Globally, it is estimated that up to 80 percent of humanitarian needs arise – in part – from violent conflict. As the world’s largest humanitarian organization, WFP is on the frontline to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on ending hunger by 2030 and is a major contributor to SDG 16, which aims to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Food security and conflict are closely linked. The 2013 policy “WFP’s Role in Peacebuilding in Transition Settings” outlines principles and programming approaches for supporting wider United Nations efforts to help countries restore peace.

In 2018, WFP established a multi-year knowledge partnership with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) to build the evidence base on how its programming contributes to peace prospects, apply the research findings to programming, and revise the peacebuilding policy, if required.

The initial phase of SIPRI’s research found that WFP’s activities that invest in livelihoods through Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) or Food Assistance for Training (FFT), build strong linkages between states and their citizens, use community-based participatory planning and promote natural resource management helped prevent conflict or contribute to the foundations for peace. A fifth area that was identified for further research is how general food assistance (GFA) and stabilization affects peacebuilding objectives.

For example, SIPRI observed that two WFP projects in El Salvador targeting urban youth in marginalized, gang-controlled areas of the capital demonstrably contributed to improving the prospects for peace at the local level. In Kyrgyzstan, SIPRI confirmed that the increase in water supplies and agricultural productivity resulting from FFA activities helped to prevent inter-community conflict over water.