THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD

Published purpose

February 2013 - Established in 1961, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the food assistance arm of the United Nations, and is the largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger in the world. WFP provides food assistance to vulnerable populations as a means of addressing hunger and global food insecurity. WFP has demonstrated knowledge and capacity to address the urgent food needs of vulnerable populations, and to contribute to fighting global hunger. Given WFP's presence and capacity, there are no other agencies that are able to perform the same functions on a similar scale as WFP. DFATD's funding is supporting the Immediate Response Account (IRA), which provides WFP with the flexibility to make funding decisions based on wherever needs are the greatest, usually following a rapid onset crisis or natural disaster. Provision of support to the IRA strengthens humanitarian agencies' rapid response capacity.