WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran in Kenya in 2008
(Copyright: WFP/Peter Smerdon)
ROME – The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Josette Sheeran, will receive the Marisa Bellisario Mela d’Oro International award for her commitment to fighting global hunger and fostering international development. The award will be handed over at a ceremony at the Confindustria auditorium in Rome on Friday.
"I am deeply grateful to the Marisa Bellisario Foundation for this prestigious award and am honoured to be standing with some of the best and brightest women who have all made such significant contributions to making the world a better place.
Suffering worsens
"I receive this award on behalf of the millions of hungry around the world, whose suffering worsens by the day because of high food prices and the economic downturn,” said Sheeran, adding that the problem of global hunger can be solved if governments, corporations and individuals unite efforts to provide vital funds and innovative hunger solutions.
The Bellisario awards - instituted in 1989 in memory of Marisa Bellisario, one of the foremost figures in the history of Italian business - recognize the excellence of women in the fields of entrepreneurship, science, business and public administration around the world. The Mela d’Oro award is bestowed to women for exceptional achievements in the pursuit of human rights, peace, solidarity and freedom.
Largest humanitarian agency
The Bellisario Foundation is granting Josette Sheeran with this year’s Mela d’Oro in recognition of her success in managing the largest humanitarian agency in the world, drawing international attention and raising vital funds in the face of the high food and fuel crisis.
Sheeran is one of 16 laureates to receive awards on Friday. Previous international award recipients include Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Mayor of Milan Letizia Moratti.
Last year, WFP - the largest humanitarian agency - provided food assistance to 102 million people in 78 countries. In 2009, WFP requires a record US$6.4 billion to meet the urgent hunger needs of 105 million people.
