-
Haiti earthquake
A devastating earthquake hits the Caribbean nation which is already struggling to feed itself. A massive humanitarian operation is launched. WFP begins distributing food within 24 hours of the quake and, at the height of the emergency, is feeding a third of the population (3 million people). First month in pics photo gallery + story -
Telethon for Haiti
WFP was one of seven relief organisations to receive a share of the money raised by the Hope For Haiti Now global benefit event. The line-up of stars included WFP celebrity partners Christina Aguilera, Wyclef Jean and Drew Barrymore. Some US$ 57 million was raised in the first 24 hours. Read the story -
Hunger on the agenda at Davos
WFP goes to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to ensure that hunger and nutrition remains on the radar of global leaders. About 70 guests, politicians and business leaders, attended WFP’s annual dinner-discussion forum and brainstormed about Haiti and nutrition. Read the story and watch the video -
An anti-hunger plan for Haiti
On the one month anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, WFP hosts a high level meeting in Rome to discuss how UN agencies, donors and governments can support Haitian-led food security in the future. Haitian Ambassador to Italy Geri Benoit gave a moving run-down of the earthquake’s effects on her country. See what she and six other speakers said -
England cricketers go to bat against hunger
English cricketing stars take time out from their tour of Bangladesh for a match against children from a primary school in Dhaka. The children are among the 20 million around the world who receive school meals from WFP. The visit was part of the ongoing Cricket Against Hunger partnership between WFP and the England team. Read the story and watch the video -
Food airlift for Congo refugees
WFP airlifts urgent food assistance into a remote northern region of the Republic of Congo in order to reach tens of thousands of refugees from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who have crossed the border to escape conflict. Read the story -
Students step up for Haiti
Olivia Stanwick, age 9, hands WFP a check for $1,654 – money that she and her school friends have collected to help the hungry in Haiti. Her contribution is enough to provide 6,000 meals for children in school. Olivia is just one of many students who are helping to fight hunger in the quake-hit country. Read the story and watch the video -
World Cup soccer star raises voice
In the run up to the World Cup in South Africa, Brazilian star Kaka draws attention to world hunger through video and print. “Let’s make this cup the World’s Cup,” he says pointing to a red cup, the symbol of WFP’s campaign to feed hungry children in schools around the developing world. Watch the video -
Christina Aguilera Ambassador against Hunger
The grammy-award winning singer is appointed a WFP Ambassador Against Hunger. Having her own child made her much more sensitive to the plight of hungry children the world over, she tells chat show host Oprah Winfrey. One of her first moves as ambassador is to go to Haiti to see hunger relief operations there. See the photo gallery of her visit to Haiti -
Lula champion against hunger
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gets a “Global Champion in the Battle Against Hunger” award from WFP for his leadership in the fight to eradicate hunger in Brazil. WFP's Executive Director Josette Sheeran goes to Brazil to learn more about how the country's Zero Hunger strategy works. Read the story -
Walk the World 2010
Some 150,000 of people took to the streets in 70 countries around the world to show their support for WFP’s fight against global hunger. The annual ‘End Hunger: Walk the World’ initiative raised enough money to provide a whole year of meals for more than 10,000 school children. Read the story -
Violence in Kyrgyzstan
Ethnic tensions erupt in southern Kyrgyzstan causing around 400,000 people to flee their homes to escape violence. Most return as the conflict dies down but many find their villages and livelihoods destroyed. WFP launches an operation to help these people recover and rebuild. See the photo gallery -
Drought in the Sahel
WFP begins the first of a series of scaling up operations to the drought-hit West African country of Niger after malnutrition rates among young children reach emergency levels. Operations are also boosted in other nations of the Sahel region, where food is scarcer than ever due to the long drought. Watch the video and read the story -
Pakistan monsoon floods
Torrential monsoon rains in northwestern Pakistan cause the worst floods in living memory. As the flood waters move south, villages and farmland are submerged, creating an immediate hunger crisis. At the height of the emergency operation, WFP provides food for 7.5 million people. Watch the video and read the story. -
Cape Verde School Feeding handover
The small Atlantic nation of Cape Verde passes a major milestone as its government takes from WFP full responsibility for the national school meals programme. This apparently small act is symbolic of how poor countries can, with help and support, create the structures needed to defeat hunger. Read the story and watch the video -
FreeRice platform goes ‘social’
The viral word game that builds vocabulary while feeding the hungry gets a major upgrade, making it even more addictive than before. Players of the new version can compete with friends, tout their scores on Facebook and play on the go by mobile phone – all while fighting hunger. Read the story and play Freerice -
925 million hungry in the world
The number of hungry people in the world falls to 925 million from the record 1.02 billion reached in 2009, mainly thanks to economic growth in developing countries and lower food prices. Despite the improvement, the figure – equivalent to around one in seven people on earth – is still unacceptably high. Story and Hunger Stats -
Paul Tergat at MDG summit
The world-beating Kenyan runner Paul Tergat, who received school meals thanks to WFP as a child, goes to the Millennium Development Goals summit in New York with a personal message: that the first MDG – beating hunger – underpins all the others. Read the story -
1000 days initiative launched
The world begins to focus attention and resources on getting nutritious food to the under-twos, who are especially vulnerable to hunger. Among the signs of this is the ‘1000 Days Initiative’ launched by US and Irish governments on the sidelines of the UN Millenium Development Goals Summit, in New York. Read the story -
Food by SMS in Philippines
WFP begins testing the use of SMS messages to distribute cash to Filippinos involved in post-flood reconstruction projects. The SMS messages can be ‘cashed’ at 18,000 corner shops, allowing beneficiaries to buy the food they need. It’s part of a broad drive to use technology to simplify WFP distributions. Read the story -
-
Pakistani pop stars visit flood victims
-
Food prices rise to 2008 levels
Food price hikes on international markets push the food price index produced by WFP’s sister agency, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to its highest level in two years. Next year's harvests will be crucial in determining whether food prices continue to climb in 2011, FAO says. Read story and watch the graph -
Online hunger quiz launched
In a novel way of engaging the web world in the fight against hunger, WFP launches an online hunger quiz. Simply by doing the quiz, supporters feed one hungry child in school. More than 50,000 people do the quiz in the first month, helping to feed the world while learning about hunger. -
300,000 online supporters
