World Food Program USA Blog

Make a difference: Call your Member of Congress!

Every year, the United States government saves millions of lives by contributing funds to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).  Currently, WFP is responding to emergency situations, such as Darfur, Pakistan and Ethiopia.  WFP also continues to provide assistance in Haiti, Myanmar and Zimbabwe, among other countries.

WFP relies entirely on donations to operate, with governments typically acting as the largest donors.  The U.S. government has consistently been the top donor to WFP. 

Congress is currently reviewing additional funding for emergency food assistance as part of the 2009 Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill.  Friends of WFP is urging Congress to continue its commitment to the world’s hungry by supporting $700 million in funding for emergency food assistance in the current Supplemental Bill. 

Without additional funding, WFP and other humanitarian groups that rely on U.S. funds will have to scale back their life-saving operations.  In a time when natural disasters, conflict and the economic crisis are all affecting people in developing nations, it is vital that WFP have the resources to provide assistance to the hungry around the world.

You can make a difference, and help millions of people around the world.

Call your Member of Congress and ask for support of $700 million for international emergency food assistance as part of the Supplemental Spending Bill.

1. Dial (866) 569-FOOD between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.
2. Ask to be connected to the office of your senator or representative.
3. Say: “I would like Representative/Senator _______ to support $700 million for international emergency food assistance in the 2009 Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill.”

Learn more.

-Jessica Alatorre
Outreach Associate
Friends of WFP

WFP Interviews Nick Kristof

New York Times columnist Nick Kristof has written several pieces on hunger and the impact of international food assistance programs.  He has traveled extensively across Africa and seen how hunger and poverty rip through developing countries, destroying livelihoods.  Nancy Roman, WFP's Director of Public Policy, Communications and Private Partnerships, recently spoke with Kristof to get his thoughts on the importance of child nutrition, school meals, girls' education, and his firsthand experiences with hunger in Africa.

Read the interview.

Maria Reppas

Media Relations Manager

Friends of WFP

Celebrating a "Blogiversary" with Friends of WFP!

On May 22nd, Lauren celebrated the one-year “blogiversary” of her food blog, I’ll Eat You. To celebrate, she held a virtual bake sale to engage her readers and help raise funds for Friends of the World Food Program through a Firstgiving donation page. When she was asked what inspired her to raise awareness for Friends of WFP, Lauren told us a little bit about herself and why she chose to support WFP.

I am a social worker by profession, and I do my best to adhere to the core values of social work, social justice and social change. I work with people to meet their basic needs and improve their well-being with a special focus on individuals who are vulnerable, oppressed or living in poverty. Social workers focus both on empowering individuals to change, and on changing forces in society that lead to poverty and oppression.  

I believe that the biggest divider and oppressor of the people of the world is poverty. Poverty affects where you live, what you eat, what kind of education you have and what options and opportunities you have in life. Throughout my career, I have worked with adults and children who live in poverty. My job is to help them cope with life's stressors in a manageable way. I can help clients deal with abuse, grief and depression, but there are few things that can be done in the therapist's office to eliminate widespread, systemic poverty.

I thought about choosing a general anti-poverty charity for my blogiversary, but my blog is about food. This blog has international readers, so I wanted my efforts to reach anywhere in the world. That is why I chose WFP. I admire the work that WFP has done across the world to combat hunger and empower those living in poverty worldwide.

-Lauren 
www.illeatyou.com

To all our readers: Why do you support Friends of WFP and WFP?

Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Educating about Global Hunger

WFP has been working hard to develop educational materials to help teach young people about global hunger.  Educating younger generations is critical to helping solve global hunger. 

WFP has just created a new section of their website dedicated to teaching tools that educators can use to raise awareness among their students.  In this section there are videos, games, maps, news, hunger statistics and ready-to-use, cross-curricular lesson plans exploring hunger issues. 

Take a look at the new Students and Teachers section!  If you are a teacher, use these tools to educate your students. If you are not a teacher, but know those who are working in education, share this link with them and help up us continue to build the movement to end global hunger.

With your help we can educate the leaders of tomorrow to help end global hunger. 

-Brian J. Ward
Outreach Associate
Friends of WFP

Support for food assistance considered as part of supplemental spending bill

The United States government is making positive progress as it includes food assistance as part of the fiscal year 2009 Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill.

The supplemental bill, expected to pass in early June, includes large provisions of additional funding for food aid that would support the work of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs.)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently went before the Senate Appropriations Committee to testify on supplemental spending requests.  Her speech recommended more than $400 million to assist developing countries.  The request was to provide for emergency food assistance, in particular in countries where more people slip into poverty because of the economic crisis.  “The current economic crisis has put millions of people in danger of falling further into poverty. And we have seen again and again that this can destabilize countries, as well as sparking humanitarian crises,” Clinton told the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Last week Congress made it known where they stand on foreign assistance by detailing how much additional funding they would allocate for food aid in 2009 as part of the supplemental bill.  This legislation provides emergency funding for a wide-range of programs, including resources for foreign assistance programs. 

