Resourcing Report The World in 2017 © WFP USA 2018 World Food Program USA brings the American people together to support the lifesaving and life-changing work of the United Nations World Food Programme, the leading humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. By mobilizing individuals, lawmakers and businesses in the United States to advance the global movement to end hunger, we bolster an enduring American legacy of feeding families in need around the world. Photo credits: Cover, WFP/Jakob Kern; Inside Cover, WFP/Tara Crossley; Page 4, WFP/Ismail Taxta; Page 7, WFP/Abeer Etefa; Page 8, WFP/Saikat Mojumder; Page 9, WFP/Jonathan Dumont; Page 14, WFP/Badre Bahaji; Page 16; WFP/Fares Khoailed; Page 17, WFP/Dennis Akkus; Page 18, WFP/Inger Marie Vennize For inquiries, contact: [email protected] THE GLOBAL CHALLENGE OF HUNGER In a world of increasing insecurity and need, this report looks at the U.S. Government’s ongoing support of the World Food Programme and the growing financial backing from many donor countries. In 2017, one person out of every nine on the planet—around 815 million—was undernourished. Of these 815 million, 124 million were acutely hungry and 60% of hungry people were living in countries affected by conflict. Others experienced hunger as a consequence of economic or political instability, natural disasters and extreme poverty. Nearly one in four children worldwide suffered from chronic malnutrition, contributing to nearly 50% of all deaths of children under five years old. The cost of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies was estimated at 2–3 percent of global GDP, equivalent to USD $1.4–2.1 trillion per year. As The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2017 report noted, the nature of global crises is changing, with conflicts on the rise: “Exacerbated by climate- related shocks, conflicts seriously affect food security and are a cause of much of the recent increase in food insecurity.” Conflict now drives over 80 percent of all humanitarian needs. One in every 113 people on the planet is a refugee, asylum seeker or internally displaced person. The average length of refugee displacement has reached 17 years and repatriation rates continue at the lowest levels in decades. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events also contribute to global food insecurity, disrupting lives and livelihoods, including food production. Over the past ten years, more people have been displaced by natural hazards than by conflict. In 2017, nearly 19 million people were displaced by disasters within their own countries. The number of people affected by natural disasters will likely continue to rise as extreme weather, conflict and urbanization are among the factors increasing vulnerability and exacerbating the impact of these crises. A severe drought in the Horn of Africa currently threatens the food security of more than 11 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. These collective global crises have never been greater in size or scope or more challenging to address. 3 WFP’s Response The World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. In 2017, WFP partnered with 870 NGOs and more than 100 corporations and foundations to reach 91.4 million of the world’s most vulnerable people across 83 countries with life-saving food assistance. On any given day, over 5,000 trucks, 92 aircraft and 20 ships are delivering food across the globe. WFP continues to respond to many of the most severe, large- scale humanitarian crises in recent decades. These crises include operations in Syria and the surrounding region, Yemen, South Sudan, the Horn of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sahel of Africa, and the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh and Myanmar. As some of these emergencies were developing, other situations were stabilizing. Thanks to international support, crisis responses to the El Niño-induced drought in Southern Africa, as well as those in Ukraine and Iraq due to conflict and insecurity, have been either deactivated or downgraded. In 2017 WFP reached 15.8 million internally displaced people, 9.3 million refugees and 2.5 million returnees with food assistance. It distributed more than 3.9 million metric tons of food aid constituting 15.4 billion individual rations. In contexts where functioning markets exist, WFP also makes an effort to provide cash-based assistance to beneficiaries, which enables people to purchase the food that is best for their households, while also supporting the local economy. In 2017, WFP distributed $1.4 billion in cash and vouchers, with the Syria regional response—especially in Jordan and Lebanon—accounting for 58 percent of the total increase in cash-based assistance from the year prior. In addition to providing lifesaving food assistance, WFP works to build capacity within recipient countries, reducing the need for food assistance in the future. In the last five years, 40 percent of WFP’s operations included activities aimed at reducing disaster risk or helping people