Feeding the world

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Every year people the world over are left to face the aftermath of disasters – natural and manmade. In times of such crisis the World Food Programme (WFP) not only provides food aid in an attempt to save lives, but is also putting pioneering systems in place to help communities rebuild and ultimately work towards a sustainable future in which the disadvantaged around the world no longer need to worry about their next meal. Founded in 1961 as part of the United Nations, WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency and annually feeds on average more than 90 million peoplein more than 70 countries around the world.. Josette Sheeran, WFP’s Executive Director, speaks to Glass about the organisation’s inspirational policies and achievements, and her hopes for the future.

Your previous role was Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs at the United States Department of State. What prompted you to move from politics to a humanitarian role?
My previous roles with the US government included leadership roles on the innovative Millennium Challenge Corporation, which applied a business model to development; the US response to the earthquake in Pakistan and empowering African farmers and businesses to overcome hunger and poverty through trade with the United States. I witnessed the power of these interventions to transform lives.

As a member of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s High Level Panel on reform and effectiveness, I saw first-hand the life-saving and pace-setting work of the World Food Programme (WFP). I was therefore deeply honoured when the United States asked me to apply and the world selected me to lead the World Food Programme.

You are currently active in so many regions: the Middle East, Haiti, North Korea, Cambodia, Pakistan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, to name just a fraction of your outposts. With so many countries in need at any one time, how does the WFP choose which country to aid?
Every morning one out of seven people on earth wake up and are not sure when – or if – they will eat that day. With the food, fuel and financial crises, hunger is at historic levels. WFP has state-of-the-art systems to analyse which of those hungry billion are in most urgent need of an intervention. We prioritise the most vulnerable groups, such as young children, pregnant and lactating women, and HIV/AIDS and TB patients.

Science has recently concluded that very young children denied nutritious food will face irreversible brain and body stunting. It is critical to understand that WFP is voluntarily funded and currently can reach only 10% of the hungriest people in the world. So we must make heart-breaking decisions every day.

What has been your most difficult decision since taking this post?
By far my most agonising moments are sending my staff into extremely dangerous areas in order to protect the most vulnerable women and children. They are true heroes – they have no weapons to protect themselves as they move in disasters and war zones. Their courage is legendary. Unfortunately, we have lost more staff to hostile parties than any other UN agency. We have a central place of honour in our headquarters for those who have fallen in service to this noble cause. It is the first place I take all visitors.

The level of world hunger has now reached 925 million. How effective is the WFP in the face of such huge adversity?
WFP has completely revolutionised our way of operating to use the latest technologies in new and innovative ways of reaching the hungry. For example, today we move “digital food” – meaning providing beneficiaries with food vouchers on swipe cards via cell phones; they are redeemable in local shops in more than 25 nations.

I was just in Hebron, in the occupied Palestinian territories, where the most destitute can shop in local approved shops with these digital food cards for nine types of food, all of which, like milk or yogurt or cheese, have to be nutritious and locally produced. This is a win-win solution, which has increased local dairy production 20 per cent, has brought new business to the shopkeepers and allows recipients to shop in dignity and with choice.

Another example is WFP’s new Purchase for Progress programme (P4P), where we purchase food from small farmers in the developing world who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. Today P4P is transforming farmers from being recipients of food aid to being WFP’s business partners in more than 20 nations.

How does the World Food Programme prepare for disasters and ensure that they are dealt with efficiently?
Preparedness has always been an integral part of all our work. We now have ways of turning satellite imagery into operational mapping which has revolutionised our work, most recently in Haiti and Pakistan. The information helps WFP better target where help is most needed, and importantly, where it is not. Early warning systems also enable us to pre-position food supplies in advance of natural disasters or conflict situations which might force mass movements of people from their homes.

Currently, in South Sudan, staff are preparing for likely increased insecurity following the independence referendum which could see the birth of a new African state. Earlier this year, WFP’s operation in Sudan had to gear up from having to reach less than a quarter of a million people with food in January to 1.9 million by March and 2.4 million in June – so we know how to respond in the case of a full scale emergency. WFP now has five humanitarian hubs in its global emergency response arsenal – in Italy, Dubai, Panama, Ghana and the most recent, in Malaysia, to store and deliver humanitarian relief items within 48 hours of a crisis occurring.

