2022 Annual Allocation to WFP Immediate SDC priority theme: Food Security Response Account (IRA)

Founded in 1961, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency saving and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working to improve nutrition and build resilience. Against the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, climate shocks and an unprecedented number of violent conflicts since World War 2, food insecurity is reaching record levels on all continents. Early 2022, up to 283 million people are acutely food insecure or at high risk; famine-like conditions remain a real possibility for 45 million people in 43 countries facing emergency or catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, against 41 million people in June 2021. In March 2020, WFP joined with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to call the international community to donate USD 5.5 billion to avert famine through a major scale-up of its operations in 43 countries, esp. the world's largest hotspots (Afghanistan, Yemen, DR Congo, Madagascar, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan); until root causes are addressed, the emergency goes on.

As a voluntary-funded organization, WFP receives most of its grants with donor conditions, limiting its use to a specific context or modality. It makes WFP vulnerable to donor shifting priorities and leaves many sudden-onset crises operations underfunded and generating painful prioritization choices. Thus, WFP created the Immediate Response Account (IRA), a flexible revolving fund that can be activated within 24 hours of the onset of a crisis to cover such situations. Allocations from the IRA are made as loans to eligible operations in anticipation of receiving donor contributions. If no such donations are received, the loan is deemed to be a permanent, non-reimbursable grant from the IRA to the operation. This allows countries or programmes to operate with funds when needed, even when no funds are already committed. The IRA is fully oriented to operations.

In line with the Good Humanitarian Donorship principles, Switzerland recognizes the necessity of predictable and flexible funding to respond to rapid needs in humanitarian crises. By financing the IRA, Switzerland is making a contribution with high added value, where needs are most dire. It limits administrative burden and reduces WFP's fundraising costs.

WFP's mission is a world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life.

The vision for 2030 underlying WFP's strategic plan for 2022-2025 is that the world has eradicated food insecurity and malnutrition (SDG 2 - Zero Hunger) and national and global actors have achieved the SDGs (SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals).

The overall goal of WFP is providing immediate food assistance in life-threatening situations while supporting countries in ensuring no one is left behind.

The IRA can be used for any WFP field operation or project. 

WFP's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan's five outcomes are:

1. People are better able to meet their urgent food and nutrition needs
2. People have better nutrition, health and education outcomes
3. People have improved and sustainable livelihoods
4. National programmes and systems are strengthened
5. Humanitarian and development actors are more efficient and effective

Principaux résultats attendus:   WFP fights hunger in 82 least-developed and low-income countries where victims of conflicts and natural disasters, refugees, displaced people and the hungry poor face severe food shortages.

Principaux résultats antérieurs:  

• In 2020, WFP surged operations against the COVID-19 pandemic that pushed 124 million people into extreme poverty; it provided assistance to 115 million people in 84 countries (53%♀; 20% 0-6 year old). It maintained efficient assistance and dignity of assisted people through delivery of USD 2.1 billion of cash-based and voucher assistance (28% of assisted people). Strengthened social protection systems in 78 countries.
• WFP is the laureate of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war".
• WFP continuously increased its budget and reached a record USD 8.4 billion contributions, allowing greater operations (2019: +10%, 2020: +5%). It realized more than USD 138 million in cost savings from its top ten efficiency gain initiatives, including through time savings.
• WFP leads or co-leads humanitarian response and provides services such as the UN Air Service (UNHAS), UN Humanitarian Response Depots network (UNHRD) as well as the three Inter-Agency Standing Committee Clusters (Logistics, Emergency Telecommunications and Food Security Cluster, with FAO).
• In 2021, IRA allocated USD 215'472'382 to WFP operations in 48 countries thanks to donors from 13 countries for a total value of USD 67'111'787. This means that each IRA dollar was used up to 3.2 times, providing flexibility and efficiency to WFP resources. Largest allocations were granted to Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen.

Phase 15 01.01.2022 - 31.12.2022   (Completed)