Swedish assessment 2008 of multilateral organisations The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Facts about the organisation Mandate and direction of operations ted by the UN Secretary-General and the Director- The United Nations World Food Programme, WFP, is General of FAO. The present Executive Director the world’s largest humanitarian organisation. It has Josette Sheeran took office in April 2007. The been in existence since 1963 and is based in Rome. Executive Board consists of 36 members. Its mem- In 2007 WFP food aid reached 86 million people. bers are appointed under a system of lists for dif- WFP’s three largest ongoing operations are in Sudan, ferent country categories. Sweden shares a list with Ethiopia and Afghanistan. WFP’s primary objective the major donor countries and sits, by virtue of the is to use food aid to save lives and protect livelihoods size of Swedish contributions, on the Board in 9 years in emergencies. Food aid in various forms is still out of 12 (for instance for the period 2007–2009). its most important tool. Recently WFP has begun In 2007 more than 9000 people worked for WFP, experimenting with cash and voucher transfers and 90 per cent of them were in the field. WFP has instead of food rations. Some 10 per cent of WFP field offices and distribution operations in some 80 activities can be characterised as development activ- countries. ities, but its humanitarian operations can also include elements of development projects. Financial information In 2007 WFP’s total income was almost USD 3 billion. Governance, organisation and Swedish Sweden’s core contribution to WFP for 2008 is SEK participation 380 million. Over and above this, the Government de- WFP is subordinate to the UN Secretary-General, cided to make a special contribution of SEK 70 million the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the to counter the effects of higher food prices, a contri- United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Eco- bution made on the same conditions as Sweden’s core nomic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Since 1996 contribution. In 2007 Sweden was the ninth largest WFP has been run by an Executive Director and an donor but accounted for a small share of WFP’s total Executive Board. The Executive Director is appoin- turnover. The United States provides 40 per cent of Background to the Swedish assessments In April 2007 Sweden adopted its first strategy for multilateral development cooperation. One of the strategy’s recommendations is to make regular structured assessments of the multilateral organisations receiving Swedish support. The strategy’s key concepts – relevance and effectiveness – are intended to guide the assessment of each organisation. In spring 2008 assessments of multilateral organisations were conducted jointly by the Government Offices, Sida and Swedish embassies in developing countries. These assessments will be used as one of several inputs for budget decisions, the preparation of organisation strategies and policy dialogues. The main intention is for them to increase knowledge of the individual organisations and form a basis for following the development of each organisation. However, the assessments do not claim to be comprehen- sive. Nor should comparisons be made between organisations on the basis of this information. The forms for these assessments are being developed and routines for what information is to be gathered, assessed and reported are still being tested. the budget. Sweden is one of the few countries whose Internal effectiveness contributions consist almost entirely of unrestricted WFP’s internal effectiveness is assessed as good even core budget support. In 2007 unrestricted contribu- though there are areas for improvement. For instance, tions accounted for only some 9 per cent of all contri- WFP needs to strengthen the independence of its in- butions to WFP. ternal audit and the measurement of the outcomes of Sweden’s annual letter, which sets the framework its actions. WFP has an effective internal structure with for how WFP can use the Swedish core contributions, a strong executive leadership and an involved Board. says expressly that WFP must not use the money in The Executive Board, with a limited number of mem- its development programmes. By saying so, Sweden bers, generally permits open and productive discussion. is stressing that we consider that WFP’s comparative In the main, WFP’s organisational structure is adapted advantage is in humanitarian operations and that we to its highly field-focused activities. view the organisation as a humanitarian actor, and WFP has made good progress in implementing a not as a development actor. A small portion of the system of results-based management, which was Swedish contribution (approx. SEK 6.5 million in introduced in 2007. Detailed, practical guidelines 2008) goes to a fund to promote innovative solutions for results-based monitoring are available on WFP’s intended to help enhance WFP’s operational capacity. website. According to these guidelines reports have to give an account of the concrete results of an oper- ation and its outcomes and draw conclusions from Swedish contributions 2005 2006 2007 the experience gained that can contribute to future planning. Total paid in Swedish All project plans contain a section on monitoring contributions, SEK million 551 417 416 and evaluation. Outputs are monitored at coun- - of which contributions from try level on a monthly or quarterly basis. The WFP the Government Offices, Strategic Framework contains 34 indicators that SEK million 390 410 393 measure outcomes. However, an external audit of - of which multilateral/ WFP’s results-based management has pointed out bilateral support from Sida that the monitoring and reporting of results at out- SEK million 161 7 23 come level is often weak. WFP’s evaluation function is operating satis- factorily across the board according to an audit carried out by an international group of evaluation experts, Assessment but mechanisms are required to increase the use- fulness of the evaluations. For example routines for Relevance in relation to Swedish management response and actions should be impro- ved. The experts also considered that the evaluation development objectives function was stronger at central level than at regional WFP is a very relevant organisation for humanitarian and country level. According to the same opinion, work. It is a world leader in logistics and has a unique the independence of the evaluation function is satis- capacity to quickly establish itself in the field – not factory but there is scope for improvement. WFP is least in high-risk areas. In the current crisis with high working to implement the measures proposed in the food prices WFP is an absolutely key actor. study and is also producing an evaluation strategy at WFP is also relevant to gender equality, which is the same time. Work is under way to improve the one of Sweden’s three thematic priorities in develop- monitoring of results, which is often hampered by a ment cooperation. WFP has a gender equality focus lack of reliable data. A substantial proportion of WFP in its work and has long prioritised women, both as documents are readily available to the general public recipients of and as channels for food aid. on the organisation’s website. Systems are in place to In part, WFP can be regarded as relevant to human combat irregularities. rights, Sweden’s second thematic priority, although The predominant impression is that WFP’s inter- this is not included as an explicit aim in its strategic nal audit is functioning well and has strong lead- documents. The organisation helps to maintain ership, but that the funding of the function needs people’s dignity through action to reduce hunger, to be strengthened. However, the head of internal which makes people better able to make use of their audit is not formally independent. He is employed for human rights. Its presence in conflict areas and an in- an unlimited term directly by the Executive Direc- creased focus on the protection perspective can also tor without consultation with the Executive Board. be said to contribute to greater respect for human Nevertheless independent evaluations affirm that rights. WFP’s internal audit maintains satisfactory quality. By contributing to better handling of land issues The results of audits are not public, but the stu- in recipient countries WFP is also relevant to the dies and inspections conducted are summarised in a climate area. report now made annually to the Board. External effectiveness Trends WFP’s external effectiveness is assessed as good. WFP WFP has made progress in several areas that Swe- often has a strong presence at country level and has a den views as important, such as local procurement, leading and very important coordinating role in the more focus on hand-over strategies and better needs humanitarian sphere both at country level and globally. assessments. WFP still shoulders a heavy responsibili- Coordination with other actors, such as FAO, can be ty for the early phase of reconstruction and a stronger improved. dialogue has been sought about how better to fill the Formally, individual project plans take their cue vacuum that often arises between action for humani- from the strategic plan and in practice WFP oper- tarian and for development purposes. ations are also well in line with policy documents. The trend in world food prices presents great Even though the bulk of WFP’s activities can be challenges to food aid as a whole and to WFP as an classified as humanitarian, the organisation is con- organisation. WFP has begun to look at innovati- tinuing to operate extensive development-oriented ve tools, such as cash and voucher transfers, and is programmes. There are clear risks for overlap with continuing to work for an increase in the share of the activities of other organisations.