“Every one has the right to live peacefully and without hunger,” reiterates WFP Country Director

“We are profoundly honoured that WFP has received this award, which is in recognition of WFP staff worldwide, including those in Sri Lanka, who work tirelessly to develop a better future for vulnerable communities everywhere."

The COVID-19 crisis has added to global food insecurity with an increasing number of people going hungry. The pandemic, with its brutal impact on economies and communities is pushing millions of people worldwide to the brink of starvation, said the World Food Programme as it accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Every one of the 690 million hungry people in the world today has the right to live peacefully and without hunger. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has turned the global spotlight on them and on the devastating consequences of conflict,” the world’s largest humanitarian organisation said.

For more than half a century, WFP staff have dedicated themselves to helping communities in Sri Lanka, from assisting during the tsunami and post-conflict period, to providing nourishing school meals to children. In Sri Lanka, WFP has worked with the government and other partners to save lives and livelihoods and make profound changes to ensure people have better access to food and nutrition,” said Brenda Barton, WFP Country Director in Sri Lanka.

“We are profoundly honoured that WFP has received this award, which is in recognition of WFP staff worldwide, including those in Sri Lanka, who work tirelessly to develop a better future for vulnerable communities everywhere,” she said.

In Sri Lanka, the WFP aims to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition and support longer-term recovery and resilience through its strategic plan 2018-2022.

It targets are that crisis- affected people have access to food all year round, to ensure school-age children in food- insecure areas have access to food all year round, to ensure children under five years, adolescent girls and women of reproductive age have improved nutrition by 2025, and that vulnerable communities and smallholder far mers have strengthened livelihoods and resilience to shocks and stresses all year round.