Cape Verde: School-Meals Girl Now A Career Woman In 1990, seven-year-old Vera Tavares starred in a WFP documentary about the nutritious lunches that were keeping her in school. Today, she’s a college educated career woman able to support her mother and put her brother through university. Vera tells us how those simple school meals made it all possible. Watch video
Kalinga barangays allot food-for-work share to eradicate dengue Joining the multi-sectoral fight against dengue, some barangays in the province allotted their food-for-work appropriation for the clearing of canals and water passages to eradicate possible breeding places of mosquitoes. (..) Kalinga is one of the beneficiary areas under the United Nation's World Food Program.
DHL deploys disaster response team in Pakistan DHL, the world's leading express and Logistics Company, announced that it has deployed a team of logistics experts from its Disaster Response Team (DRT) to manage a temporary warehouse at Islamabad International Airport. (..) Incoming supplies from the United Nations World Food Programme as well as contributions from governments worldwide arriving through Islamabad International Airport will be handled by DHL's DRT via three to five relief flights per day.
WFP raises concerns about food provisioning The UN’s World Food Programme has raised serious concerns about the provision of food in the flood-affected areas. A report compiled by IRIN, the UN information unit, quoted Frances Kennedy, a WFP spokesperson as saying, “We are worried about the nutritional situation in the flood-hit areas.”
Stalled funding hits Pakistan aid effort: UN Relief efforts in flood-ravaged Pakistan are being stretched by the "unprecedented scale" of the disaster, with the flow of international aid almost at a standstill, the UN said Thursday. (..) The World Food Programme has warned that Pakistan faces a triple threat to food supplies -- with seeds, crops and incomes hit.
DRC: For Rape Victims, Food Aid Key To Healing Process Civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo has led to an outbreak of sexual violence, with over 17,500 women raped last year. By drawing women to health centres and providing nourishment for them and their children, food aid has proved to be a key part of the healing process.
Pakistan Operational Update ISLAMABAD – A month after torrential monsoon rains caused Pakistan’s worst natural disaster , leaving flood victims at risk of hunger and disease, WFP is ramping up its emergency operation to ensure that the most vulnerable people continue to receive life-saving food assistance and children do not slip into malnutrition.
Celebrities Join MDG Push UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors actor Antonio Banderas, tennis player Maria Sharapova and footballers Didier Drogba, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, are among a group of celebrities who, from today, will be using their social media networks to support the United Nations push for action against extreme poverty, hunger and disease. (..) Among those who have joined the effort are the following: (..) Paul Tergat (Kenya / World Food Programme (WFP) / runner).
Japan donates Shs10 billion to Karamoja The Japanese government has donated about Shs10 billion towards emergency and livelihood programmes in the Karamoja region. The funds to be channeled through the World Food Programme (WFP), will see about Shs6 billion go towards emergency activities in response to drought in the region and about Shs3 billion to the Karamoja productive assets programme.
MYANMAR: Rural poor hit by arbitrary “taxes”, says report Myanmar’s military government, with soldiers scattered throughout the country, is arbitrarily levying fees from the rural poor, pushing some into hunger and debt, experts say. (..)Ten percent of the country is food insecure, with more than 90 percent persistently on the brink of hunger in some regions, according to the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
World Bank raises Pakistan funding The World Bank has raised its funding for Pakistan's flood disaster recuperation to $1bn. An additional $100 million has been pledged, the bank said on Wednesday, to help with the worst disaster in the country's history. (..) The World Food Programme on Wednesday warned that Pakistan faced a "triple threat". "There is a triple threat unfolding as this crisis widens and deepens," Josette Sheeran, the World Food Programme chief, said at a conference with other UN officials in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, after visiting flooded areas on Wednesday.
The Peanut Solution Like most tales of great invention, the story of Plumpy’nut begins with a eureka moment, in this case involving a French doctor and a jar of Nutella, and proceeds through the stages of rejection, acceptance, evangelization and mass production. The product may not look like much — a little foil packet filled with a soft, sticky substance — but its advocates are prone to use the language of magic and wonders.
UN agency helps stave off hunger and save farms in southern Bolivia The United Nations food aid agency has stepped in to help in southern Bolivia’s El Chaco region, where a long dry spell has decimated maize harvests, threatening an entire culture of indigenous corn growers with destitution. (..) The World Food Programme (WFP) reported yesterday that it has started providing a range of different initiatives, aimed especially at the estimated 60,000 people who have already exhausted their food supplies and are in the most urgent need in assistance.
How to help small farmers around the world The other day, I received a reminder from Burwinkel Farms about the "yummy fruits and vegetables" still available for the summer season. Burwinkel operates a stand around the corner from my home and they specialize in sweet corn!! (..) The World Food Programme (WFP) says: "Many smallholder farmers lose a significant percentage of their produce due to poor storage facilities and poor storage techniques. Crops rot or are stolen." WFP helps farmers to improve storage facilities through the Purchase for Progress initiative.
Liberia: Something New for the Senior Class: Girls When students return to the classroom at Bopolu Central High School this year, there will be something not seen at the school since it reopened after Liberia’s long civil war. (..) Mohammed Kamara, a teacher and special assistant to the county education officer, said female primary-school students are getting free books and uniforms, and that girls in his district are receiving food rations for their families once a week with support of the World Food Program (WFP).
PAKISTAN: What did you eat today? For hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis forced by the floods to abandon their homes, food is a primary concern: some families have gone days without a meal. Frances Kennedy, a World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson, told IRIN: “We are very concerned about the nutritional situation. About 2.8 million people have been reached, but there are others in need. Camps are crowded and people are sleeping on sides of the roads.”
Pakistan disaster will have 'long tail', says Nick Clegg Nick Clegg warned today that flood-hit Pakistan will need aid for years to come as he saw the devastation for himself. (..) The Deputy Prime Minister toured the Pakistan Air Force flood relief camp at Sukkur, which houses more than 3,000 refugees. He was shown a clinic and chatted with children at a makeshift school, before moving on to the UN World Food Programme distribution base.
Bolivia: Farmers Abandon Land As Drought Spreads Hunger A long dry spell in the El Chaco region of southern Bolivia has decimated maize harvests, threatening an entire culture of indigenous corn growers with destitution. As thousands sell their land and move to the cities, WFP is helping to make staying on their farms a real option.
Russian Drought Spurs Worldwide Food Price Hikes Severe drought in Russia has sent world food prices 5 percent higher in recent months, according to a new report by the United Nations, and though they remain well below the record levels reached during the 2007-08 world food crisis, the higher prices have already fueled deadly riots in Mozambique. (..) Elsewhere, a separate report Tuesday by the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) warned that Pakistan's woes were only beginning. "There is a triple threat unfolding as this crisis widens and deepens," WFP's executive director, Josette Sheeran, said in a prepared statement after touring the flood-ravaged nation. "People have lost seeds, crops and their incomes, leaving them vulnerable to hunger, homelessness and desperation -- the situation is extremely critical. We urgently need continued and strengthened commitment to the people of Pakistan in this time of crisis."
Northern Pakistan Slow To Recover From Floods Epic floods began a month ago in northern Pakistan. Unlike flooding in the south, which was vast but slow moving, the floods in the north struck quickly in the mountain passes -- taking out 150 plus bridges, roads and riverside houses. (..) Well, at this moment, we're at a food distribution center at a place called Fatehpur.(..) It's one of the areas the Americans are pouring their aid. But at this distribution center, there are sacks of World Food Programme wheat that are piling up in front of us. People are coming for the week. They're coming for cooking oil and they're coming for high-energy biscuits. They get a month's worth of rations at a time.
