Mar 2023-Feb 2024

Fighting Hunger in the Horn of Africa

©WFP/Alessandro Abbonizio

2014-2024

WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace and prosperity. In 2022, WFP reached 160 million people in over 120 countries and territories. We funded WFP’s School Meals Programme across Africa and the Middle East from 2014 until 2021. We’ve also supported WFP in Mozambique since 2014, initially focusing on setting up a nationally owned school meals programme for all pre-primary and primary schools across the country. Since 2017, we’ve been funding WFP’s work to provide post-harvest-loss solutions for smallholder farmers. In 2022, we funded the organisation’s food and nutrition assistance operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Today, we’re helping WFP reach vulnerable communities affected by hunger, conflict, and climate shocks across the Horn of Africa.

www.wfp.org

CHALLENGE

The Horn of Africa is struggling with its longest and most severe drought in 40 years, caused by five consecutive failed rainy seasons. The loss of livestock and eroded livelihoods in pastoral communities means that 22 million people are currently facing severe hunger and over 5 million children are acutely malnourished in the region.

ACTION

Working with 130 partners on the ground, 96 of which are local and national NGOs, WFP is delivering life-saving help to local communities, refugees, and internally displaced people across the region, with a focus on new arrivals. The assistance provided ranges from food and cash support to school meal activities. WFP is also promoting resilience-building initiatives for smallholder farmers, such as building irrigation canals and culverts, establishing community and household gardens, providing seeds and fertilizers, and triggering anticipatory financing to help farmers prepare for future climate hazards before they result in disaster.