Food Assistance for Assets
- 1.89 million
- hectares of land rehabilitated
- Over 63,000
- water points built or rehabilitated
- 83.6 million
- people supported with food assistance through FFA programmes
Most of the world’s food-insecure people live in arid, semi-arid, tropical and subtropical regions, where hunger is increasingly driven by climate change, water scarcity and environmental degradation. When land is degraded, it becomes less productive and loses its ability to buffer droughts and floods. At the same time, many communities lack essential infrastructure, resources and access to markets. As these systems weaken, people become more vulnerable to shocks and recovery takes longer – driving greater humanitarian needs.
WFP’s Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) programmes help address these challenges by combining immediate food assistance with investments in community assets. Families receive food, cash or vouchers to meet their basic needs, while building or rehabilitating assets that strengthen food security and resilience.
How WFP uses FFA programmes
- Before crises
WFP’s FFA programmes help communities build and restore assets such as flood and erosion-control structures, terraces and water-harvesting systems. This reduces the impact of shocks and strengthens resilience to disasters. Every US$1 invested in land restoration can generate up to US$30 in returns, driven by factors including higher crop yields, increased employment and lower disaster-related losses. - After emergencies
Our FFA programmes can be rapidly deployed to support early recovery. WFP provides immediate food assistance while communities work on activities such as clearing debris, restoring water supply systems and rehabilitating roads and bridges. This helps people regain access to markets and services and restart food production, which can improve food security. - Over the long term
WFP’s FFA programmes promote regenerative practices that restore ecosystems and strengthen land, water and infrastructure systems. This improves the reliability of food production and livelihoods, reduces vulnerability to future shocks and reduces reliance on recurring emergency assistance.
WFP’s FFA activities place the connection between people and ecosystems at the centre. Activities are identified and designed through a participatory planning approach that combines analysis of food security, shocks and the natural environment with community consultations, to design locally tailored activities that restore ecosystems and livelihoods. Activities are aligned with national priorities and implemented in partnership with Governments, local NGOs and other UN agencies.
WFP uses Asset Impact Monitoring from Space (AIMS) to determine whether FFA programmes are delivering lasting results for communities and ecosystems. Using satellite imagery and landscape monitoring, AIMS tracks changes in land condition, vegetation and water systems, even in remote areas. This helps verify that assets were built or maintained, and that they remain resilient and sustainable. By turning satellite data into objective evidence, AIMS improves accountability, supports better decision making and helps WFP understand where interventions are making a real difference.
