2020 Nobel Peace Prize: Congratulations to the World Food Programme

On 9 October 2020, our partner the World Food Programme (WFP) was announced as the winner of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize ‘for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict’. You can read the statement by WFP Executive Director David Beasley on their website.

At Saferworld we would like to congratulate the WFP for being awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. Through the Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility in South Sudan, we have been supporting the WFP to better understand the ways that hunger, aid, conflict and violence interact and adapt, to strengthen the WFP’s positive contribution to peace. The leadership, commitment and creativity of WFP staff in critically reflecting on the role of the aid sector in South Sudan has been indispensable to the success of this ongoing work.

Providing humanitarian assistance in the midst of conflict is difficult but essential, not only to respond to immediate lifesaving needs but to help people to cope with appalling circumstances and rebuild their lives. We applaud the WFP and its partners’ efforts in this regard, as well as the organisation’s dedication to conflict-sensitive humanitarian assistance that plays a critical role in helping address factors that can perpetuate conflict and support progress towards sustainable peace. We look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.

Photo: Women carry bags of food supplies air-dropped by aircrafts from the World Food Programme (WFP) in Juba, Sudan (UN Photo/Fred Noy).