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Who we assisted and how
WFP remained focused on reducing food insecurity and malnutrition in the face of spiralling humanitarian needs and falling resources. We managed to fulfil our commitment to building people's resilience and delivering enduring solutions to hunger, together with our partners.
WFP assisted more than 152 million people. This included vulnerable populations facing emergency (IPC Phase 4) or catastrophe/famine (IPC Phase 5) levels of food insecurity - as defined by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification [IPC] measurement - as well as refugees, migrants and internally displaced people. Nearly 53 percent of the people reached were women and girls, and 47 percent were men and boys. More than half of the people WFP served were in conflict-affected areas.
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152 M
Total people reached in 2023
80.1 MWomen (43.4 M Girls)
71.9 MMen (42.7 M Boys)
WFP main emergencies in 2023
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How we supported and protected people vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition
Food, cash-based transfers and individual capacity strengthening
Unconditional resource transfers - meaning chiefly food and cash-based assistance as well as capacity strengthening - represented WFP's largest programme area in 2023. We reached almost 107 million people through these means, accounting for 70 percent of the people we serve.
WFP distributed nearly 3.1 million metric tons of food, despite operational challenges and supply chain constraints largely due to disasters and conflicts. We further transferred US$2.9 billion in cash-based transfers and in commodity vouchers (which are redeemed for specific items) in 76 countries, reaching 51.6 million people.
In Egypt, when supporting refugees fleeing the violence in Sudan, WFP listened to community feedback and replaced the 25 kg food basket with ready-to-eat meals that are easier to carry and eat for people forced to be on the move. We also introduced cash-based transfers, after people said they preferred to buy their own food and other supplies throughout their journey.
Prevention and treatment of malnutrition
WFP's primary focus is to reach people who are at greatest risk of malnutrition and who have inadequate diets. WFP reached 27 million women and children in 2023 with services designed to prevent and treat malnutrition during the first 1,000 days of life.
However, most food rations we distributed to all target groups across 57 countries fell short in terms of providing adequate nutrition. Lack of funding was a major factor behind this.
We carried out a major review to enhance the nutritional adequacy of the food we provide. Improvements are being made in planning, targeting and adapting to reduced funding as a result. Better monitoring will mean we can lessen the impact of ration cuts. WFP is also supporting national food fortification and more nutrition-sensitive local and regional procurement actions.
In Pakistan for example, more than 83 percent of commercially produced flour was fortified in two pilot districts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, with WFP support. The product is used by more than 3 million people in the country.
School-based programmes
A total of 107 million children received school meals in programmes implemented by governments or partners in 77 countries, with WFP providing technical support. At the same time, WFP directly provided nutritious school meals, take-home rations or snacks to 21.4 million schoolchildren in 61 countries. We raised the degree to which we buy food locally for our school meals, thereby increasing support to local livelihoods and markets, from 42 to 57 percent year-on-year.
A total of 65 countries made or increased their commitments to school-based programmes in their national policies, with support from WFP, as a move towards self-reliance and sustainability. For example, the transition of the school-meal programme from WFP to the Government of Armenia was completed in 2023.
School-meal programmes improved enrolment, attendance and retention, while enhancing academic performance and reducing the number of dropouts. Nutritional benefits were also recorded among recipients in Nepal, Malawi, Benin, Haiti and Bhutan.
School meals transforming futures
of children and communities
Asset creation and livelihoods
WFP supported 9 million people participating in community and household activities, and skills training, which included the rehabilitation of 377,000 hectares of land, planting of 4,200 hectares of forest, and the repair or construction of more than 7,200 km of roads and trails. WFP assistance comprised food, cash or commodity vouchers to meet people's immediate food needs.
More than 69 percent of households involved in the activities reported improvements to their livelihoods, while 57 percent of people who received skills training found employment.
In Afghanistan, 785,000 people received WFP support in building and rehabilitating flood-prevention structures and irrigation canals, among other assets, while also working on improved watershed management. The number of households with poor food consumption fell by 18 percent as a result, and the number with an acceptable food consumption doubled.
Dyke project helps families
repair their lives
Smallholder agricultural market support programmes
Helping smallholder farmers to raise their incomes and improve their livelihoods is one of the keys to ending hunger, since they produce most of the world's food.
Among our approaches, WFP and partners trained farmers on skills including improved farming practices, post-harvest management, marketing, business, finance and insurance. We provided more than 470,000 pieces of farming or post-harvest equipment to women and men smallholder farmers globally and assisted other farmers in building more than 7,500 storage facilities for their harvests.
Food sales from WFP-supported smallholder farmer groups reached nearly 96,000 metric tons, valued at US$72 million. WFP bought 60 percent of the food used for our operations, worth US$1.1 billion, in local and regional markets. Of this amount, 90,000 metric tons was sourced from smallholder farmers in 24 countries, at a value of US$56 million, boosting their livelihoods and injecting cash into local economies.
Action to protect against climate shocks
The climate crisis is among the leading drivers of hunger, destroying land and crops, killing livestock, depleting fisheries and cutting off markets. WFP works with partners to help people prepare, respond and recover. WFP mitigated the impact of climate shocks on food systems, using forecasting technologies and early-warning systems. A total of 9.2 million people were supported through insurance and cash-based transfers, providing them with a cushion against shocks.
We took an "anticipatory action" approach in 13 countries and piloted it in five others, typically combining early-warning alerts with cash-based distributions. In total, we released over US$20 million to mitigate the impact of predicted extreme weather on nearly 581,000 individuals. Cash can help people absorb the effects of disasters, including failed crops, by providing the means to: buy food and other vital supplies, take preventive action – such as moving people, assets and livestock to safer areas – and invest in new agricultural equipment or livestock.
