WFP United Nations World Food Programme
1. Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, has the governing body of your organization taken (or will it take) any decisions or new strategies to guide the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? If any, please provide a brief summary below, including the overarching vision of your organization.
Adopted by the World Food Programme's (WFP) Executive Board just over a year after the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, WFP's Strategic Plan for 2017-2021 aligns the organization's work to the 2030 Agenda's global call to action, which prioritizes efforts to end poverty, hunger and inequality, encompassing humanitarian as well as development efforts.
The Strategic Plan is guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set forth in the 2030 Agenda, in particular SDG 2 on ending hunger and SDG 17 on revitalizing global partnerships for implementation of the SDGs. It ushers in a new planning and operational structure, including the implementation of results-based country portfolios that will maximize WFP's contribution to governments' efforts towards achieving the SDGs.
Responding to emergencies and saving lives and livelihoods - either through direct assistance, or by strengthening country capacities - remains at the heart of WFP's operations, especially as humanitarian needs become increasingly complex and protracted.
At the same time, WFP will support countries in ensuring no one is left behind by continuing to build resilience for food security and nutrition and addressing the growing challenges posed by climate change and rising inequality.
Mirroring the structure of the 2030 Agenda, each of the Plan's two Strategic Goals - support countries to achieve Zero Hunger and partner to support implementation of the SDGs - is articulated through Strategic Objectives and Strategic Results, against which progress can be measured.
Implementation of the Strategic Plan (2017-2021) is being adapted in response to local contexts, capacities and partnerships. Country Strategic Plans will determine the Strategic Results to which WFP will contribute in each country, dependent upon the specific situation and dynamics of that country and aligning with national priorities and goals, including the achievement of national SDG targets.
2.1 SDG-specific strategies, plans or work programmes
The Integrated Road Map (IRM) is WFP's transformation strategy to achieve Sustainable Development and Zero Hunger. The approach involves four interrelated processes. Aside from WFP's renewed Strategic Plan (2017-2021) mentioned above (question # 1), the Policy on Country Strategic Plans (CSP), the Financial Framework Review (FFR) and the Corporate Results Framework (CRF) were also adopted in the November 2016 by WFP's Executive Board.
Policy on Country Strategic Plans
Guided by WFP's Strategic Plan (2017-2021), the Policy on Country Strategic Plans (CSPs) replaces WFP's programme categories and project documents with coherent country portfolios that provide "lines of sight" from the resources deployed to the results achieved.
Combined with new financial and corporate results frameworks, the CSP framework has the potential to improve the quality of WFP's assistance by: i) identifying WFP's specific contributions within a country; ii) establishing the basis for effective partnerships, including with the Rome-based agencies (RBAs); iii) increasing effectiveness and efficiency in emergency response and integrating it into a broader framework for zero hunger; iv) aligning WFP's contribution with national SDG targets and national and United Nations plans; v) reducing transaction costs; and vi) enhancing performance reporting and accountability.
CSPs are designed for up to five years based on national zero hunger strategic reviews that aim to catalyse country actions towards achieving SDG 2 through jointly agreed strategic outcomes.
2.2 Aligning the structure of the organization with the transformative features of the 2030 Agenda, including any challenges and lessons learned in doing so
Financial Framework Review
The objective of the Financial Framework Review is to maximize operational effectiveness through realistic financial planning, enhanced accountability, streamlined processes and harmonized programmatic, financial and results frameworks. The Financial Framework Review and the work stream 'Budgeting for Operational Effectiveness' has culminated with the creation of a Country Portfolio Budget structure that is aligned with the Country Strategic Plan Framework and the Strategic Plan (2017-2021). At its core, WFP's financial framework is simple, streamlined for use in the field and allows WFP to demonstrate value for money, cost effectiveness and efficiency in achieving our outcomes. The redesigned budget structure replaces the current project-based model to support the country portfolio approach to strategy, planning, implementation, budgeting and reporting to enhance results-based management.
