Film star and Goodwill Ambassador Hend Sabry receives WFP Nobel pin and certificate

The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to WFP for its efforts to foster peace while highlighting the links between conflict and hunger. WFP regards food assistance as critical in supporting the first step towards peace and security.

“Congratulations to the World Food Programme and to all my colleagues who have earned this honour by working to give people a better life, giving us a better world; a world with Zero Hunger. I am very proud!” said Sabry as she accepted her award at WFP’s regional office in Cairo.

Today I’m thinking of all the people I met who work with WFP, whether in refugee camps, or in WFP offices in the many countries I have visited. This award is for us all, and primarily for the men and women who chose to serve the people 24 hours a day. For the people who deliver food every day by sea, land, and air.”

Each day WFP has up to 5,600 trucks, 30 ships and 100 planes on the move, delivering food and other assistance for more than 115 million people in more than 80 countries.

In the Middle East and North Africa, WFP operates in 13 countries and in some of the toughest environments in the world due to active conflict as well as mass and protracted displacement. WFP aims to support more than 30 million people in the region this year.

Two out of WFP’s six global emergencies are in the Middle East; in Syria and Yemen, where close to 18 million people – 13 million of them are hunger-stricken in Yemen and nearly 5 million are in Syria – rely on WFP food assistance to survive.

“When I started working with WFP many years ago, the region was different, and I never thought we would be witnessing the amount of need, grief and loss that we have seen over the past years,” said Sabry. “I hope that one day no one will have to worry about their next meal. As a WFP Goodwill Ambassador for more than 12 years now, I am very proud that I belong to this family.”

The award-winning actress was appointed WFP Goodwill Ambassador in 2010. Before and throughout her appointment, she visited WFP’s operations in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Bangladesh.

“Hend Sabry has been the voice of the voiceless across the region and beyond, the people who struggle in silence every day in the face of hunger and conflict,” said WFP Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Corinne Fleischer. “The Nobel Peace Prize is celebrated by WFP’s 20,000 staff, many of them working on the frontlines of hunger and conflict. This is a great family moment at WFP. Hend is one of this family and we’re honoured to have her share this recognition with us.”

Sabry, who is keen on passing her humanitarian experience and values on to her children, said that both of them are enthusiastic about her role as a humanitarian. “I tell them about my missions with WFP, my visits to refugee camps and WFP projects around the world,” she said. “I teach them that hunger is not separate from ignorance, it is not separate from war or all the negative things that happen in the world.”

Hend Sabry’s certificate is signed by WFP Executive Director David Beasley who has received the award on behalf of the agency and its employees in a virtual event due to COVID-19 constraints.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

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