In Somalia, anticipatory action saw cash transfers made to around 200,000 people ahead of predicted floods in seven districts – so they could meet their food and other essential needs. A total of 59 percent of these were women, as a means of increasing their involvement in decision making at the household level. In Haiti, early-warning messages were issued to over 500,000 people and cash to around 18,500, in advance of forecasted heavy rains – safeguarding lives and livelihoods.
Better prepared for
the looming storm
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School meals transforming futures of children and communities
"I wanted to generate my own income, not relying exclusively on my husband and the family farm," says Thom Ker, who tends to row after row of lush lettuces in her spacious greenhouse in the northern Siem Reap province of Cambodia.
Her vegetables are destined for pupils at Bos Thom primary school, who are among 300,000 children enjoying daily hot meals through a school-meal programme run by WFP and the Government of Cambodia.
Thom also acts as an intermediary between schools and growers. Two years into the job, the extra income helps with expenses ranging from tractor fuel to her eldest daughter's English lessons.Headteacher Van Samun says the nutritious meals can reduce the risk of disease, while the school has seen higher enrolment and fewer children dropping out. Many pupils are continuing into higher education, she adds.
WFP is helping to create an environment where the Government can fully own the programme in the long term. A condition of this is that 70 percent of the food used be grown locally - helping create jobs, reduce poverty and, in turn, migration.
With almost one-third of children under 5 suffering from stunting - or low height-for-age - and undernutrition costing the Southeast Asian nation about 1.7 percent of its annual GDP, school meals can be a game-changer in Cambodia.
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Dyke project helps families repair their lives
Every day for three years, Yar Mayom Arok dreamed of returning to her home in Jalle - a small South Sudanese town on the edge of the Sudd, Africa's largest wetland.
Yar's wish is now a reality, thanks to a WFP project to repair a crucial dyke holding back the floodwaters. Since coming home, she has started a business selling tea, and hopes to earn enough money to reopen her old food shop and to buy new livestock.
"I am so much happier in Jalle, there is plenty of fish to eat and if you look at my body, my skin is smooth and I am gaining weight again," she says.
Yar's family had fled when floodwaters from the nearby Nile River broke through a dyke and engulfed their town three years earlier. She is among the millions that WFP supports with food and cash assistance. They are also supported by resilience and infrastructure projects in South Sudan - a country at the forefront of a climate emergency which compounds the heavy toll imposed by conflict, poverty, and rising food and energy prices.
Another person feeling the benefits of the dyke project is Elizabeth Acham Maketh, who is among 2,000 casual labourers employed by WFP for the repairs.
"Our community suffered a lot in the flooding, and we all have a responsibility to make life better for ourselves," says Elizabeth, a widow and mother of four. I will use the money I have earned to pay for food and school fees for my children, and to buy more livestock to replace the ones I lost in the flooding.
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Better prepared for the looming storm
"In the past, I stayed home because I didn't want to lose my belongings and my food - even if it was dangerous," says Olga Lima, on the impact of the Atlantic hurricane season on her northern town of Castañuelas in the Dominican Republic.
"But today I can leave my house and go to an emergency shelter with more peace of mind, and my family will have food to eat."
A WFP-supported scheme using weather forecasts to trigger anticipatory actions - such as cash distributions - has shored up the resilience of individuals like Olga before extreme weather can strike. She can use the money to buy emergency supplies, food and medicine. Such support can be invaluable in a country prone to climate shocks including Hurricane Fiona in 2022.
WFP and the Government are running pilots in other communities, for example distributing vouchers redeemable for food, household items and tools, as part of the national emergency response.
More broadly, we are working with partners on the development of early-response plans for more than a half-a-dozen other Latin American and Caribbean countries in the region, including Colombia, Peru and Haiti.
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Integrating cross-cutting priorities for maximum impact
Protection and accountability to affected populations
WFP consistently sought to ensure the welfare and dignity of the people we serve. For example, people in Kenya reported that cash transfers were easily accessible and appreciated the ability to use them based on their needs. Most complaints were satisfactorily resolved, and WFP used community feedback to inform changes or adjustments to our activities.
Gender equality and women's empowerment
A WFP study on unequal access to assistance and the gender-related barriers to humanitarian access made a series of recommendations, including effective use of data, ensuring women's participation in all stages of the programme cycle, investment in partnerships and integrated programming. WFP's work with the other Rome-based agencies (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development) includes a programme on rural women's economic empowerment, targeting countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and also in collaboration with UN Women. The programme's focus includes access to land, credit and technology.
Nutrition integration
We provided a combination of fortified food, specialized nutritious products and activities to support diet diversification. As an example of our work in this area, WFP integrated nutritional support into our general food assistance and school-meal programmes in Syria. We ensured the quality of rations and school meals in the country by providing fortified food, while using distribution points for screening and early detection of malnutrition.
Environmental sustainability
WFP's clean cooking project in Chad is an example of a sustained drive to reduce the impact of our programmes on the environment. Thermal heat-retention bags were used in canteens, keeping school meals warm for up to 12 hours without the need for additional heat or fuel. The project can reduce energy costs by up to 70 percent and indoor pollution by 60 percent. In El Salvador, we are piloting fully equipped, solar-powered kitchens in three large public schools that will serve WFP meals to hundreds of students. In total, WFP provided improved clean cooking for schools in 16 countries.