To meet the demands of greater transparency and cost efficiency, the country portfolio budget structure clearly demonstrating the link between results we want and the cost of delivering them. It will be simpler to manage and more flexible to support the achievement of strategic outcomes. Adoption of a new cost structure will facilitate communication of operational results, enhancing WFP's accountability to beneficiaries, donors and partners.
2.3 Readjusting or updating results-based budgeting and management, including performance indicators:
Corporate Results Framework
With the new Strategic Plan (2017-2021), WFP seized the opportunity to integrate strategic and management results into a single Corporate Results Framework (CRF). The CRF is built around two Strategic Goals drawn from SDG 2 and SDG 17, and supported by the five Strategic Objectives and eight Strategic Results set out in the Strategic Plan (2017-2021).
The five Strategic Objectives are:
1. End hunger by protecting access to food
2. Improve nutrition
3. Achieve food security
4. Support SDG implementation
5. Partner for SDG results
The eight Strategic Results are:
1. Everyone has access to food (SDG Target 2.1)
2. No one suffers from malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2)
3. Smallholders have improved food security and nutrition through improved productivity and incomes (SDG Target 2.3)
4. Food system are sustainable (SDG Target 2.4)
5. Developing countries have strengthened capacities to implement the SDGs (SDG Target 17.9)
6. Policies to support sustainable development coherent (SDG Target 17.14)
7. Developing countries access a range of financial resources for development investment (SDG Target 17.3)
8. Sharing of knowledge, expertise and technology, strengthen global partnership support to country efforts to achieve the SDGs (SDG Target 17.16)
The five Strategic Objectives frame WFP's programmatic and operational focus, and are linked to national and global efforts to meet the targets for SDGs 2 and 17. In addition to the eight Strategic Results, WFP also uses Strategic Outcomes, outputs and activities. Each country selects its own Strategic Outcomes, Outputs and Activities, which are linked to standardized categories, allowing for flexibility and contextualization at the country level while ensuring standardized performance measurement and reporting among countries.
The CRF ensures harmonized design, monitoring and reporting for CSPs in all WFP offices. Adoption of the CRF further aligns WFP's monitoring and reporting on results with those of other United Nations agencies, particularly the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund.
2.4 Action to enhance support to the principle of "leaving no one behind" and to integrated policy approaches:
Leaving no one behind
WFP is the largest humanitarian organization addressing the challenges of global hunger and nutrition. While WFP's mandate clearly articulates humanitarian and development responsibilities, the organization's comparative advantage and long experience call for prioritization of emergency, life-saving and development-enabling work that benefits the poorest and most marginal people.
The SDGs require moving beyond saving lives to changing lives, focusing first on the people in greatest need, not just in least-developed countries but universally throughout the world.
WFP is committed to reaching those in greatest need first, while ensuring that no one is left behind. Responding to emergencies and saving lives and livelihoods will continue to constitute the major part of WFP's operations while it will focus on aspects of development where food-based interventions are most appropriate.
3.1 Mainstreaming the SDGs in development plans and policies or through national sustainable development plans/strategies:
A WFP's Country Strategic Plan (CSP) is informed by national Zero Hunger Strategic Review (ZHSR), a country-led exercise that determines the collective actions needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) by 2030.
WFP facilitates the implementation of ZHSRs and provides technical as well as financial support to the process. ZHSRs provide a comprehensive analysis of the country-specific food security and nutrition challenges through inclusive consultations with a wide range of government stakeholders, civil society, private sector, donors and international organizations.
Although focused on SDG2, the interdependent nature of the 17 SDGs mandates means that the ZHSR incorporates the multi-sectoral dimensions of food insecurity and malnutrition - achieving zero hunger is only possible if progress towards all SDGs is made, and vice versa. As such, cross-sectoral and cross institutional partnerships are essential to make Agenda 2030 a reality. Fostering relations between stakeholders is therefore an integral part and goal of the ZHSR process.
The purpose of the ZHSR is to support governments and other partners to achieve SDG2 - to "end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture". The process can be understood as a contribution to fulfilling a country's commitment to Agenda 2030 by offering a tested formula and approach on how to localize/domesticate SDG2. At the end of the process, a comprehensive analytical report highlighting the priority actions required to achieve zero hunger is endorsed by stakeholders.
