Origins and Background

The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nation's food aid agency, is the largest multilateral food aid organization in the world. Its task is to combat the hunger that afflicts one out every seven people on earth. WFP is the principal organization providing timely food assistance to victims of natural and human made disasters. It also supplies food aid to poor people in developing countries with the aim of building self reliance. In 1998, WFP provided food to 75 million people in 80 countries-approximately 2.9 million metric tons were delivered. Half of those people were victims of emergencies.

The World Food Programme was established on 24 November 1961 by the UN General Assembly and the 1961 Conference of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). It began operations in January 1963. WFP is an organ of the United Nations linked to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the General Assembly.

WFP's governing body, the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes (CFA), was transformed in 1996 into the WFP Executive Board in accordance with the provisions of General Assembly resolution 48/162. Its first session was held in January 1996 in the headquarters of the World Food Programme. The Executive Board consists of 36 members, who serve three year terms and are eligible for re election.

The functions of the Executive Board are to examine and approve relief and development operations, draw up administrative and financial plans and budgets, ensure that the programme's activities and operational strategies are consistent with the overall policy set by the General Assembly and ECOSOC, and monitor the performance of the programme.

WFP and its governing body are implementing a process of reform and revitalization, which includes the approval of medium term strategic and financial plans and a strategic vision for a four year period. The reform process also incorporates new long term resourcing and financing policies, which are based on full cost recovery and greater accountability and decentralization.

WFP's secretariat, with headquarters in Rome and offices in 80 countries, is headed by an Executive Director appointed by the Secretary General of the UN and the Director-General of FAO, in consultation with the Governing Body. The Executive Director, responsible for the management and administration of the programme, is accountable to the Executive Board for all aspects of the programme. The Executive Director is assisted by a Deputy Executive Director.

WFP's Operations Department is headed by an Assistant Executive Director. WFP has seven divisions and offices: Operations, Strategy and Policy, Finance and Information Systems, Human Resources, Management Services, Resources and External Relations, and Office of the Executive Director. Field activities are supervised by WFP Country Directors.

The programme's activities are carried out by some 5,000 long- and short-term staff members worldwide, with 80% based in the field offices.

Resources

The programme is funded through voluntary contributions from United Nations and FAO member countries and from inter governmental bodies, such as the European Union. Contributions come in the form of commodities, cash, and services.

Total 1998 expenditures were US$1.2 billion. Since its establishment, WFP has committed a total of US$23.2 billion in relief and development projects worldwide. Most contributions received by WFP are recorded against the Food Aid Convention (FAC) obligations (the latest revision of the FAC was in June 1999). These conventions are legally binding mechanisms by which governments contribute resources for food aid.

New WFP resourcing and financing policies were elaborated jointly by the secretariat and the Member States. The financing structure consists of three programme categories (Development, Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations, and Emergencies and Special Operations) and three funding windows (multilateral, directed multilateral and bilateral). The new policy is based on full cost recovery for both direct and indirect support costs.

WFP has instituted a process of regular consultations with donors based on analyses of forthcoming relief and development needs. This consultation process augments the regular biennial Pledging Conference and forms an integral part of the new resourcing and financing procedures.

The programme's resources and activities make WFP the largest source of grant assistance to developing countries within the UN system; the largest supporter of development projects involving and benefiting poor women; the largest provider of grant assistance for environmental protection and improvement; and the largest purchaser of food and services in developing countries.

WFP Activities

WFP's mission is to:
-- save the lives of people caught up in humanitarian crises, through food for life. WFP provides fast, life sustaining relief to millions of victims of natural or human made disasters, including refugees and the displaced;
-- support the most vulnerable people among the hungry poor, so they are better able to attain their human potential. These food for growth projects target hungry, needy people at the most critical times of their lives-babies, schoolchildren, pregnant and breast feeding women and the elderly; and
-- help the hungry poor become self reliant and build assets in their communities, through food for work projects. In these projects, WFP provides beneficiaries with food to build roads or ports, replant forests, repair irrigation canals and any other service deemed necessary for the community.

Geographic Distribution

Africa
In Africa, the internally displaced, refugees and people affected by the civil conflict in the Great Lakes region (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda), the Liberia region (Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone), Somalia and Southern Sudan continue to be supported by WFP.

Rehabilitation and resettlements efforts in Angola were crippled by the resumption of hostilities, and WFP resumed emergency assistance for 350,000 beneficiaries. Drought-related food needs emerged in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zambia. WFP still managed to support development activities worth US$81 million in 32 sub-Saharan countries.

