World Food Program USA Blog

WFP and FAO partnership in Ghana meets long and short-term demands

In Ghana, the World Food Program (WFP) partners with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to address the short and long term needs of food insecure individuals. The partnership has been well-organized in the Buduburam region close to Accra, the capital city of Ghana, so well in fact that WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran and FAO Director General Jacques Diouf recently visited the region to experience first-hand the success of the partnership.

WFP and FAO in cooperation with other United Nations agencies address short-term needs by providing nutritional safety nets, and through programs that give individuals a way to generate income. Food insecure individuals are taught to build nutritional sustainability by creating small scale gardens and water systems for irrigation. Ghana is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to have met the hunger reduction objective set by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. For example, statistics released by the FAO indicate that the estimated number of undernourished people in Ghana dropped from 5.4 million people in 1990-1992 to 1.9 million people in 2003-2005.

However, all of the progress that has been made thus far could be negatively affected by the global financial crisis which is why Sheeran and Diouf have both said that “they are stepping up support to keep Ghana on course in its fight against hunger and poverty”. Hopefully the two-pronged food aid approach used in Ghana can be used as a model for countries affected by food insecurity because the approach aims to build nutritional sustainability and stability for the future.

Read  the full report released by the WFP and FAO.

-Devinne Mack

Outreach Intern

Friends of WFP

Start a WFP Committee

In 2008, Friends of the World Food Program (Friends of WFP) launched a national, grassroots initiative called the WFP Committee Program – think of them as volunteer chapters around the country, working to end global hunger and to support the work of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) through education, advocacy and fundraising. 

 

Currently, we have 23 WFP Committees in 14 states – from Los Angeles to Kansas City to New York City. We are currently looking to organize a new crop of WFP Committees in May! WFP Committees are each composed of 3-8 WFP Committee Leaders and supported by volunteers in the community. If you are interested in starting a WFP Committee in your area, take a look at the job description and apply. 

 

Learn more about the WFP Committee Program.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to email outreach@friendsofwfp.org or call us at (202) 530-1694.

 

-Brian J. Ward

Outreach Associate

Friends of WFP

One Man, One Bike, One Goal: End Hunger

Andrew Marinelli of South Carolina is on a mission. Starting in April, he began a one-man, cross-country bicycling trip, with the goal of traveling from Florida to California by September. His goal is to raise funds for Friends of the World Food Program (Friends of WFP) to help end hunger.

But the true beginning of his journey was in Africa.

Last August, he contacted the Friends of WFP all the way from Niger, where he was serving in the Peace Corps. After spending almost two years living and working in one of the world’s poorest countries, he knew that, when he returned to the United States, he had to share the personal connections that he had made, the pervasive need that he had witnessed in these communities and the work of organizations like the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) that he had seen making an enormous difference.

After exchanging several emails with Friends of WFP about his passion for spreading awareness in the United States about the work of WFP, he decided that he would take his minimal savings, as well as some small sponsorship support, and bike across the country from Florida to California, sharing his experiences along the way and asking his fellow Americans to join him in the effort to end world hunger. Putting this together was no easy feat, but Andrew refused to give up and spent an incredible amount of effort securing sponsorship funding, equipment and educational materials in support of his efforts.

The kind of energy and commitment that Andrew has shown to the cause of global hunger is above and beyond what we hope to see in any of our volunteers, and I can’t thank him enough for involving Friends of WFP in his project. I have a tremendous amount of admiration for what he is doing and ask anyone and everyone to join in supporting him. You can visit his webpage www.onemanonebikeonefight.com to read more about his experiences in Niger and his trip across the country to benefit Friends of WFP.

Please donate to support Andrew and to thank him for doing such an amazing thing in support of people all over the world; people just like those who became his second family during his time in Niger.

-Caitlin Masters
Special Gifts Assistant
Friends of WFP

WFP Takes Action in Sri Lanka

Conflict in Sri Lanka forced thousands of people to flee their homes. WFP has already pre-positioned food in targeted areas to meet the ever-increasing demand.  The number of displaced people is expected to rise from 64,000 to 150,000 over the next few days.

“WFP has enough food in position to be able to feed more than 100,000 people for two weeks,” said Adnan Khan, WFP Representative and Country Director in Sri Lanka.

He added that, to boost existing food supplies, a new convoy of 27 trucks is being prepared in Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka.

Since February, WFP has been providing food to the growing number of displaced people in transit camps and welfare villages.

Learn more.

-Maria Reppas
Media Relations Manager
Friends of WFP

Ask Hugh Jackman to donate to the World Food Program!

Hugh Jackman recently announced that he will donate $100,000 Australian dollars to the favorite charity of one of his Twitter followers. The trick? Because of the nature of Twitter, you only have 140 characters to tell him why your favorite charity should win!