Since 2014, WFP supported more than 60 countries in initiating Zero Hunger Strategic Reviews that so far led to the approval of 20 CSPs in 2017. Five (5) countries where Zero Hunger Strategic Reviews were not feasible at present opted to develop Interim CSPs.
Engaging a large number of stakeholders during the strategic review process and in the development of one comprehensive and multi-year portfolio prompted varying expectations and opinions regarding WFP's role in a country. The strategic review's focus on building evidence for WFP's value proposition based on recommendations and collective goals has helped to develop a shared vision and understanding of WFP's future portfolio among partners.
Governments are welcoming the opportunity to align WFP's work with national plans, including economic and social development plans. CSPs are also facilitating more effective partnerships with governments and the transfer of capabilities, which helps to increase WFP's focus on exit strategies.
WFP contributes directly and indirectly to other national priorities and other SDGs through the outputs of its activities. As stated in the WFP Strategic Plan 2017-2021, WFP will collaborate with partners, including IFAD and FAO, to leverage each one's capacities and strengths to support countries to achieve the SDGs.
4.1 Supporting the intergovernmental body of your organization in contributing to the thematic review of the HLPF:
WFP has actively contributed to the HLPF through the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). Since the CFS 43rd Session in October 2016, WFP participates in an Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) and Technical Task Team on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) looking at how the CFS can support the advancement of the 2030 Agenda and what role it can play.
In 2017, the OEWG on SDGs, supported by the Technical Task Team, developed and conveyed the CFS contribution to the 2017 HLPF held under the global follow-up and review theme "Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world". Specific SDGs under in-depth review were SDGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 14 and 17. The 2018 HLPF "Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies" will review SDGs 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, and 17.
WFP provided substantial inputs to both of the CFS contributions to the 2017 and 2018 HLPF. The CFS contributions strongly reaffirm that country-level implementation of the Agenda 2030, in support of governments' efforts towards Zero Hunger, is central.
WFP co-organized the "Reaching those left furthest behind: Addressing hunger and poverty in protracted crises" side-event during the 2017 HLPF, together with the FAO, IFAD and the CFS, and hosted by the Netherlands' Mission to the United Nations in New York. This event underlined the need to bring humanitarian assistance and longer-term development efforts together in protracted crises contexts - to address immediate food security and nutrition needs, strengthen the resilience of agricultural systems and livelihoods and work towards achieving the SDGs.
5. How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations to achieve coherence and synergies in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? In this regard, has your organization launched or intend to launch any joint programmes or projects in collaboration with other UN entities? Are there any results or lessons you would like to highlight that might help improve the design and impact of such efforts? Has your organization participated in any of the following coordination systemwide mechanisms or any other relevant platform - CEB, UNDG, EC-ESA Plus, RCMs, UN-Energy, UN-Water, UN-Ocean, IAEG, IATT? Please specify which and indicate any suggestions you may have about improving collaborations within and across these mechanisms/platforms:
WFP's Strategic Plan (2017-2021) allows WFP to evolve with other entities of the United Nations Development System (UNDS). These entities serve specific and differing needs, reflected in their specializations and spheres of influence. The 2030 Agenda requires the UNDS to pursue integrated approaches and create cross-sectoral synergies to deliver interlinked results at all levels, supported by an enabling funding and governance architecture. The system has recognized this moment as a window of opportunity and is taking practical measures, both individually and collectively, to do business differently. The UNDS recognizes that its primary focus should be on achieving interlinked and transformative results at country level and promoting national ownership. The UNDS has renewed its commitment to deliver across mandates, sectors and institutional boundaries, working within the framework of the Charter of the United Nations, using more integrated and interconnected approaches.
The 2030 Agenda makes clear that sustainable development hinges on effective partnerships. WFP embraces this imperative, seeking to align and integrate its food assistance capacities and programmes with the interventions and investments of governments, other United Nations agencies, the private sector and civil society, which together can generate the systemic changes for sustainable development. WFP will work in synergy with partners to combine and leverage complementary strengths and resources. The objective will be transparent, equitable and mutually beneficial arrangements with mechanisms for sharing risks, responsibilities and accountability. WFP will rely on partners with stronger comparative advantages, which might be better placed to respond. Commitment to partnership and collective action has long been central to WFP's operations and is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda's global call to action.