Asia
The largest number of people in need of food assistance are in Asia. WFP was able to help over 19 million of them in 1998-some 4% of the hungry population. In countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, people are still suffering the consequences of human made disasters. Besides the provision of immediate relief food, the challenge is to engage in reconstruction and longer term development.

In 1998, some 14 million people participated in WFP supported development projects in 15 countries. Food for Work projects were dominated by land rehabilitation and forestry projects. WFP relief food reached over five million people in Asia, with the major share going to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The outbreak of hostilities in East Timor following the referendum prompted WFP to respond to the humanitarian crisis immediately; it arranged to air drop emergency food into East Timor, using for the first time the innovative "snow drop" technology that delivers food safely and efficiently to people residing in remote or mountainous areas.

Relief assistance was provided for rehabilitation in Cambodia, relief and repatriation of refugees and returnees in Bangladesh, relief to refugees in Nepal and Viet Nam, the internally displaced in Sri Lanka, flood victims in Bangladesh and Laos, and reintegration in Myanmar. In the Middle East support continued for vulnerable groups in Yemen, and relief and repatriation from Iran and Iraq.

The Americas
Emergency and relief activities represented an increasing proportion of WFP assistance in the region, rising from 2% of operational expenditures in 1996 to 18% in 1998. In Central America in particular, WFP's two decades of development work suffered a setback from disasters caused by hurricanes George and especially Mitch. However, the emphasis of WFP's work in Latin America continues to be on community development through asset creation programmes; the development of human resources through primary education; support to indigenous communities and minorities; and mother and child health and nutrition programmes.

Former Yugoslavia and Former USSR
In the Caucasus, WFP continued to shift the emphasis toward recovery, introducing new Food-for-Work activities including repair of buildings, factories, small hydro-electric power stations, roads, pipelines, and irrigation and drainage canals. As part of the phase-out strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, WFP focused further on rehabilitation activities to facilitate the smooth transition to a government social welfare structure.

But as the crisis in Kosovo worsened, WFP launched an emergency operation to provide food aid to the refugees and displaced people trapped by the fighting. The hostilities forced more people to flee their homes and seek shelter in the neighbouring countries of Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro where WFP launched special operations to cater for their food needs.

Relief and Development

Emergency and relief operations dominate the work of the programme. Whether in Liberia, Somalia, Kosovo or Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in 1998 the programme
assisted 16.3 million victims of human-made conflicts and 40.1 million victims of natural disasters.

WFP has become one of the UN's most prominent agencies for emergency and relief operations. Emergency food aid is distributed by WFP either from the International Emergency Food Reserve (IEFR) or from its regular resources. WFP also operates as a handling agent for bilateral donors. WFP's effectiveness in responding to emergencies benefits from its ability to borrow from WFP food stocks already in the country for development projects or from other stocks.

Whenever and wherever it can, WFP systematically aims to strengthen the links between relief and development by finding opportunities to use relief assistance for development. It does this by focusing on disaster preparedness and prevention for people living in areas that are prone to emergencies, or redesigning projects using the protracted relief and recovery operation format, which enables WFP to effectively help vulnerable people moving out of emergency situations. WFP also strongly encourages donors to allow their cash contributions to be used to make purchases in developing countries. The benefits in timeliness of delivery, lower transportation costs, greater suitability of local commodities for consumption, and strengthening South South trade far outweigh the added effort involved in purchasing food in developing countries.

Development Activities

The new WFP policy for development will strengthen WFP's capacity to support development efforts in 80 developing countries. At the end of 1998, 18.4 million people directly benefited from WFP assisted development projects.

WFP development projects fall mainly within two major categories: agriculture and rural development, and human resources development. Agricultural and food production projects aim to increase household food security and include land development, forestry, land rehabilitation, range land management and fisheries development. In these projects, food aid is usually used as an incentive to encourage participation by local people in project activities, or to compensate people for the time they invest in the project. In asset creation projects, WFP provides food aid to build roads to link communities with markets and services, water systems for human or agricultural use, and community facilities. In land settlement projects, land is brought into production by smallholders and agricultural infrastructure and public amenities; and civil works are also built. Food assistance tides settlers over the initial period until the first harvest or until food self sufficiency is reached. WFP's resources are also used to support national food reserves, market restructuring or price stabilization activities.