The House of Representatives has included $500 million in supplemental spending for international food aid, while the Senate included $700 million in its supplemental spending recommendations.  Both of these surpass the recommendations made by the administration, and Friends of the World Food Program applauds Congress for their leadership on this issue.

Still, Friends of WFP is urging the House to embrace the Senate’s funding recommendations, which is almost enough to meet WFP’s funding shortfalls for 2009.  Typically, the U.S. provides about 40 percent of WFP’s funding.  The senate’s recommendation of $700 million is almost enough to meet the U.S. government’s usual contribution.   

-Jessica Alatorre
Outreach Associate
Friends of WFP

WFP Working With the Yemeni Government

On May 17, Daly Belgasmi, WFP regional director for the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, met with Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi, minister of planning and international cooperation for the Yemeni government.  The meeting consisted of a briefing about WFP operations in Yemen and how WFP can coordinate with the Yemeni government.

The minister emphasized the importance of WFP School Meals program to help break the cycle of hunger and poverty in Yemen.  Currently, over 40 percent of the Yemeni population lives on less than $2 a day.  WFP is feeding an average of 96,000 female students in 1,300 schools through the School Meals program in a five-year project set to end in 2011.  Among its other work in Yemen, WFP also provides assistance to more than 30,000 of the most vulnerable refugees who escaped to Yemen from the Somali civil war.

When WFP works in developing countries, the goal is to always build capacity within the community, promote self-sufficiency and eventually transfer the management of these programs over the local government.  Yemen is just another example of how WFP looks to work with the local people and government to accomplish their mission.     

-Brian J. Ward
Outreach Associate
Friends of WFP

Feeding Hope

People ask me why I do fundraisers for WFP.  I have not been very successful at bringing in a great deal of cash (even though I try)… I certainly don’t have the extra time, working three jobs, with a husband, two kids, three dogs and a house that is never clean… I definitely don’t have the extra funds, putting my second daughter through college.  It’s not religion, having fallen off the Catholic wagon a long time ago.  The economy is the worst we’ve experienced in decades; it is a very difficult time to ask people for cash, because most of the people I associate with do not have excessive amounts of money.

So I sat down to contemplate what, exactly, motivates me…

I can tell you the feeling I get when I look at photos of the children who benefit from receiving a meal through WFP.  There is an intensity in their gaze and a stubbornness of spirit that comes through and touches me.  I wonder what their lives are like… if they are mischievous or obedient… if they know happiness.  And how they must deal with lingering hunger.

I also believe that goodness rises to the top, and I have met the sweetest, most genuine individuals through Friends of WFP.  Their eyes sparkle, and their smiles melt my heart.  I am a few years older, but I recognize their unwavering dedication, even though they have full-time jobs, attend graduate classes at night. Their lives are full, just like mine.  And their kindness is compelling.  There are new ideas that blossom when we gather – how to enter elementary schools for presentations on the WFP, how to find corporate sponsors.  In spite of our age difference, we are like-minded catalysts, hoping to spark someone’s interest.

My children have been involved in my fundraising efforts each year.  I feel it is my duty as a mother to teach them how to carry a torch for their beliefs.  They are strong and determined young women, and I want to set an example.  When they were younger, I took them into Washington, DC, for the March for Women – “Code Pink” – a million women walking down the streets together.  They really only remember the pink and the crowded lunch at McDonald’s, but hopefully, one day, they will remember the power and determination behind a million voices.

Fundraising voices are quiet.  Most of the work is behind the scenes.  We send letters, emails, make phone calls, tap people on the shoulder, whisper among ourselves, slip notes under windshields.  But desire is out there.  A wave of good intention is building around us, without regard to time or resources.  In difficult times, we innately want to take care of one another.  There is comfort in the camaraderie of other volunteers and fundraisers who are waiting for the crescendo of a million voices.

For now, as we go through the neighborhoods to organize the next fundraiser, I realize the power of our numbers… of those who want to quietly, resolutely feed hope.

-Cynthia Cavalieri
Volunteer for Friends of WFP
Alexandria, Va.

WFP Increases Efforts in Pakistan

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is scaling up its humanitarian assistance efforts in response to increased troubles in Pakistan.  The rise in violence has led families to flee their homes, making them internally displaced people within Pakistan.  WFP and other humanitarian agencies are responding to these needs.