Enhanced synergies among the Rome-based agencies (RBA) are paramount to achieving SDG 2. RBA collaboration is particularly relevant when adapted to country context to maximize each agency's complementary capacities and strengths. Over recent years, significant efforts have been made to enhance RBA collaboration. This progress must be strengthened for effective SDG 2 results. As noted in the RBA paper on Collaboration among the United Nations Rome-based Agencies: Delivering on the 2030 Agenda, WFP is committed to working with FAO and IFAD by capturing all available synergies and complementarities and avoiding overlaps to contribute to collective results across humanitarian and development contexts, and to enhance RBA advocacy on food security and nutrition at the global level and within the broader United Nations system.
Planning and implementation of WFP's country-level activities with UNDS partners, especially FAO and IFAD, will continue to be a priority for achieving zero hunger and avoiding programme overlap and duplication.
6. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups, both in supporting implementation at the country, regional and global levels, and within your own organization? If yes, please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned:
In the formulation of WFP's County Strategic Plans, national Zero Hunger Strategic Review (ZHSR) offer a common and comprehensive view of national food security and nutrition challenges and solutions, thus benefiting multiple stakeholders and potentially informing a range of other processes such as national development plans, UNDAFs, individual sectoral plans and Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs).
By participating and contributing to the ZHSR, a wide range of partners are enabled to anchor their strategic planning in a common, nationally owned framework for zero hunger. Convening key stakeholders around the table also raises awareness of the most pressing food security and nutrition bottlenecks and increases advocacy for a timely and comprehensive national response.
By highlighting the benefits of investing in hunger solutions and by elevating the issue on the national agenda, the ZHSR is an exceptional opportunity to bring together line ministries and strengthen a multi-sectoral approach to food security and nutrition which are often considered separate issues and hence scattered across various ministries. Ultimately, the process aims to foster synergies between the programmes of various partners, promote new partnerships and enhance coordination.
WFP consultations with its Executive Board's Membership have been key in guiding WFP's strategic direction and system changes. Through a series of informal consultations, bilateral and formal board sessions, the Executive Board's engagement has been critical to refining the Integrated Road Map processes.
7. Has your organization organized any conferences, forums or events designed to facilitate exchange of experience, peer and mutual learning? If yes, please provide a brief summary below and include lessons learned and gaps identified based on the outcomes of these events. Please also include any events you plan to organize in the coming years.
5th Africa Logistics Conference
WFP and Help Logistics (a programme of the Kuehne Foundation) organized and hosted the 5th Africa Logistics conference on the 27th -28th October 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The conference brought together a wide and diverse group of humanitarian supply chain practitioners. Over 150 supply chain delegates attended the conference, with representatives from more than 70 Donors, UN agencies, Government bodies, Red Cross and Crescent agencies,
commercial companies and Universities. The delegates came together to provide East African responses to key issues that were raised by the Global Logistics Cluster in its paper 'Delivering in a Moving World' at the World Humanitarian Summit, 2016.
Recommendations to address logistic challenges and strengthen supply chains were put forward as follows:
1. Strengthen local response
2. Assist through cash and in-kind
3. Allow access to beneficiaries in complex emergencies
4. Engage the private sector
5. Coordinate, collaborate and provide shared services
WFP and Help Logistics will again be co-hosting the 6th Africa Logistics conference this year on the 14th and 15th March in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme of the conference is 'African Humanitarian Logistics until 2030' with the objective of bringing 120 participants from the humanitarian, government, donor, academic and private sector together to consider how humanitarian supply networks in Africa will evolve between now and 2030, when the Sustainable Development Goals deadline comes to an end.
South Sudan Substantive dialogue, co-convened by WFP an ECHO in December 2015
Co-convened by WFP and ECHO, this meeting was designed to help fill a gap in substantive dialogue focusing explicitly on the food and nutrition crisis, the related operational challenges and what more can be done to mitigate human suffering in what has become a protracted situation in South Sudan, and to identify priorities and opportunities for food assistance efforts in the next one to three years.