WFP development projects also focus on disaster mitigation and developing human resources by investing in people's health and well being. Many projects make food available through schools and health centres. Vulnerable group projects receive food aid to encourage mothers to bring their young children to health centres more often and more regularly.

WFP also makes a special effort to ensure its activities contribute to the protection and improvement of the environment: road building is routinely accompanied by the necessary erosion control structures, intensive irrigation projects are undertaken with flood control measures, and land clearing to settle new arable land is done in combination with reforestation.

Help for Women and Children

More than two thirds of the world's refugees are women and children. Most often women have responsibility for providing food for the family. They are more likely than men to use food rations entirely for family consumption. Because women play a crucial role in household food security, they have received a growing share of WFP food assistance in recent years.

At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995, the Executive Director committed WFP to a series of concrete steps to be implemented during 1996 2001: reduce gender gaps in the access to resources, employment, education and skills development through the specific earmarking of resources for allocation; distribute relief food directly to a household's senior female, where possible, using participatory approaches; take special measures to ensure women's equal access to a full participation in power structures and decision making on planning, management and implementation of food assisted activities; give due consideration to women's specific nutritional needs when designing food aid interventions; generate and disseminate gender disaggregated data and information for planning and evaluation; and work with NGOs under contractual arrangements that specify conditions to fulfil gender specific planning, targeting, distribution of food aid and monitoring of their performance.

Transport Activities

WFP conducts large logistics and transport operations, moving relief food aid as well as food for development projects to remote, food deficit areas, by land, sea and air. Each year, WFP arranges the international transportation of about three million tonnes of food, and makes every effort to increase its use of developing country's transport services wherever possible. WFP resorts to air operations to reach people in inaccessible areas and food delivery by air has become a regular feature of WFP's transport activities.

Wherever there is a missing link in the transport chain, the programme tries to find a solution. This helps improve transportation infrastructure in many countries, and can range from giving advice on better port handling, providing missing port equipment or even paying dockers in kind with food to supplement wages.

In addition WFP has recently been providing transport services to partner organizations operating in Kosovo and East Timor, and it assists in setting up essential food storage facilities when needed in support of the operations. Furthermore, WFP has established a website (www.wfp.org), which apart from general information about WFP, makes available Executive Board documents and relevant information on on-going activities.

Training and Information Activities

To improve its project management, WFP carries out training activities for government counterpart staff. Courses concentrate on project design and implementation, food storage and distribution, and project management and monitoring.

WFP has developed a detailed computerized information system on food aid. WFP's International Food Aid Information System (INTERFAIS) has become the most comprehensive source of data on all aspects of food aid operations. Set up in 1987, it monitors worldwide food aid flows to support operational food aid coordination. This includes delivery schedules, funding sources and channels, supply modes, food aid types and specific commodities for each individual shipment or purchase. It is updated weekly with data collected from donors, channelling agencies and recipient countries. Reports on current food aid flows are published in WFP's Food Aid Monitor, which is issued in English, French and Spanish.

Working in Partnership

In development projects, WFP, like other UN agencies, works primarily with national governments. WFP takes responsibility for food from the moment it is released by the donor government until it arrives at the recipient country's port or border. WFP arranges and pays for shipping and insurance, using contributions of cash and services from donor nations. WFP advises governments on how to administer food aid efficiently and effectively.

WFP is an integral part of United Nations efforts in relief and development. WFP is strongly committed to the United Nations Development Assistance Framework approach, which aims to strengthen coordination at all stages of humanitarian assistance operations (needs assessment, appeals process, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) and improving international humanitarian policy and practice in general.

The 1985 Memorandum of Understanding between UNHCR and WFP set up a collaborative framework for collaboration. The revised agreement in 1997 gives WFP full responsibility for mobilizing all basic food commodities and cash to finance external and internal transport of food to refugee camps. The two organizations work together in virtually all phases of refugee feeding operations, including joint missions to assess assistance needs, joint appeals to donors for resources and programming, and logistics for refugee feeding operations.

NGO Relations

WFP does not carry out its activities alone. Since its foundation, cooperation between WFP and NGOs working in relief and development has grown considerably. Partnerships with NGOs become essential the more WFP focuses on the neediest people in the poorest countries, as flexibility and innovative approaches are needed, and where local administrative structures are weak.

