News releases

CAIRO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$4 million contribution from the State of Kuwait to fund projects that improve the lives of Syrians in need. The projects will benefit some 20,000 people across the country whose lives and livelihoods have been torn apart by years of conflict. 

MADRID – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes Spain’s 4.1 million euros in contributions made over the past year to support food assistance to vulnerable populations and fund logistics for the delivery of humanitarian assistance in several areas. While the Sahel, Palestine and the Sahrawi refugees in Algeria remain the focus of Spanish support, Spain also contributed to WFP operations in Northeast Nigeria for the first time.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received US$440 million of flexible funding in 2018, a ten percent increase from 2017. Flexible contributions allow WFP to use funds wherever and whenever needs are greatest, giving it the agility to respond to sudden-onset emergencies as well as the means to sustain lifesaving assistance in neglected and protracted crises.

BRUSSELS - Over 200 technology and innovation champions from all over the world are joining a two-day humanitarian hackathon in Brussels to foster innovative ideas and build new prototypes that may transform aid delivery and help eradicate hunger. The hackathon is an initiative of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo, together with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Hack Belgium Labs. This hackathon is dedicated to cutting-edge solutions addressing the most pressing humanitarian challenges.

JERUSALEM – The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have signed a new agreement to provide 6,000 of the most vulnerable families in the Gaza Strip with blankets, clothing and hygiene kits.

Harare – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a £3.95 million (US$5 million) contribution from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) to its 2018/19 Lean Season Assistance programme in Zimbabwe.

BAGHDAD – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Iraq have launched an initiative to digitise the national public distribution system (PDS). The first phase of digitisation will reach nearly 1.3 million people in and around Baghdad and Dohuk.

DHAKA – The Government of Japan and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) concluded an agreement today which will provide US$ 5 million to support Bangladeshi smallholder farmers and people displaced from Myanmar through December 2020.

BEIRUT – This week, 295,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon will receive US$27 each to buy the food they need in January. As part of a US$45 million contribution from the United States of America, the World Food Programme (WFP) in Lebanon will be able to feed those individuals until the end of March.

JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a US$7 million contribution from the People’s Republic of China to bolster its food and nutrition assistance in South Sudan where about 5 million people are unable to meet their food needs.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is demanding an immediate end to the diversion of humanitarian food relief in Yemen after uncovering evidence of the practice in the capital, Sana’a, and other parts of the country controlled by the Ansarullah (Houthi) movement.

AMMAN – Under the patronage of HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal as the lead convener, the Strategic Review, a comprehensive study that addresses progress and priority actions required to achieve Sustainable Development Goal no. 2 - Zero Hunger, was launched in December.

BISSAU - On Thursday 20 December 2018, the Government of Japan signed a partnership agreement with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) worth JPY 240 million (XOF 1,264 million) to support the National school meals programme and contribute to the treatment of child malnutrition in Guinea-Bissau.

NIAMEY – A generous contribution of €4 million from the European Commission (ECHO) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) allowed the United Nations World Food Programme to provide food assistance and nutrition support to displaced and vulnerable people in the Diffa, Tahoua and Tillabery regions of Niger in 2018.

ABUJA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a contribution of US$500,000 from the Republic of Korea that will provide one month of food assistance for nearly 125,000 food-insecure people in the conflicted-affected northeast Nigerian states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

KHARTOUM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) jointly with the Government of Sudan and private sector manufacturers today launched a campaign to encourage farmers to use efficient food storage techniques to minimise post-harvest losses.

Kinshasa - With widening violence, largescale displacement, poor harvests and endemic poverty nearly doubling the number of acutely food insecure people in DRC this year to 13.1 million, the World Food Programme (WFP) significantly expanded its operations, reaching a record 5 million, a twofold increase from 2017.

NOUAKCHOTT – Concerted action made feasible by generous contributions from donor partners has helped save the lives of tens of thousands of impoverished and food insecure people who were affected by the worst drought to hit Mauritania in four years, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today.

JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) have agreed to work together towards peace in the country by using their stronger partnership to address peacekeeping as key to reach food and nutrition security.

JERUSALEM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is facing a severe funding shortfall in Palestine that will affect some 193,000 of the poorest people in Gaza and the West Bank as of January 2019.

KINSHASA – The World Food Programme is deeply saddened by the killing on Monday of a staff member in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

BANGUI –The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) that enables aid workers to deploy to reach tens of thousands of people in need in the Central African Republic (CAR) is at risk of shutting down due to a shortage of funds, the World Food Programme (WFP) that manages the service warned today.

BRUSSELS - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) together with the Belgian Ministry for Development Cooperation and Hack Belgium Labs are inviting technology and innovation champions to join the first ever Humanitarian Hackathon focused on food security. It will take place at Egmont Palace in Brussels on 15-16 January 2019, aiming to develop technology-driven solutions for some of today’s most pressing humanitarian challenges.

CAIRO – Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Egypt, the Egyptian Government and WFP yesterday signed an agreement to benefit neighbouring and African countries through the exchange of knowledge and expertise in support of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular the goal of Zero Hunger.

DAR ES SALAAM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a €3.25 million contribution from the Federal Republic of Germany to support its work in favour of refugees and asylum seekers in Tanzania in 2018-19.