From 13 to 16 November, the World Food Programme hosted the 2023 Second Session of the Executive Board in HQ premises. In what turned out to be a very productive week, the Executive Board (EB) examined 26 documents for approval or consideration and reviewed 9 documents presented for information.
The Session featured a special address by H.E. Ambassador Majid Al-Suwaidi, Director-General of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that will take place in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December 2023.
The Board was also honored by the presence of high-level guests from several WFP Members States, including H.E. Salimane Karimou, Minister of Education of Benin; H.E. Pierre Ricot Odney, Minister of Social Affairs of Haiti; H.E. Isabel Maria Correia Viegas de Abreu, Minister of Education, Culture and Science of Sao Tome and Principe; H.E. Jose Ramon Holguin Brito, Vice-Minister of Governmental Monitoring and Coordination of the Dominican Republic; Ms Maureen Maguza-Tembo, Deputy Director, Department of School Health, Nutrition, HIV and AIDS, Ministry of Education of Malawi; Dr Kodjo Mensah-Abrampa, Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission of Ghana; and H.E. Hangchuon Naron, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Health and Sport of Cambodia (via recorded video).
Executive Director Opening Remarks
Cindy McCain, WFP Executive Director (ED), opened the session by holding a minute of silence observed by all UN employees that morning honoring the UN colleagues who lost their lives in Palestine. She also mourned all civilians who have perished in the conflict and paid tribute to WFP’s team on the front line responding to this crisis.
ED McCain regretfully reported that due to the widening gulf between global humanitarian needs and the resources available to meet them, almost half of WFP’s operations have received cuts and will soon be forced to reduce the size and scope of food, cash and nutrition programs.
The ED explained that these decisions testify to the current challenging financial landscape that the humanitarian sector is navigating and provided some stunning figures: the WFP’s operational requirements for 2023 stand at USD 23.5 billion, while the current funding forecast is at USD 10 billion, representing a funding gap of almost 60 percent. In addition, the World Food Programme’s operating costs have risen significantly due to commodity price increases, while access constraints often force WFP to adopt more costly methods to deliver essential aid.
The ED also conveyed that WFP will continue to work to raise the resources needed to assist vulnerable people and support them to build a better future. WFP is putting all efforts into expanding and scaling up partnerships with international and regional financial institutions and unlocking new opportunities with the private sector.
The ED then presented her agenda for change, to ensure that WFP would be equipped to operate in the currently budget-constrained humanitarian sector. It entails channeling resources to the front line by increasing funding for country offices by 24 percent, as outlined in the Management Plan approved by the Board on Tuesday. McCain emphasized that the agenda is centered on implementing stringent safeguards and controls through the implementation of the WFP Reassurance Action Plan, which includes a range of actions to put “end-to-end” assurance and internal control measures in place.
Other priorities of the agenda include the need for refined and focused programs as well as a streamlined corporate structure that is reflected in the new departmental organization presented to the Board during the week.
The ED then briefed the Board on the Palestine crisis and reported that WFP has reached over 760,000 people with food and cash since the conflict began, and of the plan to scale up to reach 1.1 million people over the next two months. She continued by saying that corridors have been established on land and sea in Egypt and Jordan and recounted her meeting with the President of Egypt El-Sisi and other senior government officials to discuss how WFP can support a logistics base in El Arish that is capable of serving the entire humanitarian system. ED McCain emphasized the need for safe humanitarian access in Gaza and increased, sustained and regular supply corridors to bring humanitarian assistance up to the required scale.
The ED also provided an update on other major crises around the world that “are not receiving the attention and support they deserve”, and she reported on Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Sudan, Chad and Myanmar to provide some examples of how the WFP frontline teams work to help people in desperate need in challenging environments.
ED McCain concluded by calling on the members of the Board to do more to support WFP and invited the EB members to leverage their diplomatic influence to find political solutions to the conflicts and crises causing hunger around the globe and place food security high on the global political agenda.
