Year in review: World Food Programme stories you may have missed in 2023

Highlights from WFP staff around the world speak of saving and changing lives in a year of unprecedented funding shortfalls

15 December 2023, WFP Editorial Team

The Odisha state government, WFP and the local community honor the new Solar4Resilience initiative — India: People from the Odisha state government, WFP, and the local community take part in a traditional blessing, for the new Solar4Resilience initiative - one of two WFP-backed projects to win an Earthshot prize in 2023. Photo: WFP/Shyamalima Kalita

For the World Food Programme, 2023 will go down as a year of unprecedented ration cuts amid chronic and historic funding shortfalls and rising needs. Globally, 68 percent of the total humanitarian financial requirement remains unmet.

As we enter 2024, more than 333 million people in 78 of the countries in which WFP operates face acute hunger: they do not know where their next meal is coming from.

On wfp.org, we report on the challenges facing people in countries such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti. Through our storytelling and interviews, we also seek to show how, alongside our work in emergencies, our resilience-building activities empower people to create food security over the long term; saving lives and changing lives. Below are a few stories you may have missed...

January: Peru's pots of gold

Judith Hernandez cooks inexpensive meals for dozens of people, including Venezuelan refugees. Photo: WFP/Suzanne Fenton — Peru: Judith Hernandez cooks meals for dozens of people, including Venezuelan refugees, in Lima. Photo: WFP/Suzanne Fenton

In Peru’s most populous district, a look at the kitchens that form part of the ollas comunes (community pots) project that the World Food Programme (WFP) started during the pandemic. Read story here.

February: Ukraine war one year on

Rivne, Ukraine displaced pepole — Ukraine: Displaced people in the western city of Rivne at the outset of the war. Photo: WFP/Marco Frattini

Looking back on 12 months of humanitarian operations, WFP's country director for Ukraine shares key concerns, achievements – with an urgent appeal to world leaders. Read story here

March: African day of school feeding

Children take lunch at a school supported by WFP in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: WFP/Vincent Tremeau

Locally sourced, WFP-supported home-grown school meals take centre stage at this annual African Union event.

April: Türkiye-Syria quakes two months on

Muna's family found shelter in a mosque after the quakes. They can't even afford a jar of marmalade. Photo: WFP/Hussam Al Saleh — Syria: In Aleppo, Muna's family found shelter in a mosque after the quakes. They couldn't even afford a jar of marmalade. Photo: WFP/Hussam Al Saleh

Two months after the devastating earthquakes along the Türkiye-Syria border, women speak of how they are coping in the wake of the disasters and tragedy. Read story here.

May: Sudan in throes of conflict

Sudanese refugees collect WFP food assistance in Koufroun, in eastern Chad. Photo: WFP/Jacques David

Tens of thousands of people flee Sudan after conflict was set off on 15 April. In neighbouring countries, WFP reaches new arrivals with food assistance, but upcoming rains and shrinking funds threaten the response. Read more here

Cambodia: A canal brings hope (and fish)

Farmer Deur Sok casts a fishing net across a canal the building of which was facilitated by WFP — Cambodia: Farmer Deur Sok casts a fishing net across a canal facilitated by WFP in Sambour Commune, Kampong Thom province. Photo: WFP/Samantha Reinders

How a project funded by Japan and facilitated by the WFP is changing lives in a community hit by erratic weather linked to climate extremes. Read story here

June: 300 orphans rescued

WFP's Ammar Elsheikh hopes for peace in Sudan, so children can resume normal lives. Photo: OCHA/Ala Kheir — WFP monitoring assistant Ammar Elsheikh carries a rescued orphan to a centre for treatment in Wad Madani. Photo: OCHA/Ala Kheir

The rescue of 300 orphans offers a rare bright spot amid mounting unrest and hunger in Sudan. Read story here

July: Rethinking food systems in East Africa

Ugandan farmers have benefitted from WFP-supported training on post-harvest storage techniques. Photo: WFP/Hugh Rutherford — Uganda: Willian, a farmer, with the rice harvest of the WFP-supported Jujumbu farmers group in the Lolube refugee camp in Koboko. Photo: WFP/Hugh Rutherford

As nations meet for a key ‘stocktaking' summit in Rome, WFP’s Sibi Lawson-Marriott highlights the importance of holistic thinking and collective action in solving hunger. Read story here

August: Breastfeeding week

Woman breastfeeding — Breastfeeding support is a lifeline for Christine, a South Sudanese refugee in Uganda, and her son, Alvin. Photo: WFP/Siegfried Modola

How the Swedish-funded NutriCash project, implemented by UNICEF and the World Food Programme, is changing the lives of refugee women in Uganda. Read story here

September: World Peace Day

A boy gazes at the fire-wrought damage of a camp for conflict-displaced people in South Kivu province, DRC, where WFP provides food assistance. Photo: WFP/Michael Castofas

WFP's country directors for DRC, Haiti and Ukraine on what the world would like were the guns to fall silent. Read story here.

October: Growing against the odds in Bangladesh

Farmer Asha Akhter, 29, says things have changed "a lot" since the WFP-supported project was launched. Photo: WFP/Lena von Zabern

To mark World Food Day, we looked at how WFP is arming Bangladesh's poorest communities to confront the devastating impacts of climate change. Read story here.

November: Gaza Diary

A boy picks his way through a destroyed neighbourhood in Gaza. Photo: WFP Photolibrary

Three weeks into the war, a WFP employee describes the horror, the personal grief of losing at least seven family members as well as some friends, her dreams for a better future, and why her work must go on in the face of it all. Read story here.

December: Zambia takes on climate change

WFP Goodwill Ambassador and celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern checks out the greens grown by students at Gwembe Primary School in southern Zambia. Photo: WFP

Celebrity chef and WFP Goodwill Ambassador Andrew Zimmern sees how students and women farmers are delivering change in Southern Africa. Read story here.

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