In October, the United Nations World Food Programme was named the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for 2020 in recognition of its work addressing the link between conflict and hunger. The Nobel Prize Award Committee noted the critical role that food assistance plays in supporting people living in conflict zones as they take the first steps towards peace and stability.
The Nobel Committee lauded WFP’s “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 and conflict”—a reference to the organization’s role in the UN Security Council adoption of the landmark Resolution 2417 in 2018. This condemned the use of starvation as a method of warfare as well as the unlawful denial of humanitarian access to civilian populations.
The award of the Nobel Peace Prize ensures that the struggle of the 690 million people who live with chronic hunger will take centre stage, and WFP is making every effort to use this platform to amplify their voices and mobilize support.
On 16 November, at a high-level online meeting hosted by WFP, broadcast on UNTV and attended by the heads of the World Bank and IMF, UN Secretary-General António Guterres made this statement:
“The Peace Prize is given to reward, different personalities in different moments, but this prize is special because it sends an important message. And the message is that food is peace. Hunger is an outrage in a world of plenty. An empty stomach is a gaping hole in the heart of a society. A stunted child’s growth in the mind is progress for her and for everyone.”
THE DRIVERS OF HUNGER
Conflict is a key driver of hunger. Where it meets climate change, the consequences are devastating. The coronavirus pandemic and accompanying restrictions are exacerbating what are already tragic circumstances that affect millions of people around the world.
Many of the people WFP supports are fleeing conflict, and have been forced to abandon their land, homes and jobs –- sometimes even their families.
Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria’s Northeast and Burkina Faso, all of which are on the brink of famine, bear tragic testimony to the devastating consequences of the toxic mix of conflict, extreme weather and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Climate change is a key driver of hunger. The damage it causes to livelihoods undermines economies and changes for peace. In working to ensure food security and building community resilience, WFP seeks to positively influence food systems, mitigate climate impacts, and contribute to social cohesion. In doing so, it strengthens the link between citizen and state—a key ingredient of peace.
COUNTRY SPECIFICS
The Philippines is doing its share in the battle against hunger with — invested in WFP’s humanitarian and development programmes in 2020. It is doing its part to save lives and change lives ensuring humanitarian workers and food assistance continue to get where they are needed the most in crises and that aid reaches the most vulnerable people. It has also become a valued partner to WFP in tackling root causes of hunger and strengthening livelihoods, resilience and nutrition long-term.
The Philippine Government has become WFP’s valued collaborator especially in managing food assistance projects on the ground. With this strong commitment by the Filipino people, we can lessen the suffering caused by hunger and malnutrition and meet head-on the challenges presented by Covid-19.
PARTNERS
This is an award that WFP shares with many others— the governments who support it, the NGOs it works with on the field, and its UN sister agencies and other providers of humanitarian and development aid.
“In prioritizing capacity strengthening activities for the national, regional and local governments in the Philippines, WFP and our partners ensure long-term food and nutrition security that is self-sustaining and resilient”, Mats Persson, OIC and Deputy Country Director.
With the combined help its donors and UN and NGO partners, WFP is able to reach 100 million people with food assistance in more than 80 countries every year. But more needs to be done.
LOOKING AHEAD — THE THREAT OF A HUNGER PANDEMIC
As a consequence of COVID-19, in coming months the number of acutely food-insecure people could increase to 270 million in 2021 in the 80 countries where WFP works.
The organization is mobilizing its 20,000 strong workforce to meet the food needs of up to 138 million people in 2020 in what will be the largest humanitarian operation in its history.
Collective and truly global action is required to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Close partnerships with governments will be essential to prevent and mitigate poverty and hunger as we face the ongoing second wave of the virus.
WFP is uniquely equipped to step up but faces a 50 percent funding shortfall between what it is forecast to raise in 2021 ($7.8 billion) and what it needs ($15.1 billion).
Only by bridging this funding gap can we reach more people with the kind of smart, efficient and scalable responses needed to save and better lives that have been shattered by COVID-19.
As the Nobel Committee has said, the world today is in danger of experiencing a hunger crisis of inconceivable proportions if WFP and other food assistance organizations do not receive the financial support they desperately need.
World Food Programme
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
World Food Programme’s work in the Philippines dates from 1968 and re-established their presence in the country in 2006 at the request of the Government to support the ongoing peace process in the Mindanao region.
Working closely with the Government of the Philippines, other United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and communities, WFP focuses on increasing long-term food and nutrition security while assisting people and communities to build resilience to be better prepared for the consequences of disasters in the country.
Further information: http://www.wfp.org/countries/Philippines
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