We need your help convincing Jackman to choose the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) as the recipient of his donation. We want him to know just how much of a difference his donation could make. When it costs about 25 cents to provide a meal to a child in school, Jackman's donation could provide more than 284,000 meals. Talk about getting the most bang for your buck!

Tell Jackman why he should choose WFP by tweeting him your reasons @RealHughJackman. If you're stumped on what to say, tweet this: 

@RealHughJackman About 25 cents can give a child a meal from www.wfp.org. Your donation could mean 284,000+ meals. Unite w/us & end hunger.

Thanks for your help!

-Jessica Lennon

Web Associate

Friends of WFP

Free meals in school yield higher pass rates

The Enguike primary school in Tanzania is a good example of how great a difference the World Food Program’s (WFP) school meal program can make in the education and everyday life of undernourished children.

Prior to 2003, when the School Meals program was instituted in Enguike, the pass rate on entry exams for the secondary school was close to zero, meaning that few, if any students graduated primary school. In an interview with the World Food Program, George Lowassa, district coordinator for the WFP school meals program, remembers “You would find the children fast asleep because they were so hungry and tired.” According to Lowassa, many students had to walk up to 7.5 miles on an empty stomach in order to get to school each day.

In 2003 with the help of WFP, students at the primary school were given a morning snack and cooked lunch each day that they attended school. The positive effects of the school meals program were evident by 2004; half of the 18 student class passed their exams and graduated to the secondary school. By 2005 attendance, enrollment and the pass rate were even better, with 36 students out of a class of 38 passing their exams and continuing onto the secondary school.

Many families in the region rely on maize crops as their main source of income and nutrition. When there is a poor harvest or a drought, parents and their children suffer the consequences. For many of the students in Enguike, the meal they receive at school is the largest and most nutritious meal of the day.

It is remarkable the great effect that one snack and one meal can make in a child’s daily life and moreover in their education. Therefore, it is important to engage our communities here in the United States on the work of the World Food Program and the campaign to alleviate global hunger so that we can help to make sure that students everywhere, not just in Enguike, receive enough food to concentrate and succeed in their education.

-Devinne Mack
Outreach Intern
Friends of WFP

WFP in Haiti

On April 16th, I had the exciting opportunity to meet and hear from Myrta Kaulard, the director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Haiti, at a briefing I attended in the U.S. Capitol Building. Listening to her gave me the unique opportunity to better understand some of the complex challenges that this country faces and what WFP, in partnership with the U.S. government, is doing to meet some of the challenges head on. 

Many of us heard about Haiti during last year’s food crisis, as high food prices led to violent and deadly riots, and stories circulated about how desperate people were resorting to eating cakes made out of mud. To make matters even worse, Haiti was hit by a succession of four destructive tropical storms and hurricanes in the fall of 2008. The storms devastated 70 percent of Haiti’s crops, took out roads and left 3.3 million people in need of food.

Kaulard arrived as the director in Haiti just around this time of extreme desperation. Last Thursday, she spoke passionately about what it feels like to literally be the “provider of last resort.” She specifically spoke about the people who live in Gonaïves, the second most populous city in Haiti and the area hardest hit by the hurricanes. After the hurricanes, all routes into and out of Gonaïves were completely cut off. This is where WFP came in. WFP, with 46 years of experience getting food to people in the most difficult locations, put its expertise to work and was able to provide food to hundreds of thousands of people and save countless lives.   

Much of this was possible, because the U.S. government increased funds to WFP after the food crisis and again after the hurricanes hit. With donations from the United States and elsewhere, WFP was able to reach 2.3  million people in 2008. Looking forward to 2009, Kaulard beseeched us to not forget about Haiti. She warned that the situation in Haiti is still desperate. The financial crisis, along with the continued effects of last year’s food crisis and natural disasters, continues to leave people in need of food.  (To learn more about how the financial crisis is affecting poor people, read our previous blog posting).  

The U.S. government has an excellent opportunity right now to continue to support our neighbors in Haiti and ensure their healthy and productive livelihoods. By providing enough funding for food assistance and international development programs, the United States can continue to support the good work of WFP in providing not just emergency aid, but also school meals programs, nutrition programs to other vulnerable populations and programs to improve agriculture for the long term. Kaulard said that she knows Haiti has some difficult years ahead but she remains  hopeful for Haiti’s future.