Special address by His Excellency, Ambassador Majid Al-Suwaidi, Director-General and Special Representative of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) COP28 Presidency
On Monday afternoon H.E. Ambassador Majid Al-Suwaidi, Director-General and Special Representative of the UAE COP28 Presidency, presented the objectives of the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference to be held in the United Arab Emirates in a couple of weeks.
Ambassador Al-Suwaidi emphasized the impacts of climate change on food, nature, lives and livelihoods, that are at the core of the COP28 agenda and explained that climate change has become a key contributing cause for hunger, growing humanitarian needs and inequality.
“Over half of the 25 countries considered the least ready to adapt to climate change are affected by conflict”, said the UAE Ambassador, and cited the latest OECD data estimating that by 2030, 26 percent of the global population will live in fragile states. Each year, climate disasters affect three times more people in fragile, conflict-affected settings than not.
Climate change is a global hunger driver, and this is evident in the Horn of Africa and Sub-Saharan countries, and also in other regions, such as South Asia, the Middle-East and Northern Africa region, the Pacific and the Caribbean islands. His Excellency, Majid Al Suwaidi provided some figures: in 2022 climate-related shocks pushed 56 million people in 12 countries into acute food insecurity and caused the displacement of 32 million people. By 2050, this number could rise to 216 million people.
“The risk of inaction is grave. If we do not act now, it will not only become more expensive and increasingly difficult to adapt, we will also see permanent loss and damages,” said Ambassador Al-Suwaidi, recognizing the crucial role of WFP in assisting climate-vulnerable communities in hard-to-reach countries and its tremendous work on climate prediction for prevention, protection, adaptation and resilience building.
The UAE Ambassador also stressed the importance of strengthening coordination, collaboration, and partnerships across humanitarian, climate and development actors and the need to scale climate finance to build resilience and reduce humanitarian needs.
In conclusion, Ambassador Al-Suwaidi invited the Board members to endorse the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace and the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action which place food at the heart of the climate action, mobilizing political commitment to drive positive changes in the food systems, enhance food security and promote sustainable agricultural practices.
Key Documentation
WFP Management Plan
This session featured the Board approval of the WFP management plan (2024–2026) with a 2024 programme support and administrative appropriation of USD 568 million, of which USD 11.8 million (24 percent) is allocated to the country offices. This document also outlines the new WFP organizational structure which is headed by the Executive Director and includes three Assistant Executive Directors (AEDs) serving as heads of departments: the Workplace and Management Department bringing together and integrating all employee-related functions; the Operations Department serving as the center of gravity for comprehensive, end-to-end programme delivery; and the Partnerships Department. The three AEDs report to the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. The Chief Financial Officer would oversee and manage the full financial cycle, from corporate planning, through budgeting, to corporate reporting.
Operational matters and evaluation reports
At this session nine Country Strategic Plans (CSPs) were approved: Benin, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Sao Tome and Principe.
Ten CSP evaluation reports were examined for consideration. Among these, the Board reviewed the evaluation of CSP for Burkina Faso (and its management response), Namibia (with the related management response) and Senegal (along with management response).
WFP governance review
Among other business, the EB approved the Proposal for the review of the recommendations stemming from the governance review and establishment of a working group of the Executive Board. This document is based on the assessment conducted from February to May 2023 by an independent consultant appointed by the EB Bureau-nominated Steering Committee. The report provides 14 recommendations to improve and streamline the Executive Board’s ability to provide strategic support to WFP as it responds to significant and increasing global challenges. On Tuesday the Board approved the establishment of a working group, to be nominated by the Bureau, for the review and implementation of the recommendations stemming from the governance review.
Click here to review the relevant documentation and supplementary information. Consult here the decisions and recommendations.
Exhibition and Side Events
Empowering Women and Youth in Agriculture
Tuesday morning featured the launch of photo exhibit “Empowering Women and Youth in Agriculture” sponsored by Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA) and WFP Kenya. Cindy McCain, WFP Executive Director, H.E. Jackline Yonga, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Kenya and Mads Lofvall, Managing Director of Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA) opened the exhibition and intervened as speakers.
Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA) is a consortium of six organizations (AGRA, Bayer, Rabobank, Syngenta, WFP and Yara) operating in several African countries to enable sustainable food systems through strengthened markets by empowering farmers to increase their yields, improve incomes and strengthen their resilience.
