World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

A child gets photographed for registration in Karamoja.WFP has begun supporting children aged three to five at early childhood development centres in the remote region at the request of the Ugandan Government.

Another child gets photographed. WFP’s assistance aims to address stunting and illiteracy. More than 50 percent of Karamoja’s young children are stunted, and only 11 percent of the overall population is literate.

A mother secures a cash card. WFP is providing food or cash payments through 66 centres
managed by the UN’s children agency, UNICEF. Pre-school centres help children develop their social, emotional, language and cognitive skills through play groups.

Another cash card. WFP’s support is conditional, targeting only food insecure households where children manage to attend at least 80 percent of the days required at the centres.

Cash is given out in places close to markets. That way parents can buy alternative nutritious foods as opposed to what WFP supplies. WFP supplies corn soay blend, vegetable oil and sugar. Copyright: Matteo Caravani

Stunting leaves young children short for their age and can damage a child's basic learning capacity. It also can limit the infant’s opportunity to explore and interact with the world around them.

Parents and guardians line up to draw cash. Stunting is often a result of chronic hunger, which is itself a condition where children lack essential nutrients – especially protein – for sustained periods in their early lives.

Soldiers wait to transport WFP staff. Karamoja is the most underdeveloped region in Uganda. It suffers chronic food shortages and malnutrition as well as gun violence and rampant cattle raids.

At a pre-school centre. Spain enabled the early childhood development programme to take off, with a donation of US$15 million.