World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Simon Cammelbeeck answers questions about the food security situation in Zambia...and about the country's role as an emerging producer and exporter of maize in southern Africa.

Golden Lwiindi, 40, is a smallholder farmer in Zambia’s Southern Province. In the past five years, he has bred more than 50 goats, developed his farm, planted and sold a variety of crops, and bought a hammer mill. He says the secret to his success is  thinking of farming as a way to make money, not just as a traditional way of life – adopting new technologies and methods, crop diversification, record keeping and good planning also help. 

The Zambian Government has maintained an open door policy to refugees from war-torn countries since the 1960s. Since then, the United Nations has provided legal protection, shelter and food assistance to new arrivals as well as to vulnerable groups, such as the sick, elderly or disabled living in the refugee settlements.        

Poverty not only restricts children’s physical and mental development, it also limits their ability to dream and imagine a better life for themselves.  WFP - through the daily hot meals provided by the Home Grown School Feeding Programme - is helping almost one million school children across Zambia. This regular and nutritous meal satisfies grumbling tummies while allowing children to focus on the essentials of learning.

Through the Purchase for Progress scheme - or P4P, as it is known - WFP and its partners are helping to provide an alternative market for farmers and to transform the way they do business.

The recently launched Home Grown School Feeding programme is designed to bring benefits not just to school children but also to the wider community, particularly to small-scale farmers. The new programme will be implemented in 31 districts and aims to feed one million school-going children in 2011.

Hundreds of people including school-going children and UN MDGs Ambassador Marsha Moyo joined the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and its global partners, TNT, Unilever and DSM at the end of May to commemorate the annual “End Hunger: Walk the World” event to raise awareness about child hunger.

In the lead-up to this year's Walk the World event, representatives from the World Food Programme (WFP) in Zambia and the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) visited community schools in Lusaka to raise awareness about nutrition and the importance of a healthy diet among schoolchildren.

A national symposium entitled “Working Together – Strengthening Collaboration against Human Trafficking” was held in Lusaka in Febrary 2011. It was organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with Women in Law in Southern Africa and the UN Joint Programme against Human Trafficking.

Activities aimed at mitigating malnutrition among children in Zambia are to be scaled up, following a national nutrition convention held in Livingstone in February. The convention was organized by the National Food and Nutrition Commission with input various players including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).