Food for Peace

Description

Food for Peace (FFP) programs provide emergency and development food assistance. Emergency food assistance is delivered primarily through in-kind food distribution to communities affected by recurrent crises such as droughts, conflict, natural disasters, and chronic food insecurity. Development food assistance is a complement to emergency food assistance. Emergency and development assistance typically work hand in hand where communities require agricultural system strengthening and household livelihood diversification strategies in order to cope with yearly droughts. Development programming is multiyear and multisectoral and targets the most vulnerable communities to address the root causes of hunger.

What Does This Buy?

Provides emergency in-kind food donations from the U.S., locally purchased food, food vouchers, and cash transfers to communities in need as well as multiyear investments in nutrition, agricultural productivity, and diversification of household incomes.

Justification for the Request

• Between 2011 and 2017, FFP programs reached an average of 56 million people in 54 countries each year.
• In 2017, more than 810,000 metric tons of food were provided to Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen when these countries were on the brink of famine.
• In FY 2019, the Famine Early Warning System forecast that in 83 million people will need emergency food assistance in 46 countries – including Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen – that again face the threat of famine.
• After Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti in 2016, FFP partnered with the World Food Programme (WFP) and NGOs to provide lifesaving food assistance. Post-storm, funding supported the training of 40 community-based and
  faith-based organizations on how to effectively respond to emergencies. Food for Peace also donated 2,860 metric tons of emergency food assistance to WFP contingency stocks, enough to feed 150,000 for one month.4

U.S. Interest

• Long-term FFP funding builds resilience and maintains food security, reducing the need for emergency assistance to vulnerable populations in the future.
• Alleviating global hunger is critical to U.S. national security. Where hunger endures, instability grows. By supporting the world’s most vulnerable, FFP is building a more stable world and working to ensure that people have the opportunity to lead healthy, productive lives.

Bold Vision

For the third year in a row, global hunger has increased. While Food for Peace resources help support the estimated 134.1 million people in humanitarian crises worldwide, additional investment could help reverse this trend. According to the 2018 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the number of undernourished people increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, up from 804 million in 2016.

Impact of Cuts

• In 2016, when 20 million people in Somalia were at risk of starvation, Food for Peace’s rapid mobilization of financial and expert resources helped avert widespread famine. Cuts would mean that in the future the U.S will not be as well placed to provide a robust response when there is a high likelihood of famine.
• Cuts could reduce stability in regions that rely on food aid support, including the Middle East, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa, all of which could affect U.S. interests in these regions.