Dr. Ayoub Al-Jawaldeh, is the current Deputy Country Director of United Nations World Food Programme office in Egypt. He was born in Mahis, Jordan in 1960, and holds a Ph.D in Nutrition. He has worked as an International Expert in the World Food Programme since 1991. He has served in many countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Dr. Al-Jawaldeh devotes his life to serve lives of the poor people through working with WFP in many countries for more than 20 years under both development and humanuitarian operations in Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Malawi, Sudan and Egypt.Donations WFP relies entirely on voluntary contributions. For more information on how you can donate cash, food or services, visit WFP website: http://wfp.org/how_to_help/Ways_to_Donate/index.asp?section=4&sub_section=5 or write to resources@wfp.org .WFP is the food aid arm of the United Nations system. Food aid is one of the many instruments that can help to promote food security, which is defined as access of all people at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. ¹ The policies governing the use of World Food Programme food aid must be oriented towards the objective of eradicating hunger and poverty. The ultimate objective of food aid should be the elimination of the need for food aid.

Goals and strategies:

WFP strives to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, with the ultimate goal in mind of eliminating the need for food aid itself.

The core strategies behind WFP activities, according to its mission statement, are to provide food aid to:

1) save lives in refugee and other emergency situations;
2) improve the nutrition and quality of life of the most vulnerable people at critical times in their lives; and
3) help build assets and promote the self-reliance of poor people and communities, particularly through labour-intensive works programmes.
4) WFP food aid is also directed to fight micronutrient deficiencies, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, and combat disease, including HIV and AIDS.
5) Food-for-work programmes help promote environmental and economic stability and agricultural production.

Targeted interventions are needed to help to improve the lives of the poorest people - people who, either permanently or during crisis periods, are unable to produce enough food or do not have the resources to otherwise obtain the food that they and their households require for active and healthy lives.

WFP is well placed to play a major role in the continuum from emergency relief to development. WFP give priority to supporting disaster prevention, preparedness and mitigation and post-disaster rehabilitation activities as part of development programmes. Conversely, emergency assistance used to the extent possible to serve both relief and development purposes. In both cases the overall aim is to build self-reliance.

WFP concentrate its efforts and resources on the neediest people ² and countries in accordance with the CFA's decision to provide at least 90 percent of WFP's development assistance to low-income, food-deficit countries and at least 50 percent of its development assistance to the least developed countries by 1997.

WFP ensure that its assistance programmes are designed and implemented on the basis of broad-based participation. Women in particular are key to change; providing food to women puts it in the hands of those who use it for the benefit of the entire household, especially the children. WFP assistance will aim to strengthen their coping ability and resilience.

To be truly effective, food aid should is fully integrated into the development plans and priorities of recipient countries and coordinated with other forms of assistance. WFP's starting point is the national policies, plans and programmes of developing countries, including their food security plans. WFP will pull together its activities in an integrated way at the country level so that it can respond to urgent needs as they occur while retaining core development objectives. The country strategy note, where this exists, should provide the framework for an integrated response by the United Nations system. In some special cases WFP will adopt a multi-country or regional approach. particularly for the provision of humanitarian assistance.

WFP play its part as an active member of the United Nations system to bring the issue of hunger to the centre of the international agenda. In its dialogue with recipient governments and the aid cornmunity, WFP will advocate policies. strategies and operations that directly benefit the poor and hungry.


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¹ FAO/WHO (1992) International Conference on Nutrition

² Normally, poor and hungry people are those who earn less than the equivalent of one dollar a day, or who allocate the majority of their household budget to food.