World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Kanukura, 33, says that carrying water up the mountain slopes to her village used to be the hardest part of her day. It’s a job that mainly fell to women in this part of Nepal, who faced a backbreaking climb when they needed water. But that’s changed now, thanks to a new village tap, from which women like Kanukura can get  clean drinking water whenever they need it.

It was a long route to the top of Everest for Nim Doma Sherpa, but she reckons it started when her parents sent her to school simply to get the free lunches supplied by WFP. Nim Doma finally achieved her dream of climbing the highest mountain in the world in 2008.

The United Nations World Food Programme Nepal, in partnership with Siddhartha Bank, is piloting a smart card cash transfer system for 484 food-insecure households in Pagnath VDC, in the Mid-West Hills district of Dailekh, through WFP’s Food- and Cash-For-Assets scheme.

The World Food Programme in conjunction with the Nepal Press Institute (NPI), held a two-day workshop in Nepalgunj to train local journalists on food security reporting in October 2010.

 Five candidates get new opportunities through WFP

Rising food prices around the world have hit Nepal particularly hard, with the price of staples soaring and no respite in sight. For Nepalese rickshaw driver Binod Majhi, the price hikes have hurt his business and his ability to feed his family.

Nicole Menage, a New Yorker who recently took over as WFP's country director in Nepal, reckons she was pretty lucky with her choice of life partner. Her Italian husband Carlo Pandolfi put his career second to follow Nicole around the world, so she could pursue her career dreams with WFP.

A year ago, 23 year-old primary school teacher Chandani Gurung would never have dreamed of the life and opportunities she has today, working for the United Nations in her home town in Dadeldhura, Far-Western Nepal.

Every morning, ten year old Bimala Sarki walks five kilometres to attend school in Dadeldhura district, one of the most isolated areas in Far-Western Nepal. Yet like nearly 2000 school children all over the country, she has something to look forward to despite the arduous journey – learning on her laptop at school.

For much of the world, climate change is an abstract concept, but in Nepal it is a visible and ominous reality — just ask Country Director Richard Ragan. Between his first visits to Nepal as a mountaineer in the early 1990s and his return as WFP country director in 2006, he has witnessed first-hand Himalayan glacial melt and the resulting formation of the kilometer-long Imja Tse glacial lake.