Founded in 1961, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency saving and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working to improve nutrition and build resilience. The convergence of multiple crises – conflict, extreme climate patterns and economic shocks – is driving hunger, eroding livelihoods and entrenching vulnerabilities especially in the hardest hit food crisis countries. Global food insecurity remains higher than pre-pandemic levels. Up to 309 million people are projected to be food insecure in 2024 – with an increase of 160 million people compared to 2020. Famine-like conditions remain a real possibility for 42.3 million people across 45 countries facing emergency or catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.

While the global demand for urgent humanitarian and development assistance remains significantly high, the funding levels of WFP and the rest of the humanitarian community have returned to pre-pandemic levels, following the outlier year 2022 with exceptionally generous donations of USD 14.2 billion to WFP. WFP continues to prioritize the most vulnerable people with lifesaving assistance in the operations of the highest concern – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Sahel, Haiti, Sudan regional crisis, Palestine, Yemen and several others at risk of becoming forgotten emergencies.

Switzerland focuses its support to WFP operations in its own priority countries through annual contributions softly earmarked to WFP offices and related Country Strategic Plans (CSPs).

WFP’s mission is a world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life.

The vision for 2030 underlying WFP’s strategic plan for 2022-2025 is that the world has eradicated food insecurity and malnutrition (SDG 2 - Zero Hunger) and national and global actors have achieved the SDGs (SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals).

The overall goal of WFP is providing immediate food assistance in life-threatening situations while supporting countries in ensuring no one is left behind.

1. People are better able to meet their urgent food and nutrition needs
2. People have better nutrition, health and education outcomes
3. People have improved and sustainable livelihoods
4. National programmes and systems are strengthened
5. Humanitarian and development actors are more efficient and effective

Expected results:   WFP fights hunger in 72 least-developed and low-income countries where victims of conflicts and natural disasters, refugees, displaced people and the hungry poor face severe food shortages.

Results from previous phases:  

• WFP reached 160 million people in 2022 with lifesaving and life-changing assistance, breaking the previous year’s record and making it the largest operation in WFP’s history. In 2023, WFP was able to reach an estimated 150 million people with food, cash and commodity vouchers
• In 2023, WFP received USD 8.3 billion in confirmed contributions, a 41% decrease compared to the total funding received in 2022 (a 13% decrease if compared to 2021). With operational requirements of USD 22.8 billion last year, a record 64% shortfall was registered. Of the USD 8.3 billion received, USD 1.179 billion was contributed flexibly by 38 donors, including USD 487 million unearmarked, USD 107 million directed to the Immediate Response Account (IRA) and USD 584 million softly-earmarked contributions
• WFP is the laureate of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war"
• WFP leads or co-leads humanitarian response and provides services such as the UN Air Service (UNHAS), UN Humanitarian Response Depots network (UNHRD) as well as the three Inter-Agency Standing Committee Clusters (Logistics, Emergency Telecommunications and Food Security Cluster, with FAO)