PMFORUM Breaking News
Breaking News in the Project Management World
Monday, June 23, 2008
UN Food Agency Launches Four-Year Plan for Global Food Crisis
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced a new four-year strategic plan to tackle soaring levels of hunger caused by the global food crisis.
"This strategic plan marks a revolution in food aid that supports local markets in breaking the cycle of hunger," said Josette Sheeran, WFP’s Executive Director (pictured).
"I call this our 80-80-80 solution," she told WFP’s Board members gathered in Rome this month. "80 per cent of our cash for food is spent in the developing world, 80 per cent of our ground transport is procured in the developing world, and 80 per cent of our staff is hired locally in the developing world."
WFP spends more than $2 billion a year on food, transport and staff in the developing world. The new strategic plan emphasizes life-saving emergency aid, such as for 3 million vulnerable people in Darfur, but it also focuses on prevention, local purchase of food, and using targeted cash and voucher programs when food is available locally but not accessible for the hungry.
The announcement of WFP’s four-year strategic plan follows last week’s High-Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome, where world leaders gathered to discuss hunger and agriculture development issues against the backdrop of high global food and fuel prices.
The tools laid out in the plan include early warning systems and vulnerability analysis, as well as preparedness and disaster reduction and mitigation, and effective emergency response in life-saving situations. The plan also includes spending to strengthen smallholder farming, local transport and communication networks, as well as school meals and support for mother-and-child health and nutrition programmes. Last year, WFP used its cash resources to purchase $612 million worth of food in 69 developing countries.
Established in 1962, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the food aid arm of the United Nations system. Food aid is one of the many instruments that can help to promote food security, which is defined as access of all people at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. ¹ The policies governing the use of World Food Programme food aid must be oriented towards the objective of eradicating hunger and poverty. The ultimate objective of food aid should be the elimination of the need for food aid. Targeted interventions are needed to help to improve the lives of the poorest people - people who, either permanently or during crisis periods, are unable to produce enough food or do not have the resources to otherwise obtain the food that they and their households require for active and healthy lives. For more information, visit http://www.wfp.org/english/.
"This strategic plan marks a revolution in food aid that supports local markets in breaking the cycle of hunger," said Josette Sheeran, WFP’s Executive Director (pictured).
WFP spends more than $2 billion a year on food, transport and staff in the developing world. The new strategic plan emphasizes life-saving emergency aid, such as for 3 million vulnerable people in Darfur, but it also focuses on prevention, local purchase of food, and using targeted cash and voucher programs when food is available locally but not accessible for the hungry.
The announcement of WFP’s four-year strategic plan follows last week’s High-Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome, where world leaders gathered to discuss hunger and agriculture development issues against the backdrop of high global food and fuel prices.
The tools laid out in the plan include early warning systems and vulnerability analysis, as well as preparedness and disaster reduction and mitigation, and effective emergency response in life-saving situations. The plan also includes spending to strengthen smallholder farming, local transport and communication networks, as well as school meals and support for mother-and-child health and nutrition programmes. Last year, WFP used its cash resources to purchase $612 million worth of food in 69 developing countries.
Established in 1962, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the food aid arm of the United Nations system. Food aid is one of the many instruments that can help to promote food security, which is defined as access of all people at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. ¹ The policies governing the use of World Food Programme food aid must be oriented towards the objective of eradicating hunger and poverty. The ultimate objective of food aid should be the elimination of the need for food aid. Targeted interventions are needed to help to improve the lives of the poorest people - people who, either permanently or during crisis periods, are unable to produce enough food or do not have the resources to otherwise obtain the food that they and their households require for active and healthy lives. For more information, visit http://www.wfp.org/english/.
