World Food Programme becomes strategic partner of '1 Billion Meals' initiative

The “1 Billion Meals” initiative, the largest campaign of its kind in the region to provide food support to underprivileged and vulnerable communities in 50 countries, is supported by the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP), as well as international, regional and local partners.

These partners play an important role in its various operations aimed at providing the equivalent of one billion Meals to less fortunate people, especially children, refugees, displaced persons, and those affected by humanitarian crises and natural disasters around the world. The initiative’s partners are an integral part of the joint efforts to reach a world with Zero Hunger, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2, by 2030.

This partnership comes as an extension to the existing joint efforts between Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), organiser of the “1 Billion Meals” initiative, and WFP, who was also a partner of last Ramadan’s “100 Million Meals” campaign, which succeeded in surpassing its target, collecting and distributing 220 million meals in 47 countries.

Mageed Yahia, WFP Representative to the GCC, said, "Our strategic partnership with the efforts of the ‘1 Billion Meals’ initiative, the largest of its kind in the region to provide relief to the most vulnerable individuals and families suffering from malnutrition, is a renewed cooperation with MBRGI, which continues to support international efforts to provide relief to people suffering from hunger."

"Our cooperation with MBRGI in the ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign last year helped secure about 56.5 million meals in Palestine, Somalia, and refugee camps in Jordan and Bangladesh, by using advanced cash transfers that enabled beneficiaries to buy a range of nutritious foods from local markets. We look forward to continuing our fruitful partnership together in the ‘1 Billion Meals’ initiative to tackle the challenge of hunger around the world," he added.

For her part, Sara Al Nuaimi, Director of MBRGI, said, "MBRGI’s partnership with the World Food Programme is a continuous one, and it expands the circle of beneficiaries of the 1 Billion Meals initiative, especially at a time when the challenges of hunger and malnutrition are growing, with its repercussions affecting more than 800 million people, and threatening the lives of 10,000 children every day."

She continued, "This partnership with WFP, which spans several years, helps achieve the goal of zero hunger under the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations for the year 2030. In turn, we will continue to expand the circle of our regional and international partnerships to achieve the UAE’s approach to the sustainability of charitable and humanitarian work and to expand its frameworks and partnerships to the fullest extent."

Alongside WFP, the group of operational partners of the ‘1 Billion Meals’ initiative, includes the Food Banking Regional Network (FBRN), the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment (MBRCH), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UAE Food Bank, as well as local charity, humanitarian and social work institutions in beneficiary countries.

WAM