WFP is working with more than 1,000 national and international NGOs. This permits joining strengths and building relationships based on comparative advantages for the benefit of the ultimate beneficiaries. Both WFP and NGOs bring their own technical capacity and expertise and learn from working with each other.

A regular operational and policy dialogue with NGOs has been set up: in November 1995, a new door was opened with the first WFP NGO consultation held at WFP premises. The agenda was proposed by the NGOs themselves, with the view of discussing issues of direct relevance to all participants' activities. The consultations have taken place every year since 1995. Negotiation of memoranda of understanding (MOU) with NGOs and clarification of the division of responsibilities between WFP and its NGO partners continues to be an important undertaking. By mid 1996, six agreements had been concluded, and by mid-1999 an additional nine MOUs had been finalized. Particular attention has been given to design and implementation issues such as community participation, gender sensitivity and assessment and monitoring of people's health and nutrition status. At the field level, WFP has contractual arrangements with NGOs for implementation of the operations.

Procedures for Collaboration

As an operational organization, WFP focuses on field activities. As a result, the level of concrete collaboration with NGOs is determined by the local situation and is decided by the Country Director in the recipient country.

NGOs are largely involved in the distribution and monitoring of food in large scale emergencies. In most cases, a local memorandum of understanding with the NGO specifies the arrangements and the division of responsibility with regard to the implementation of the operation. WFP promotes coordination of in country food assistance operations and regular food aid meetings are organized.

The directors of WFP country offices also have authority to initiate small scale development activities and emergency responses through NGOs. Guidelines stipulate that financial delegation to WFP country offices to initiate small scale development activities through NGOs has been set at a maximum food cost of US$200,000 or 10% of the value of total food commitments to the project, whichever is less. Food provided to NGOs under these procedures will come from ongoing development projects, which may be replenished later. Country offices can also use up to US$200,000 for food and non food items to start up emergency operations.

NGOs working in emergencies or development may contact WFP country offices to receive food assistance for a project. They should prepare a brief summary of the project objectives and expected outputs, justify the need for food assistance, and outline the role of food aid in the project. Details concerning quantities, food rations, distribution mechanisms and reporting requirements are to be formally agreed in a letter of understanding signed by both the WFP country director and the NGO representative, with government consent. Transmission of the NGO project approval constitutes, for WFP headquarters, approval of the project.

WFP/NGO Operational Collaboration

The WFP survey on NGO collaboration identified the following NGOs as the most frequent of WFP's partners: Caritas, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, CARE, Save the Children Fund, CRS, ADRA, Lutheran World Federation, Médecins sans Frontières (Belgium and France), Oxfam (UK), World Vision International, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, Action Contre la Faim, and Africare.

WFP and NGOs cooperate in a variety of ways. NGOs have participated in evaluation and assessment missions at the outbreak and/or during emergencies, and they have played a vital role in food distribution efforts, in such places as, Angola, Afghanistan, Burundi, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Liberia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and southern Sudan.

While NGOs are virtually always present as partners in emergency and relief operations, WFP also supplies food and support to NGOs involved in rehabilitation and development projects. This could be a food for work project or a project that needs food inputs. For example, there are cases where WFP food aid supports activities being implemented by a local NGO to help small scale farmers adopt agricultural methods that will both increase productivity and reduce soil erosion and deforestation.

In addition to emergency, rehabilitation and development projects supported at the field level, WFP sometimes supports NGO development education, awareness and advocacy activities in developed countries that deal with the programme's concerns.

WFP and NGOs communicate at all levels through field offices and different divisions at headquarters. WFP has developed a computerized database of nearly 300 NGOs with which there is a significant collaboration. For NGOs actively involved in relief operations, WFP publishes the Weekly Emergency Telex, which contains information on food and logistical needs of current emergencies. The Annual Report and other publications are also circulated to NGOs, along with reports and documentation. WFP's Policy Section maintains close links with a range of academic and research institutions of an NGO mould. The Public Affairs Service maintains contacts with a broad range of NGOs involved in information, education and advocacy work on food aid issues, and contributes to the trust fund of NGLS. An NGO liaison officer located in the Strategy and Policy Division facilitates contacts between NGOs and WFP, both at headquarters and in recipient countries.

Contact: Mads Löfvall, Policy Analyst, Strategy and Policy Division, WFP, Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68/70, Parco dé Medici, I 00148 Rome, Italy, telephone +39 06/6513 2368, fax +39 06/6513 2873, e mail <mads.lofvall@wfp.org>, website (www.wfp.org).