• The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more than one million people in Myanmar will be cut off from food assistance starting in April due to critical funding shortfalls. 

• These cuts come just as increased conflict, displacement and access restrictions are already sharply driving up food aid needs.

• WFP urgently needs $60 million to maintain its life-saving food assistance to the people of Myanmar this year.

• Without immediate new funding WFP will only be able to assist 35,000 of the most vulnerable people, including children under the age of five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people living with disabilities.

• The cuts will also impact almost 100,000 internally displaced people in central Rakhine who will have no access to food without WFP assistance, including Rohingya communities in camps. 

• Myanmar has been in turmoil since February 2021 when the military seized power from an elected civilian government, sparking a protest movement that has expanded into a nationwide armed rebellion.

• A staggering 15.2 million people are unable to meet their minimum daily food needs in Myanmar, according to the Myanmar Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. This is up from 13.3 million last year. Of these, some 2.3 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger. Even with regular support, these families who rely solely on WFP food assistance, are already reporting skipping meals, selling properties or going into debt just to survive.

UN World Food Programme

• The World Food Programme (WFP) is a UN agency saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

• The WFP’s efforts focus on emergency assistance, relief and rehabilitation, development aid and special operations. Two-thirds of its work is in conflict-affected countries where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict.

• On any given day, WFP has 5,000 trucks, 20 ships and about 80 aircraft on the move, delivering emergency assistance, relief and rehabilitation, development aid and special operations to people affected by conflict, droughts, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, crop failures and other disasters. Two-thirds of our work is in conflict-affected countries, where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict. 

• In 2023, WFP transferred food to over 100 million people. That same year, WFP also disbursed around US$2.8 billion in cash-based transfers to an estimated 51.6 million people – strengthening food and nutrition security and sustaining local economies around the world. 

• The WFP was introduced in 1961 after the 1960 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference, when George McGovern, director of the US Food for Peace Programmes, proposed establishing a multilateral food aid programme. 

• The WFP was formally established in 1963 by the FAO and the UN General Assembly on a three-year experimental basis. In 1965, the programme was extended to a continuing basis.

• The headquarters of WFP is situated in Rome.

• The Executive Board is WFP’s supreme governing body. It comprises 36 States Members of the UN or Member Nations of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Board provides intergovernmental support, policy direction and supervision of the activities of WFP.

• It works closely with its two Rome-based sister organisations, the FAO of the United Nations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. 

• The WFP partners with more than 900 national and international NGOs to provide food assistance and tackle the underlying causes of hunger.

• The funding requirement for 2025 is $16.9 billion to reach 123 million people.

• It is the largest humanitarian organisation implementing school-feeding programmes worldwide and has been doing so for more than 50 years. 

• In 2020, the WFP won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger, contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. 

• Powered by dedication and professionalism of 23,000 staff worldwide, the WFP has a presence in over 120 countries and territories.

• The operations are entirely funded through the generous voluntary contributions of donor governments, institutions, corporations and individuals. A total 93.5 per cent of all government contributions go directly to supporting life-saving and life-changing operations.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)