WFP food assistance reached just over 102 million people in 78 countries in 2008 and aims to reach more than 100 million beneficiaries in 2009. At any time over the next 12 months, many of the agency's key projects run the risk of a break in food supplies due to lack of funding. This can have a devastating impact on beneficiaries who often rely entirely on assistance from WFP to survive.
We publish a list of selected operations that highlights the critical issues facing specific projects. Some of the life-saving operations of particular concern to WFP are listed below and a full list is also available.
WFP relies entirely on voluntary contributions to finance its humanitarian and development projects. Governments are the principal source of funding, and the agency invites every UN member state to contribute. Private sector and individual donors also make vital contributions.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan faces enormous recovery needs after more than two decades of war, civil unrest, and recurring natural disasters. As a result, millions of Afghans still live in severe poverty with crumbling infrastructure and a mine-riddled landscape.
Ongoing insurgency activities in the country are increasingly affecting internally displaced persons (IDPs). Lack of assistance can negatively affect the resettlement process of those IDPs who do not have alternative sources of income. Learn more
Chad
Chad is a low-income, food-deficit country, where economic development is inhibited by a landlocked location. Malnutrition is one of the main problems faced by the local population. Poor farming practices and limited access to food make the population vulnerable to food insecurity.
The country suffers from internal conflict and spill-over effects from crises in neighbouring countries. Tensions between ethnic groups in the north and south contribute to political instability. In addition, Chad hosts an increasing number of refugees from Sudan's Darfur region and refugees from the Central African Republic. Learn more
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is struggling to stabilise a fragile democracy. WFP is helping the government provide access to food to more than 2.7 million beneficiaries in 2009 within a context of transition/stabilization from war to peace.
WFP intervention includes relief and recovery and food and logistics actions to open up major communication axis (air, road, river and lake).. Learn more
Ethiopia
fIn Ethiopia, a prolonged drought compounded by soaring food and fuel prices is affecting more than 12 million people in severely impacted areas, where malnutrition is at crisis levels and people are resorting to extreme coping mechanisms.
Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa. As one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, with large-scale problems of chronic and transitory food insecurity, Ethiopia remains vulnerable to the possibility of famine due to climate change, environmental degradation and relatively low levels of rural investment. Learn more
Kenya – Drought-affected people
Poverty, low economic growth, drought-prone arid lands and high population growth cause increasing hunger in Kenya . The country is prone to severe and rapid food insecurity caused by climatic shocks. Most families in the arid and semi-arid lands are subsequently extremely vulnerable and chronically food-insecure.
There are also a large number of food insecure female and grandparent-headed households whose breadwinner(s) has (have) died as a result of AIDS.
WFP is scaling up from the current 1.2 million to 3.5 million people in 2009. Food assistance will be provided through general food distributions, food-for-assets, emergency school feeding, supplementary feeding and mother and child health care programmes. The ongoing scale-up of the operation is putting extra pressure on the food pipeline, and given the long lead-time in terms of shipments from abroad, cash contributions are needed now. Learn more
Kenya – Somali and Sudanese refugees
WFP feeds around 333,000 refugees under this operation in 2009, mainly from Somalia and Sudan, who live in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps in Kenya.
As the political situation in neighbouring Somalia remains unstable, WFP aims to maintain a rotating buffer stock in Dadaab and Kakuma to facilitate an immediate response in the event of a large influx of refugees or if floods render the roads impassable. However, current cereal stocks in the camps is not sufficient to serve as a buffer stock.. Learn more
Occupied Palestinian territory
Palestinians have experienced a dramatic decline in their living standards and a significant regression of the economy. While the current political and economic crisis continues, food security remains a major concern.
In the short and medium term, a significant number of Palestinians are likely to remain poor and increasingly vulnerable to further setbacks. Learn more
Somalia
Active in Somalia since the 1960s, WFP currently focuses on helping those affected by the prolonged civil war and natural disasters, by providing life-saving food aid to chronically food-insecure Somalis, including displaced populations, who have been affected by the rapidly deteriorating food security situation caused by continued conflict, hyper-inflation, droughts and successive crop failures. WFP aims to provide assistance to 3.5 million people in 2009.
Somalia remains in a precarious food security situation, the result of more than 15 years of civil conflict, recurrent drought, crop failures and severe floods. Chronic food shortages and malnutrition persist.
Global acute malnutrition rates are above the emergency level. Poor road conditions and insecurity pose a major challenge in food aid delivery in the south, especially during the rainy season. Learn more
Sudan
Africa's largest country is poorly developed and ridden with conflict. Most of the country's 35 million people are subsistence agro-pastoralists surviving on less than one US dollar a day. The country is struggling to recover from more than two decades of civil war, while a separate conflict still rages in Darfur .
Sudan is WFP's largest project, needing more than US$829 million to cover costs in 2009 alone. In Sudan, WFP aims to provide food assistance to 5.9 million people, including 3.8 million conflict-affected people in Darfur and 48,500 refugees from Eritrea. The Country Programme continues to focus on supporting improved access to education through school feeding, targeting areas that are food insecure with low primary school enrolment rates, especially for girls.
Increased banditry against humanitarian workers (most notably, carjacking) has reduced accessibility in some areas of Darfur . WFP remains concerned and has called on all parties to respect the safety of humanitarian workers and the vulnerable people they are trying to assist. Learn more
Uganda
WFP contributes to the food security of nearly 3 million people in Uganda, including IDPs, refugees, infants, pregnant and lactating women, HIV/AIDS-affected people, drought-affected people, orphans and street children.
Prolonged civil strife, high population growth rate, extensive poverty and a growing disparity in income distribution challenge the country’s economy. Since the mid-1980s northern Uganda has experienced violent conflicts and insurgency as a result of rebel activity, causing gross violation of the rights of the child, and loss of opportunity for an entire generation of children. Learn more
