World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

"The longest 90 minutes of our lives,” was how one WFP staffer described the experience of driving his children and colleagues to safety through the Sudanese town of Kadugli, as gun battles raged on a summer day last year. The same staffer returned just hours later to help distribute food to frightened inhabitants

Enrollment at schools in Northern Darfur where kids get free meals from WFP rose substantially over the 2010-2011 school year, statistics show. One of the kids benefitting from the daily meal of nutritious porridge is Haythum, 12, whose family was displaced by conflict 4 years ago.

One of the least developed regions on Earth, South Sudan is a tough place for small farmers to get ahead. But a few of them, like corn growers Paul and Angelo, have made the leap into commercial farming with the help of the Purchase-for-Progress pilot programme which works to help connect farmers to markets.

Abdulla Adam Mussa and his family have spent the last seven years in a camp for displaced people in western Darfur. For most of that time, they’ve gotten by on food aid. But thanks to a new food vouchers scheme, they’ll be able to shop for their own food on local markets, allowing them more choice and a greater variety.

Not too long ago, Mark Diang was a child soldier in southern Sudan. Thankfully, he managed to leave that life behind and he now works for WFP as a security assistant. He recently received a special award from WFP for his critical role in negotiating safe passage for urgent food aid along a dangerous river route.

As South Sudan moves towards independence and southerners look to build up business and commerce, traffic on the region’s roads is likely to get heavier. That makes the road rehabilitation work being carried out by WFP's logistics team more crucial than ever.

As southern Sudan holds a referendum on independence, WFP is working to ensure that the landmark event doesn’t produce yet more hunger in a region where food security has been undermined by decades of conflict and natural disasters. Here are four ways we aim to keep hunger at bay.

Grace Martin Lado, 25, has returned to Southern Sudan 18 years after her family fled the fighting there. Her family faced an arduous trip back to their homeland and food rations from WFP are helping them to resettle.

Halima, a 28-year-old mother from Northern Darfur, has won first prize in a contest among local women trained by WFP to make their own clean-burning cook stoves. She won by designing a stove that consumes less wood and produces less smoke than all of the others. View video

Khadija, a mother of 14, recently got a new stove that burns two thirds less wood than the open fire she used before. That means much less time spent foraging for firewood, a dangerous necessity in northern Darfur which carries the risk of rape at the hands of roving militants.