Australia-WFP partnership to save lives, improve humanitarian action, and fight the impact of food shortages in the Indo-Pacific
Australia has announced to enter into a new partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to fight hunger in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, according to a media release by Hon Julie Bishop MP.
WFP is one of Australia’s best performing humanitarian partners, providing food assistance to 80 million people in 82 countries in 2014. Australia and WFP have recently worked in partnership to provide urgent food assistance following the earthquakes in Nepal and Tropical Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu.
Australia will provide $167.5 million in funding over four years and will include flexibility for WFP to respond rapidly to emergencies. It will also include support for school feeding programs to encourage school enrolment and retention, particularly for girls, in the Indo-Pacific.
“Australia and WFP will also work together to develop innovative solutions to humanitarian challenges. A WFP innovation expert will be seconded to DFAT’s innovationXchange to help identify, trial and scale-up new approaches to the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the Indo-Pacific.”
The partnership focuses on improving disaster preparedness in the Pacific and a greater role for women in humanitarian preparedness and response. This issue has been a focus of discussions at the World Humanitarian Summit Pacific Consultations in Auckland.
Ms Bishop said that she hopes Australia and WFP continuing to work together to save lives, improve humanitarian action, and fight the impact of food shortages in the Indo-Pacific.
