World Food Day
Freetown – The World Food Programme (WFP) today marks World Food Day by highlighting the vital role that food assistance plays during humanitarian crises, supporting recovery in the immediate aftermath of disasters, and building the resilience that is necessary to ensure food security.
“Across the world, we are the bridge between hunger and hope for millions of people,” said WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran. “WFP is providing life-saving food assistance in the midst of crises like the drought in the Horn of Africa. In countries like Libya, we are supporting communities that are striving to recover from crisis, and in places like Haiti, we continue to work with governments and civil society to build resilience so that the vulnerable are better able to cope when the next disaster strikes.”
Relief, recovery and resilience are the three defining pillars of WFP’s work in more than 70 countries around the world, where we are bringing the most effective and appropriate food assistance to close to 100 million people this year.
“Here in Sierra Leone, WFP continues to work closely with the Government on social protection and production safety nets in support of the Agenda for Change channelling food-based assistance to needy target groups in Sierra Leone to mitigate the impact of the international food price crisis,” said WFP Country Representative, William Hart.
“WFP provides nutrition support to acutely malnourished children under 5 years and to pregnant and lactating women as well as livelihood support to the poorest segments of the population, with a particular focus on women and youths, through Food for Work and Cash for Work programmes.”
For more information on the WFP’s work in Sierra Leone, visit our dedicated country page: www.wfp.org/countries/sierra–leone.
This year’s theme for World Food Day, “Food Prices – from Crisis to Stability”, underlines the role that food assistance can play in protecting vulnerable communities that are affected by food price volatility.
WFP is deploying an increasingly sophisticated array of innovative tools to address the needs of people who are struggling to access the nutrition they need for their families on a daily basis – including those in many developing countries who have borne the brunt of the turbulence on global food markets.
- NUTRITION – Working with governments and the private sector, WFP is building the capacity in developing countries to produce home-grown solutions to hunger, such as the highly nutritious supplementary food products for children that we are helping to produce in Pakistan, Sierra Leone and planning to produce in Ethiopia.
- CASH OR VOUCHERS – When the biggest challenge is access to food, rather than availability, WFP is increasingly deploying innovative tools such as e-vouchers, or cash to help families who are unable to afford the food that is sold in their shops and markets.
- SUPPORTING SMALL FARMERS – Food security in developing countries can be strengthened by empowering smallholder farmers. WFP’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative is a pilot programme in 21 countries that is providing farmers with the expertise to improve the quality and size of their yields, and better connect them to markets.
“WFP also makes sure children come to school and get the chance to think about things other than where their next meal is coming from,” said WFP Country Representative, William Hart.
WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.
WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see: http://www.wfp.org/rss
Follow us on Twitter: @WFP_media
WFP has a dedicated ISDN line in Italy for quality two-way interviews with WFP officials.
For more information please contact (email address: francis.boima@wfp.org):
Sierra Leone, WFP/Freetown, Mob. 076-750-587
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