More than ninety participants took part in the meeting, which took place from 10-11 December in Nairobi. These included senior participants from the UN and other international organizations, South Sudan civil society organizations, religious leaders, think-tanks and academia, the private sector and donors as well as resource people from the media. Technical staff from the humanitarian branches of both the South Sudanese government and the opposition also participated.
Recommendations for humanitarian actors included:
1. Be more creative in telling our stories by focusing on the South Sudanese people themselves rather than on abstract concepts of vulnerability and need. This may require taking a more positive approach to storytelling and reflecting the diversity that exists in the country. Where appropriate, bring stories closer to home for the reader by emphasizing partnerships (i.e. link media interest in the US to how USAID is assisting).
2. Provide appropriate context. Many of the stories that are told about South Sudan explain the violence in the country as 'senseless', with faceless, nameless perpetrators and focus narrative on the victims because it's seen as a 'safer' story. There must be a greater emphasis on conveying the true nature of what is happening, acknowledging that people have an independent mind and spirit and are often fighting because of deeply held beliefs. Without a more nuanced understanding of the war, it is difficult to see how peace might be achieved.
3. Be sensitive to unintended consequences of our narratives. Focusing on people, personal efforts to solve problems, and reflecting real voices of the people we serve, can not only counter stereotypes but provide a more compelling narrative for mobilizing support.
4. Harness the knowledge of local journalists and build their capacity to tell better stories, including by helping them to function as agents of accountability and as a channel to provide regular citizens with a voice. Recognize that South Sudanese journalists may have important roles in publishing and promoting stories of reconciliation that may not suit international media.
5. Work hard to find ways to convey technical information (e.g. about food security) better so that the story does not always focus on famine.
6. Push for access and avoid self-censorship. It is important to continue to cover and push for coverage of critical issues
Healthy-Not-Hungry Dinners
Continuing a near decade-long tradition at the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) hosted a dinner in Davos, Switzerland for the 2017 WEF Annual meeting. In 2017, WFP partnered with Project Everyone to host a dinner around the SDGs. The dinner served as a launching pad for a year-long movement, called #HealthyNotHungry, which aimed to raise awareness around Zero Hunger and the Global Goals more generally.
In the lead-up to the flagship dinner, WFP hosted a series of about 20 satellite dinners around the world in major capitals. The dinners focused largely on healthy and sustainable food systems and served as the first step in a larger movement. As such, the key element among the dinners was the menu which highlighted the value of locally sourced and nutritious foods. The menus were developed by a roster of international chefs committed to sustainable food systems and the achievement of a Zero Hunger world. Each chef was asked to create a unique meal. Their challenge was to prepare dishes anchored in the four staples (wheat, maize, rice, and potatoes) but to also include ingredients from the 29,996 other edible plant species not regularly consumed by the global population.
One of the approximately two dozen dinners held world-wide was held by WFP Southern Africa regional Bureau in Johannesburg in January 2017. The event engaged senior public figures from the Southern Africa region, advocates and key stakeholders for action on the SDGs, particularly SDG2 and SDG3. The event proved to be a successful launch-pad for a number of new connections and partnerships between WFP and new stakeholders, including the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers, South Africa's Agricultural Research Council, National Planning Commission and Centre for Food, Nutrition and Well Being. The event engaged national radio, food authors, critics and journalists from a variety of agencies for pre- and post-event media. Advocacy dialogue was structured around the topic of the importance of healthy and sustainable food systems for all, and the importance of protecting and securing local, healthy and nutritious foods and encouraging the consumption of a more diversified diet and the protection, production and consumption of other edible plant species beyond the 4 major staples which are globally consumed.
In addition to these dinners, WFP partnered with chefs around the world who were not able to host a #HealthyNotHungry dinner in the lead up to the WEF Annual Meeting. Instead, these "satellite chefs" showed solidarity with this global movement by including items on their menus that speak to this concept in the lead up to WEF.