This exhibition highlighted the activities that FtMA undertakes by working in partnership with WFP Kenya country office to support women and youth in Kenya and Africa and ensure they are not marginalized in agriculture.
Unlocking Collaborative Solutions: The Impact of the UNHCR-WFP Joint Hub in Situations of Forced Displacement
On Tuesday afternoon, the United States of America mission sponsored a side event showcasing the activities and accomplishments of the UNHCR-WFP Joint Programme Excellence and Targeting Hub.
Marcia Wong, Deputy Assistant to the Administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), moderated a panel discussion focusing on the Hub's work to address forced displacement in complex crises and on the accomplishments of a strong collaboration between UNHCR and WFP.
Among the speakers were Hanan Malek Hamdan, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the Arab Republic of Egypt and to the League of Arab States, Marcus Prior, WFP’s Deputy Country Director of Uganda, Alia Al-Khatar-Williams, Deputy Director, Division of Resilience and Solutions, UNHCR and Jane Lewis, Head of the UNHCR-WFP Joint Programme Excellence and Targeting Hub.
In a dynamic Q&A session, the Board members and the panel discussed challenges, such as funding shortfalls, and strategies to mitigate these through resource optimization and innovative funding approaches.
The event ended with the closing remarks delivered by Valerie Guarnieri, Assistant Executive Director Programme, WFP.
Investing in the Future: Prioritizing Prevention of Acute Malnutrition in Children
On Wednesday afternoon the Friends of Nutrition Group organized the side event “Investing in the Future: Prioritizing Prevention of Acute Malnutrition in Children”.
H.E. Chiara Segrado, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to WFP and Co-Chair of the Friends of Nutrition welcomed the participants and made an introduction on the activities of this group. Gathering several Executive Board member states, the Friends of Nutrition meet on a regular basis with the WFP representatives to discuss WFP’s strategic approach to nutrition and its programmatic choices.
This was an opportunity to showcase WFP nutrition operations in action in Madagascar, following the recent visit by Friends of Nutrition representatives in September.
Then Abigail Perry, Director Nutrition Division moderated a dialogue between the EB representatives and panelists: Cindy McCain, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Victor Aguayo, Director of Nutrition and Child Development of UNICEF (virtually), Sarah Charles, Assistant to the Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and H.E. Morten Aasland, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations organizations in Rome.
The discussion focused on the importance of prioritizing the prevention of acute malnutrition in children and on addressing wasting through a new and scaled up in collaboration with UNICEF, especially in fragile and emergency contexts.
Home-Grown School Feeding in Malawi: Building a Sustainable Model
On Thursday the EB members participated in the side event “Home-Grown School Feeding in Malawi: Building a Sustainable Model”.
Menghestab Haile, WFP Regional Director of Southern Africa, welcomed the attendees and moderated a discussion on the home-grown school feeding model in Malawi.
The discussion featured key experts in this area: Maureen Maguza-Tembo, Deputy Director for School Health and Nutrition, Ministry of Education of the Government of Malawi, Paul Turnbull, WFP Country Director of Malawi and Carmen Burbano, WFP Director of School-based Programmes.
Maguza-Tembo presented the government’s perspective of a fully owned national school meals programme and emphasized how effective partnerships with WFP have contributed to the success of home-grown school feeding in Malawi.
The panelists highlighted the positive impact of the home-grown school feeding programmes in Malawi and emphasized its transformative effects on local farmers, education results, teacher support, nutrition, dropout rates, and overall health. The experts also explained how this model has contributed to overcome the challenges represented by COVID-19, cholera outbreaks and cyclones.
During the event EB members were shown a video of testimonials delivered by beneficiaries. Students, farmers, families and local communities shared their real-life stories and experiences on how home-grown school feeding has positively impacted their lives and the local economy.
An interactive Q&A session followed, and the floor was opened to the attendees who provided their comments on the significance of this success model, remarked similarities or differences with their own countries’ experiences and discussion arose about plans for the future and actions for improvement.