-Katie Campbell
Public Policy Assistant
Friends of WFP

More Food Assistance to Reach Pakistan

Last Friday, April 17, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) approved $64 million for food assistance to displaced people in Pakistan. According to Pakistan's Daily Times, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) – people who have been forced to flee their homes in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict and violence, human rights violations or natural or manmade disasters and who have sought refuge elsewhere within their own country – because of increased violence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and North West Frontier Province (NWFP). This money will provide 97,000 tons of food for 600,000 people through November. WFP is already providing food for 360,000 IDPs living in camps and host communities (nearby communities which are not experiencing this violence).* 

 

Wolfgang Herbinger, WFP country director of Pakistan, told the Daily Times:

 

"NWFP is traditionally a province that is not self-sufficient in wheat production and depends on food imports. In [the] neighboring FATA region, food prices are currently the highest in the country…[The] majority of IDPs [are] residing in host communities and depend on their generosity. However, most host families are poor themselves and cannot sustain the additional burden in these days of high food prices and declining economic opportunities."

 

As Mr. Herbinger said, these displaced people cannot sustain themselves on the food provided to them by host communities alone; therefore, WFP’s work is critical to help ease this burden on these communities. 

 

This operation has already received pledges from the United States, the European Commission, Germany, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the government of Punjab. 

 

-Brian J. Ward

Outreach Associate

Friends of WFP

 

Read more

 

WFP Operations in Pakistan

 

*All facts were found in the article WFP approves $64m for food assistance to IDPs

Financial crisis and the impact on remittances

These days, a common question I am asked by volunteers is, “How is the financial crisis affecting the hungry around the world?” While the global economic situation affects the hungry in many ways, one place to look is how remittances are, or are not, flowing these days.

 

Remittances are the money foreign workers send back home to their families. As workers move abroad in hopes of being able to provide for their families, they also hope that the foreign currency and markets will stay afloat. 

 

The World Bank is projecting that remittances will decline for 2009. According to the World Bank, “Remittances are an important source of family (and national) income in many developing economies, representing in some cases a very relevant percentage of the GDP of the receiving countries.”

 

In a report called the World Bank Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008, the numbers are clear. For some countries, remittances form very large portions of their gross domestic product.  In 2006, among the top countries receiving remittances were Tajikistan, Moldova, Honduras, Lesotho and Haiti. Remittances in these countries accounted for large percentages of their gross domestic product; Tajikistan (36 percent), Moldova (36 percent), Honduras (26 percent), Lesotho (24 percent) and Haiti (20 percent). In that same year, the United States was the top remittance-sending country, with $42.2 billion sent back to home countries.

 

Recently, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) shared the story of one family affected by the dwindling remittances as a direct result of the economic crisis. WFP writes, “This family is just one of many families in southern Guatemala that have been heavily affected by the reduction in money, or ‘remittances,’ being sent home by relatives working abroad. This has had a direct impact on the amount and quality of food reaching family tables.”

 

Reduced remittances will increase the demand on food assistance programs, which already are facing the strain of the global economic crisis. During these difficult times, WFP is working even harder to stretch its resources and reach as many people as possible. Friends of WFP yesterday hosted a special briefing with Myrta Kaulard, WFP country director from Haiti. Kaulard directly addressed how important it is for governments and donors to fill the financial gap to meet needs. To learn more about Haiti and Kaulard's recommendations, please read our related blog post. 

-Jessica Alatorre
Outreach Associate
Friends of WFP

Cholera numbers, food insecurity numbers improve in Zimbabwe

April showers have certainly brought good news to Zimbabwe so far; who knows what May will bring! One source of good news is that the food situation has started to improve with the advent of the harvest. Many citizens of Zimbabwe live in rural areas, and are therefore dependent on maize and other subsistence crops for nutrition.

On the downside, Richard Lee, the World Food Program’s (WFP) public information officer for southern Africa, said “However, we are likely to have a poor harvest this year. We still do not know exactly how poor it will be. But, it is likely to be poor.” A bad harvest will likely affect citizens in the most rural and impoverished regions in Zimbabwe, meaning that WFP’s large-scale assistance program that ran until the end of March, will likely need to resume again in the coming months or at the very least by early 2010.

According to VOA news, WFP says that, “Zimbabwe's decision to peg its currency to the U.S. dollar and the South African rand also has made more food available in the markets.”  This decision has made food more available in urban areas because people are able to purchase food products using foreign currency.

WFP provided a great amount of food assistance in Zimbabwe during the worst period of the cholera epidemic. In total, the United Nations stated that there have been more than 4,000 deaths from cholera, and more than 95,000 cases of cholera. Thankfully, Lee asserts that the worst period of the cholera epidemic has passed, and in fact some treatment centers are even closing down.

About 600,000 people across Zimbabwe continue to be aided by WFP’s social safety net programs; most of whom are people affected by HIV/AIDS, orphans, or children enrolled in school receiving meals through WFP’s school meals program. Hopefully the number of people affected by cholera will continue to decrease, and the amount of food available will continue to increase with the currency adjustment. Maybe May will bring a better harvest than expected, and WFP’s only presence in Zimbabwe will be for social safety net programs.

-Devinne Mack

Outreach Intern

Friends of the World Food Program