WFP TO RECEIVE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE DECEMBER 10

Colombo – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is honored to accept the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, in a ceremony that recognizes our role in fighting hunger and fostering peace in conflict-affected areas.

WFP Executive Director David Beasley will receive the award on behalf of the agency and its 20,000 staff, in a virtual event due to COVID-19 constraints, which can be watched worldwide here. WFP will also be hosting a Facebook Live event, which can be followed here.

WFP shares the Nobel Peace Prize with many others, including our UN, NGO and government partners, as we work towards achieving zero hunger. Together, we aim to improve the lives of millions living on the edge, especially those in conflict zones.

“Every one of the 690 million hungry people in the world today has the right to live peace-fully and without hunger. Today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has turned the global spotlight on them and on the devastating consequences of conflict,” Beasley said, following the Nobel’s announcement.

The Nobel comes as famine again threatens millions of people, especially in four conflict-affected countries—Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria (northeast) and Burkina Faso. As the Nobel Committee notes, an alarming convergence of conflict, hunger and the COVID-19 pandemic has driven hunger up and funding to combat it down.

WFP has been working in Sri Lanka since 1968, helping vulnerable communities have better futures, through activities that help achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Over the last decade, WFP has shifted focus, from humanitarian to development-oriented projects, providing a ‘hand-up’ to government and other partners, by way of capacity-building programmes for sustainable solutions, from what was previously more of a  ‘hand-out’ role, using food aid.

WFP’s core priorities are poised to increase in importance given the context of mitigating the impact of Covid-19, where job losses and reduced incomes mean that families are finding it harder to put nutritious food on a plate.