Shock-Responsive Social Protection: Towards a Resilient Malawi
High-Level Panel - 6th October 2016 - Ufulu Gardens, Lilongwe
As Malawi faced successive and concurrent shocks driving the historic emergency response over the 2016/7 lean season leading to some 6.5 million Malawians in need of emergency food assistance, WFP and partners continue strengthening social protection systems to reduce chronic need and better equip Malawi to address the shocks driving annual food and nutrition insecurity. This is being achieved through linking the social protection sector to humanitarian systems and actors, a concept termed 'shock responsive social protection'.
In late 2016, the Government of Malawi and the World Food Programme (WFP) hosted a national conference on 'Shock Responsive Social Protection' (SRSP), in Lilongwe, Malawi. The conference was attended by experts from all over the world including organizations such as: Oxford Policy Management (OPM); Development Pathway; Institute of Development Studies (IDS); UN agencies, as well as from the relevant Malawi Government ministries and Departments. Over 90 participants from across Malawi and globally came to listen to the panellists and discuss how to strengthen social protection systems to reduce chronic food insecurity and to better equip Malawi to address shocks driving annual food and nutrition insecurity.
Building on the conclusions of the high-level panel discussions during the conference, the concept of shock-responsive-social protection is now being advanced through a study co-commissioned by WFP, GIZ, and the World Bank as well as through operational trials undertaken by the Overseas Development Institute and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre in 2017. On the ground in Malawi, and as a result of this conference, WFP supported activities such as trialing the use of the social registry to target households for emergency food assistance, and supporting the roll out of 'automatic inclusion' - automatically enrolling social cash transfer beneficiaries under the ongoing social protection programme into the emergency food assistance programs. In addition, under the 2017 emergency response, WFP worked with partners to scale up Emergency School Meals to reach school-going children in shock-affected areas, automatically including Social Cash Transfer beneficiaries, and supporting those with labour capacity in building productive assets during the emergency response and transitioning them to WFP's Food-for-Assets (FFA) programme, thus bridging the relief-recovery-resilience continuum. Some of the lessons, insights and findings have been incorporated into the Malawi national Resilience Plan as well as in Malawi's 5-year Social Protection Plans.
8. Is there any other information you would like to share, including annual reports of your organization and any impact assessment or evaluation reports? If yes, please use the space below and attach the document(s). Please also use this space to provide any other information, comments or remarks you deem necessary:
https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/b64e670a-360f-441c-9fc9-5b934131c197/download/
9. In your view, what should a strategic plan for the UN system in support of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs look like? What key elements should it include and major challenges address in such a road map?
In close consultation with other UN stakeholders, WFP is contributing to the development of an overarching UN system-wide strategic engagement framework. In WFP's view, UN efforts - and therefore UN Reform - must be guided by a clear and comprehensive system-wide strategic logic in order to ensure that reforms within the different workstreams are consistent, coherent, and mutually reinforcing. The System-wide Strategic Framework must be guided by the principle that country level efforts are the key to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The measure of success is progress on the ground against the SDG targets and indicators, recognizing that the SDGs are the 'results framework' against which UN system efforts will be measured.
The UN System's four functional pillars -- development, human rights and the rule of law, peace and security, and humanitarian response -- structure the UN's unique contribution to country efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda. In this context, achieving the 2030 Agenda involves two fundamental challenges. On the one hand, it is necessary to take actions that will advance and enable progress towards achieving the SDGs. On the other hand, it is essential to take actions that address and/or contain the threats and hindrances to achieving progress on the SDGs. Addressing these twin challenges requires responses that are coherent, coordinated, and mutually reinforcing.
10. Please indicate one or two endeavor or initiatives you suggest that the UN system organizations could undertake together to support the implementation of the SDGs between now and 2030:
The UN system organizations could undertake joint/consolidated UN outreach and engagement plan for the world's 42 richest people contributing to the SDGs and include the world's poorest 3.7 billion in social, economic and environmental prosperity.
Reference is made to the latest Oxfam publication: http://www.euronews.com/2018/01/22/oxfam-42-super-rich-hold-same-wealth-as-world-s-poorest-3-7-bln