Standing on top of a towering anthill in the arid fields of northeastern Somalia, 10-year-old Farah and his mother, Safiya Maxamed, cover their faces from the sun, as they keep watch over their handful of goats feeding off a pile of thorny branches. Out of their one hundred goats, only five have survived three consecutive failed rainy seasons.  Families who once relied on livestock have lost nearly everything, forcing them to cut meals or flee. Around 6.5 million people face severe hunger, nearly double in a year. Although aid from the World Food Programme previously prevented famine, reduced funding now limits help. Urgent international support is needed to scale up food assistance and prevent another humanitarian catastrophe.

Their teacher knows their journey

For thousands of students in Uganda’s Karamoja region, Teacher Evaline Akello is more than a teacher, she’s proof that their dreams are possible.

Evaline once sat where they sit now, a hungry child relying on the World Food Programme (WFP) school meals to stay in class. Today, her students see in her story a powerful message: with food, education and determination, their futures can be bigger than the challenges they face. Evaline's journey shows how one simple meal can change the course of not just one, but many lives.

In Gaza’s makeshift classrooms, fortified snacks and nutrition support are helping children regain stability, return to learning and remember that their role is to grow, dream and be children again.

In Kyrgyzstan’s rugged Batken Province, 70-year-old farmer Urinisa Tillabaeva is proving that tough land can still grow bright futures. With a new greenhouse, drip irrigation, and hands-on training, she no longer waits out the long winter months—she harvests beyond the traditional season, boosting yields and turning tomatoes into steady income for her family. As a leader in a local women’s farming group, Urinisa Tillabaevais helping her community trade uncertainty for resilience—growing more and wasting less. She is among 4,500 farmers participating in a new World Food Programme (WFP) project aimed at boosting incomes and diets and adapting to deepening weather extremes in one of Central Asia’s most climate-vulnerable countries. 

With two confirmed famines in 2025 and 318 million people facing severe food insecurity in 2026, WFP warns that conflict, funding cuts, and climate shocks are driving unprecedented humanitarian crises.

By using anticipatory action and trigger-based early warnings, WFP is able to deliver timely cash and food assistance to millions, reducing the impact of disasters like Cyclone Fung-wong and Hurricane Melissa before they escalate.

The World Food Programme is racing to support Jamaica as Category 5 Hurricane Melissa approaches, threatening catastrophic flooding, landslides, and widespread destruction across the island.

Deliveries of fresh flatbread in Gaza reach the population, offering a sense of normality as the ceasefire takes hold. The bakeries offer a tangible sign that a precarious normality is returning. The loaves rolling out of their fiery ovens are part of a massive and rapid scale-up of WFP food assistance for people facing severe and even catastrophic hunger - with the aim of feeding up to 1.6 million in the first three months. Trucks of WFP food assistance now entering the Strip are supporting bakeries, nutrition programmes and general food distributions. Those distributions will expand as conditions allow more food to enter the Strip and bakeries to reopen. Tens of thousands of metric tonnes of our food are ready for dispatch or heading to the Strip. “The smell of bread gives people hope that things are going to get back to normal,” says Samer Abdeljaber, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa & Eastern Europe. As more food reaches hungry people, he adds, “anxiety levels go down, so they can trust that more food is going to come in the next days.”

New WFP findings reveal that deep humanitarian aid cuts threaten millions with hunger and loss of lifesaving support, putting six critical operations at highest risk.

In eastern Afghanistan’s Andalachakin village, Khair Rahman recounts the devastating late-August earthquake that destroyed his home and injured several family members. With winter approaching, he fears for their survival in harsh conditions. The 6.0 magnitude quake claimed over 2,000 lives and left thousands injured and homeless across four provinces. Many survivors are now living in makeshift shelters or sleeping under the stars. As they confront severe hunger, families like Rahman’s are faced with a dire lack of humanitarian assistance just as winter sets in, adding to their desperate situation. Learn more about WFP's work in Afghanistan.

When funding is squeezed, humanitarian operations suffer – and so do the people that organizations such as the World Food Programme set out to assist. With funding down 40 percent since last year, WFP has to reduce and even end rations for some of the most vulnerable people. This year, WFP aims to reach 98 million people with food and nutrition assistance as 343 million people in 74 countries face acute hunger. Yet money alone will not solve this crisis. In context after context, across continents, achieving peace – or, at least, peaceful conditions – remains critical for WFP to assist people at scale. Ross Smith, WFP’s Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, describes what WFP sees on the ground, the gaps in funding, and how conflict is deepening urgency.  

It's encouraging to see that nearly 80 million more children are now receiving school meals compared to 2020, bringing the total to about 466 million. A new World Food Programme (WFP) report shows that the increase is especially impactful in low-income countries, where participation in school meal programs has surged by 60%. In Africa, about 20 million more children are being nurtured through these efforts, with significant strides in countries like Kenya, Madagascar, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. This rare success in the development space is being led by governments around the world.

World Food Programme (WFP) staff reflect on life in two of the toughest places on earth. At dawn in northern Haiti, far from the violence of Port-au-Prince, aid workers travel safely to support farmers and schools. While insecurity hampers food distribution in the capital, resilience thrives. Over half of Haitians face hunger yet hope persists amid hardship. In January, M23 rebels seized Goma, DRC, killing nearly 1,000 people and triggering mass evacuations. UN staff fled as chaos erupted. WFP warehouses were looted, food stocks lost. Amid displacement and violence, aid efforts stalled, leaving vulnerable groups at greater risk. The hardest part is knowing how quickly everything can collapse – and how long it takes to rebuild.

Earlier this year, the World Food Programme’s food and nutrition support reached 1.3 million people in northern Nigeria. Without an immediate influx in donations, only half that will be assisted in August.

At the 11th Regional School Feeding Forum in Honduras, leaders are spotlighting school meals as vital for improving nutrition, boosting local economies, and advancing education across Latin America and the Caribbean.