Increased tensions in Pakistan, along the border with Afghanistan, mean more people have been on the move in search of safer areas.  In total, WFP is now assisting 650,000 people in this area of the world. 

Reuters news has created a Factbox, which gathers information on the situation in Pakistan and how U.N. agencies are responding.  Their statistics suggest that over 1 million people may now be in need of humanitarian assistance, with a long-term crisis looming if agencies do not have the resources needed to adequately respond.
  
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has been on the ground attempting to register all the displaced as they arrive at a camp or a host community; the numbers are growing every day as WFP sets up additional food distribution centers. 

“WFP has mobilized in-country stocks and is prepared to feed the growing population of internally displaced persons for the next two to three months. Assisting hungry families is our first priority,” says WFP Pakistan Country Representative Wolfgang Herbinger in a recent press release, adding that donations are needed quickly to meet the growing demand for food.

Voice of America reports that WFP is saying the total cost of this operation might be about $120 million dollars; so far $42 million dollars have been received.

To donate to greatest need through Friends of WFP, please visit www.friendsofwfp.org/donate.

-Jessica Alatorre
Outreach Associate
Friends of WFP

Economic Crisis Hits Haiti’s Children Hard

The St. Catherine Laboure Medical Center in Cite Soleil, Haiti, has seen an increase in child undernutrition cases recently. There, you might find children who haven’t eaten in two to three days. In Haiti, acute undernourishment

among children under 5 years old is at 9 percent, and chronic undernourishment is at 24 percent. Currently, there are 19 children being treated for severe undernutrition at the medical center, which is run by the Haitian government and the Canadian nongovernment organization, Medecins du Monde. Many of these children’s mothers were reliant on the generosity of others to help provide food for their children, as well as dependent on remittances from their families or friends in the United States. As the United States’ economy is suffering from a global economic crisis, this in turn is affecting those in the developing world.

Cite Soleil has been hit especially hard, with a population of about 200,000 people. Many are finding it more difficult to feed their children, because their purchasing power has declined, while some food prices have remained high. As a result, the medical center says that it is likely that the number of acutely undernourished children needing medical care will increase. Pediatric nurse Francia Louverture said, “Almost every child who comes in for whatever reason is malnourished…Two or three years ago, that was not the case.”

View WFP operations in Haiti.

 

-Brian J. Ward

Outreach Associate

Friends of WFP

Mother's Day: WFP Focuses on Women

This weekend, we will celebrate Mother’s Day, and as we do, we can take a moment to think about the millions of women across the world who do what they can to provide for their children and families with the brightest future possible. For some women, assistance from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) enables them to eat well during pregnancy so that their babies might be healthy. Other families welcome WFP’s help for schools, as they provide healthy meals to children in school. WFP is working to nourish and empower women to end the cycle of poverty.

The valuable role of women was one of the topics that Josette Sheeran, executive director of WFP, recently wrote about in a blog post for The Huffington Post.  She reflected on her two years as executive director and made it clear that hunger can be solved. She outlined what she has learned about hunger and said, “I've learned that hunger can be chronic, creating a negative downward cycle where malnourished mothers – often little more than children themselves – have malnourished babies who must struggle from their first breath to even survive.”

However, she added that throughout her travels – from Haiti to Myanmar to Ghana, “I also learned that no parent ever wants to accept food assistance unless they have run out of options. And they will take that option.” Many enter WFP’s Food for Work/Food for Training programs, which offer food as payment for individuals to receive job training or for work building infrastructure, such as schools and roads. WFP also offers its new Purchase for Progress program, which gives small-scale farmers access to reliable markets and the opportunity to sell their surplus at competitive prices, while helping WFP provide locally purchased food to those most in need.

WFP places particular emphasis on the role of women in their community in reducing poverty and hunger. According to WFP’s “Focus on women” webpage, 8 out of 10 people engaged in farming in Africa are women, and 6 out of 10 in Asia. Also, women are the sole breadwinners in one out of every three households around the world. In addition, WFP increasingly turns to women in distributing food assistance after an emergency. 

WFP is featuring four stories about women benefiting from their humanitarian assistance. The stories tell of varied situations in which women have been aided by WFP programs. 

One story tells how, after families lost everything in the hurricanes in Haiti, women have come to rely on feeding centers as the country rebuilds. Another story details the situation in Niger, where families worry about getting through the lean season. (The lean season is the precarious few months as household food stocks run out and the new harvest begins, essentially causing families to go with less food between harvests.) In Niger, WFP responds with a cereal bank for families to stock up during this seasonal lag in food. 

These WFP success stories of helping women around the world are one small example of how WFP is teaming up with women to better their health, their children’s nutrition and their community wellbeing.

-Jessica Alatorre
Outreach Associate
Friends of WFP