20 July 2017: The World Food Programme (WFP) issued a report, titled ‘World Food Assistance 2017: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead,’ analyzing trends, challenges and solutions in food assistance while placing humanitarian action, risk and vulnerability at the core of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 (zero hunger).
The reports finds that food assistance is vital to international humanitarian assistance. It indicates that about 40% of total humanitarian spending is on food assistance, while food assistance expenditures by WFP more than doubled from 2009 to 2016, increasing from US$2.2 billion to US$5.3 billion. While food assistance from national governments is much larger than that from international actors, funding for international food assistance is at record levels. The report reveals, however, that international food assistance is not sufficient to meet needs, identifying a funding gap of US$937 million in 2013, US$3.16 billion in 2015 and US$2.68 billion in 2016.
In order to capture the full benefits of food assistance, WFP recommends that leaders and policy makers confront the political drivers of vulnerability and hunger.
The report also finds that: spending on international food assistance differs by region and income level; international food assistance has changed significantly in recent years; and food assistance is constrained by lack of humanitarian access, instability and poorly performing food systems. The publication highlights three sources of challenges facing food assistance: global and national trends such as climate change, conflict, urbanization and inequality; humanitarian action-related challenges, including financing, access, protection and security; and those inherent to the structure and functioning of food systems.
In order to capture the full benefits of food assistance, WFP recommends that leaders and policy makers: confront the political drivers of vulnerability and hunger; improve the quality of food assistance programmes, boosting emergency preparedness and response, resilience, gender equality, nutrition and food system performance; strengthen national capacity and South-South cooperation, including private sector engagement; fill data gaps, focusing on national systems; and frame and implement a practical research agenda that addresses both programme-level and system-level challenges and opportunities facing food assistance initiatives. [Publication: World Food Assistance 2017: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead] [Report Summary] [Key Findings] [Publication Landing Page] [UN Press Release]