But it is not just about WFP itself being prepared. Much of our work with governments and partners involves food support to help vulnerable communities themselves become more resilient and create a buffer against shocks, as we face more erratic weather patterns caused by a changing climate.

What policies and structures have been put into place to ensure that after a country has received aid, it can continue to rebuild on its own?
WFP is transitioning from a food aid agency to a food assistance agency that provides a wider toolbox of hunger solutions. WFP works closely with governments to help them develop their own country-led food security plans and help them take ownership of programmes designed to improve access to nutritious food. Sustainability is a much-used word these days, but even in responding to an emergency we are already putting in place recovery programmes, such as cash and vouchers which put money into the economy, allowing families, communities and local economies to rebound.

Our innovative P4P initiative uses our role as a major food purchaser to help smallholder farmers in developing countries. WFP offers a stable market for smallholders and an incentive to produce more, while a wide range of P4P partners work to build up the capacity of farmers’ organisations, many of them formed by women, so that they gain access to credit, knowhow and storage.

What do you feel the WFP has achieved since its inception?
WFP has saved millions of lives by working in the deepest, most difficult corners of the world. We have done this not only by taking the lead for the international community when disaster strikes, but also through working with nations to build resiliency and sustainable food security.

Right now WFP is spearheading efforts to break the cycle of hunger and undernutrition by focusing attention on children in the crucial first 1000 days from the womb to two years of age, because not getting the right nourishment can lead to irreversible damage, meaning that children may never reach their full mental and physical potential. Our nutritional tool box already features specialised ready-to-use products that can stave off malnutrition.

We have engaged local partners to help source and develop such products locally, which invests in the local economy. In Pakistan, malnourished children affected by the floods are now able to receive a local high energy paste, based on chick peas, called Wawa Mum. Production is up and running in three factories, which are producing 9 metric tons per day, and by July that figure should be tripled.

In times of economic hardship, how else can the public be involved in humanitarian causes besides fundraising? Is there anything people can do on an individual level?
There are many ways that people can support WFP’s work. Our website is a good starting point to become informed and connect to our work. You can play a unique online vocabulary game, where for every correct answer a grain of rice is donated to WFP.

In March WFP will launch We Feedback, an online transactional platform where people can personalise their fight against hunger. You can select your favourite food, for example sushi or spaghetti alla carbonara, enter its price, and calculate how many children would receive a hot nutritious school meal for that sum. Then, if you wish, you can “feed back” that amount, through a donation.

Supporting WFP and following our work on social media (Facebook, Twitter) is another effective way to make sure word spreads about hunger issues and ways to help. Awareness and understanding through schools and universities will ensure that the next generation of leaders is conscious of the plight of the world’s hungry.

Politics can often be blamed for the hardship of a country. If you had an audience with the world’s leaders, what would you say?
In my role as Executive Director, I have been fortunate to be able to speak to many leaders, both of wealthy industrialised nations who are among our key donors and also leaders of countries where we work. My message has always been the same – no man, woman nor child on this planet should have to go to bed hungry, and hunger invariably ends when leaders stand up and say, “Not on my watch.”

Many nations have done this – Ireland and China, Brazil and Rwanda. It is not rocket science. We have the tools to make hunger history, what we need is the political will and economic support to achieve this goal. One of the secret weapons against hunger is women – by empowering women, who have a key role in providing for the household, we know that food is far more likely to reach hungry children. And we have seen, time and time again, that programmes that put women at the centre work, and these women in turn help their communities grow. That is the power of P4P programme, which connects small farmers to markets and empowers women.

What is your dream for the WFP?
The ultimate dream is to find ourselves out of a job because the right investments and policy decisions in nutrition, safety nets, agriculture and infrastructure in poor countries have been implemented and because policies that protect the most vulnerable have been put in place. But rather than dreams I prefer to focus on achievable goals. My two main goals during my mandate is to keep food security on the top of the global agenda and to make WFP the smartest, most efficient and innovative agency it can possibly be in tackling the world’s most pressing problem – hunger.

by Kristal Lubin

From the Glass Archive – Issue Six