Updated: October 10, 2020 10:44:58 pm
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to the World Food Program (WFP) “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to improving the conditions of peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as an engine of efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict “. (Photo: Twitter / Nobel Prize)
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize to the UN Agency World Food Program (WFP), “For its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to improving peace conditions in conflict-affected areas, and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”
WFP is the 28th organization to receive the Nobel Peace Prize since its inception in 1901.
What is the PMA?
It was established in 1961. Then-US President Dwight Eisenhower had suggested the idea of providing food aid through the UN system. Months after its creation, WFP faced a humanitarian crisis when more than 12,000 people died in an earthquake in Boein Zahra, northern Iran. WFP shipped tons of wheat, sugar and tea. From then on, it played an important role in providing food aid in Thailand and Algeria.
Details on WFP’s websites show that it launched its first development program in 1963 for the Nubians in Sudan. That same year, WFP’s first school meals project was approved in Togo. Two years later, WFP became a full-blown United Nations program.
WFP is based in Rome, Italy. It is governed by an Executive Board, which consists of 36 member states. It is headed by an Executive Director, who is appointed jointly by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Executive Director is appointed for fixed terms of five years.
What is the scale of your work?
Today, WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger.
In 2019, it helped 97 million people, the most since 2012, in 88 countries, says WFP. The same year, it delivered about 4.4 million tons of food, bought $ 1.7 billion in food from 91 countries, and $ 762 million in goods and services from 156 countries. On any given day, WFP has 5,600 trucks, 30 ships and nearly 100 planes on the move, delivering food and other assistance to those most in need, he says.
“Each year, we distribute more than 15 billion servings at an estimated average cost per serving of US $ 0.61. These numbers are at the core of WFP’s unmatched reputation as an emergency response, getting the job done quickly to scale in the toughest environments, ”he says.
WFP India said in a statement: “From the post-war reconstruction of South Korea in the late 1960s, through the emergency response after the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, the protracted conflict in South Sudan and the most recent wars in Yemen and Syria. “WFP has been a constant presence for the poor and destitute, refugees and the dispossessed.”
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Why does the world need a feeding program?
Eradicating hunger is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030. WFP is the lead UN agency working to achieve this goal. According to WFP, there are 690 million hungry people around the world and around 60% of them live in countries affected by conflict. The number of hungry people is expected to increase further due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
WFP estimates suggest that by 2030, nearly half of the world’s poor will live in fragile and conflict-affected situations. It says that people living in countries with long-term crises are more than twice as likely to be undernourished than people elsewhere (2.5 times more).
What is the role of WFP in India?
WFP has been working in India since 1963, two years after its creation. Apart from focusing on reforms in the Targeted Public Distribution System, provides policy input, advocacy, and technical assistance to improve access to food.
WFP has proposed some unique initiatives such as the automatic grain dispensing machine (Annapurti) and mobile storage units for the effective implementation of TPDS. Annapurti allows beneficiaries to withdraw their quota of food grains precisely and at a time of their choosing. It can dispense two products at a rate of 25 kg every 1.3 minutes. It has a storage capacity of 200 kg to 500 kg.
According to WFP India, it has completed a pilot on the fortification of rice used in the government’s midday meal plan in Varanasi. Since December 2018, 4,145 tonnes of enriched rice have been produced and 300,000 schoolchildren fed, it says.
Even during the pandemic, WFP India has worked with the central and state governments. For example, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission. Under the agreement, WFP will provide technical assistance for the establishment of supplementary nutrition production units in 18 districts to provide quality food to some 33 lakh beneficiaries of the Anganwadi (Integrated Child Development Services) scheme. It has also prepared a guidance note for the reopening of schools during the pandemic.
What did the Nobel Committee say when declaring the award?
The Norwegian Nobel Committee highlighted the work done by the WFP to eradicate hunger and underlined its role in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak.
“The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a sharp increase in the number of hunger victims in the world. In countries such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, the combination of violent conflict and pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in the number of people living on the brink of starvation, ”the Committee said. . .
“In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Program has demonstrated an impressive ability to scale up its efforts. As the organization itself has said, ‘Until the day we have a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos,’ ”he said.
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