enable WFP to be a first responder when disaster strikes. Every year, WFP assists millions of people left displaced, homeless or deprived of basic resources by conflict, climate-related disasters, pandemics or other catastrophic events. WFP also supports resilience-building, better equipping people to meet future challenges while reducing the need for recurrent spending in response to cyclical crises.
We build pathways to peace
With almost 60 percent of the world’s hungry people living in areas affected by armed violence, conflict is the single greatest challenge to achieving zero hunger. WFP provides emergency relief to those affected and works with partners to directly address the structural drivers of conflict, helping to ease tensions that could escalate into violence. Our assistance is not just a lifeline for people trapped in conflict, living under siege or on the run after being forced out of their homes – it can also be the first step towards lasting peace.
We support healthy diets
WFP addresses all forms of malnutrition – from vitamin and mineral deficiencies to overweight and obesity – focusing especially on young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people living with HIV. WFP is the largest humanitarian organization implementing school meal programmes. These improve children’s nutrition and health, while also increasing access to education, raising incomes for farmers and reducing the risks of child labour and early marriage. With women representing more than half of the people we serve. WFP works to ensure that food assistance policies and programmes create conditions that advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.
We strengthen economies
WFP is the largest provider of cash assistance in the humanitarian community. We also strengthen local markets and develop retail sectors, working with wholesalers and retailers to improve food availability and ensure fair prices, while maintaining or even increasing the profitability of retailers. Under WFP’s Food Assistance for Assets programme, people receive food or cash to meet their immediate food needs, while working to improve community assets such as roads and bridges or on reforestation, water conservation, land rehabilitation and other projects.
We support food systems and farmers
WFP has an unparalleled six decades of experience repairing, sustaining and improving food systems for the world’s most vulnerable and remote people. We help build sustainable food systems by supporting smallholder farmers in accessing resources and in using efficient post-harvest handling and storage techniques. Our work as a member of the Farm to Market Alliance enables African smallholders to make the leap from sustenance farming to commercial agriculture – boosting markets and food production across the continent.
We work with governments
WFP supports governments and other partners in improving their ability to manage emergencies and strengthen food and nutrition security. We do this by helping countries secure money from donors, promoting South–South and triangular cooperation, investing in early-warning and preparedness systems for climate change and other threats, and providing the technical advice and operational support needed to strengthen social protection systems. Our experience in delivering food and cash assistance, school-based programmes and insurance means that WFP can also complement existing government efforts to end hunger.
We harness innovation and technology
From drone-based damage assessment to our meal-sharing app, WFP harnesses new technologies and the responsible use of data to achieve zero hunger by 2030. We quickly re-establish connectivity in the wake of humanitarian emergencies, through our Fast IT and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team and as lead agency of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster. We ensure the right person receives the right benefit via our cloud-based platform, SCOPE, while using blockchain and real-time data to improve the coordination and delivery of assistance across the humanitarian sector. At the same time, we are constantly searching for new breakthroughs: our Innovation Accelerator has been piloting solutions to end hunger since 2015, benefiting over 37 million people.
Areas of work
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