build resilience. This is accomplished through food assistance for assets programs, bolstering local markets by organizing and purchasing food aid from local farmers, educating local populations on nutrition, crop and livestock insurance, and school meals programs, among other interventions—all of which integrate women and girls’ empowerment. Throughout 2017, WFP helped to rehabilitate 219,000 hectares of land and forests, build or repair 17,000 km of roads and trails, dig 3,200 wells and restore or construct 500 bridges to increase people’s production of and access to food. In addition, 16.5 million school children suffering from chronic hunger received meals in-school or take-home rations. WFP’s dual humanitarian and development mandate aims at building long-term resilience and working together with national governments and local partners to empower communities with the tools they need for food security. 5 WFP IN EMERGENCIES In the past, WFP’s work largely focused on short-term crises, such as responding to natural disasters. With conflict on the rise in many regions of the world, WFP’s responses are now more protracted, often lasting years and requiring a different approach. In 2017, WFP responded to an unprecedented number of emergencies, with six top-level emergencies still active at the end of the year, all driven by conflict. This caused expenses to reach a record high of $6.2 billion, an increase of 16 percent from 2016. The Syrian crisis and WFP’s regional Syrian refugee response continued into its seventh year, with 5.3 million Syrians registered as refugees in neighboring countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey by the end of the year. Severe funding shortfalls loomed, risking pipeline breaks that affect assistance for refugees, including the reduction of calories in food baskets and the removal of assistance through e-cards. In Yemen, three years of conflict continued to bring complex challenges to the country and the 17.8 million food-insecure people, from a cholera epidemic and threat of famine to blocked ports and soaring food prices. Many road networks in the hardest hit areas of the country were inaccessible, preventing humanitarian aid from reaching some highly vulnerable communities. A famine was declared in parts of South Sudan in February 2017, but conditions improved by June after a massive scale-up of humanitarian assistance. The country also experienced extreme currency depreciation, exacerbating the already dire food security and economic situation. Meanwhile, consecutive droughts and flash flooding pushed more than 11 million people in the Horn of Africa toward severe food insecurity, including a famine risk to 3 million in Somalia. WFP activated a drought emergency response in February 2017 to manage the increasing needs. The Sahel region also faced increasing food insecurity, suffering from poor rainfall resulting in an early lean season and from terrorism threats by groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria. Political conflict plagued former peaceful regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, forcing farmers to desert their fields and displacing families. 6 WFP IN EMERGENCIES The Regional Syrian Refugee Crisis Since 2011, more than half of Syria’s population—over 11 million people—has been displaced, making the operation one of the largest in WFP’s history with combined requirements of over $6 billion since operations commenced. While WFP continues to provide life-saving emergency food assistance to those in Syria and the surrounding countries where Syrian refugees have fled, relief efforts in Syria were re-categorized in 2017 from an emergency operation to a protracted relief and recovery operation to assist in re-establishing and stabilizing livelihoods and food security to the extent permitted by the circumstances. However, air strikes and attacks have persisted, making long-term resilience a challenge. In 2017, for the first time in four years, WFP reached all 14 governorates in Syria, providing 1.8 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas with assistance through air and land deliveries and usage of cash-based transfers. For the U.N. regional response 2017-2018, attendees of the Brussels II conference pledged $4.4 billion for 2018 and made multi-year pledges of $3.4 billion, with the U.S. pledging $1.5 billion toward current U.N. appeals. WFP continues to engage with member states at all levels to highlight needs and to advocate for more support to Syrians struggling with insufficient food production, reduced government subsidies and currency depreciation, leaving what food is available virtually unaffordable. 7 The Rohingya Refugee Crisis The Rohingya in Myanmar have been denied citizenship since 1982 and have lived largely stateless and in poverty in the western coastal state of Rakhine, forbidden to leave without government permission. For decades, Rohingya have been fleeing to neighboring countries, but when violence escalated in Myanmar in mid-2017, Bangladesh saw a sudden increase of Rohingya refugees.