Performance management and accountability

Measuring and reporting on corporate performance allows the World Food Programme (WFP) to be more accountable to the people we support and to our donors. Each year, WFP plans, monitors and reports on its operations, focusing on what we achieved and how we did it. This allows us to use resources more efficiently and effectively, providing the best possible service to the people we support.

WFP’s corporate results framework guides this ‘accountability cycle’. It sets out a clear structure to measure and report on the organization’s achievements. This is split into three stages: planning, monitoring and reporting.

Our performance management and accountability work

Planning: To ensure our initiatives meet the needs of the countries we work in, each country office designs a multi-year country strategic plan. This outlines WFP’s initiatives to help every government achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger. Each country strategic plan is based on a logical framework which links country-level activities to WFP’s strategic results and goals. Every year, country offices also assess the expected funds for their operations. They use this assessment to prepare an implementation plan and an annual performance plan, which describes how the annual programmatic objectives will be achieved.
Monitoring: Collecting qualitative and quantitative data on all WFP activities and results is a huge task. WFP relies on both primary data collected by its monitoring and evaluation officers, and secondary data collected by its partners in the field, authorities or other entities. Data on the people WFP helps is disaggregated by gender, age and, if appropriate, socioeconomic characteristics. Among the variables measured are WFP’s accountability to affected populations and their satisfaction with WFP’s support. Monitoring output data is essential to tracking the progress of a programme against WFP’s targets and to making adjustments where necessary. The key performance indicators selected in the annual performance plan are monitored and assessed throughout the year.
Reporting: Reporting is how WFP demonstrates accountability for its work and learns what to improve in the future. Each country office produces an annual country report, which links resources to results and assesses progress against the country strategic outcomes. At the corporate level, WFP reports on its performance in its annual performance report. This includes progress towards achieving our two main goals: zero hunger and partnering to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The annual performance report is approved by WFP’s Executive Board and guides senior-management decision making.