World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Since February 2013, thousands of people have fled armed conflict in Mali to seek refuge in neighboring countries, including Niger. Upon their arrival, WFP provides food and nutrition assistance for refugees in several camp. At the  Mangaize camp, WFP and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have initiated assistance through vouchers, which give beneficiaries a choice of what they can purchase to meet their food needs and provide them with some degree of independence.

Flooding during the rainy season affected hundreds of thousands of people in Niger.  Many were displaced from their homes and took refuge in schools and public sheltered buildings.  WFP launched cash transfers for the first time in Niamey to assist flood victims to buy locally available food.

During the lean season, WFP is providing special fortified food to prevent malnutrition to close to 1 million children under 2 as well as nursing mothers.

For the third time in a decade, drought in the Sahel region of Africa is threatening millions of people with hunger. But how do people survive in these situations and what are we doing to help them? Here are the answers to eight questions about the current hunger crisis in the Sahel and WFP's response to it.

For the first time in Niger, WFP is using mobile money to help the poorest purchase food at local markets.

WFP has launched an emergency operation to deliver life-saving food assistance to thousands of people fleeing conflict in Mali. As refugees stream into areas already strained by drought in the Sahel, it's imperative to reach them with assistance in time for the summer Hunger Season.

Just back from a trip to the drought-stricken Sahel region of Africa, WFP Executive Director Ertharin encourages G8 leaders meeting at Camp David later this week to build on the promise of the 2009 L’Aquila Summit, by uniting public and private sector partners behind national plans for food security. This article was written for the Global Food For Thought blog of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

On the second day of her visit to the drought-hit country of Niger, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin met families who are providing for themselves by working on projects that will protect them from hunger down the line. Travelling alongside UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, the WFP chief sent back this blog post to tell us about her trip.

One month after arriving at WFP, Executive Director Ertharin Cousin was out in the field in the west African nation of Niger, one of the countries most affected by the drought in the Sahel region. After the first day of her field trip, in which she traveled with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, the WFP chief sent back this account of her experiences.