The World's Largest Humanitarian Agency: The Transformation of the UN World Food Programme and of Food Aid

457 Pages·2011·4.05 MB·English

by  D. John Shaw

This book gives the first comprehensive account of the transformation of the
UN World Food Programme (WFP), previously a major development organisa-
tion in the UN system, into the world’s largest humanitarian agency, and of the
conversion of food aid into food assistance interventions that end hunger and
malnutrition in sustainable ways.
In doing so, it describes the strategic deployment of WFP staff throughout the
developing world, how the agency has assumed responsibility for global logis-
tics, telecommunications and food security operations on behalf of the entire
international humanitarian system, and how it has established partnerships with
other agencies in the non-governmental and private sectors to form the largest
humanitarian network that now provides assistance annually to over 100 million
people.
The World’s Largest Humanitarian Agency will be required reading for students of
development economics, sociology and human rights, as well as policy makers,
NGOs and bilateral aid agencies.
D. JOHN SHAW was associated with the UN World Food Programme for over thirty
years, almost from the start of its operations in 1963, latterly as Economic Adviser
and Chief, Policy Affairs Service. He was also consultant to the Commonwealth
Secretariat, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),
and the World Bank. A postgraduate in Agricultural Economics at the University
of Oxford, UK, he was Senior Lecturer in Rural Economy at the University of
Khartoum, Sudan and Fellow in Agricultural Economics and founder member
of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK. He has
written extensively on development, food security and food aid issues and now
serves on the International Editorial Board of the Journal Food Policy. He can be
contacted at [email protected]
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Also by D. John Shaw
GLOBAL FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
WORLD FOOD SECURITY
A History since 1945
SIR HANS SINGER
The Life and Work of a Development Economist
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
Selected Essays by H. W. Singer on Aid and the United Nations System (editor)
THE UN WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOOD AID
WORLD FOOD AID
Experiences of Recipients and Donors
(edited with Edward Clay)
THE QUEST FOR FOOD SECURITY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
(edited with Helene Delisle)
A FUTURE FOOD AID REGIME
Implications of the Final Act of the GATT Uruguay Round
(with H. W. Singer)
POVERTY, DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD
Essays in Honour of H. W. Singer on his 75th Birthday
(edited with Edward Clay)
THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME AND EMERGENCY RELIEF
FOOD POLICY, FOOD AID AND ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT
(edited with H. W. Singer)
FOOD AID AND THE WELL-BEING OF CHILDREN IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
(edited with P. J. Greaves)
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The World’s Largest
Humanitarian Agency
The Transformation of the UN World Food
Programme and of Food Aid
D. John Shaw
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© D. John Shaw 2011
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978–0–230–58099–2
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shaw, D. John.
The world’s largest humanitarian agency : the transformation of the UN
World Food Programme and of food aid / by D. John Shaw.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–230–58099–2 (alk. paper)
1. World Food Programme – History. 2. Food relief – International
cooperation – History. I. Title.
JZ5009.5.W675S53 2011
363.8(cid:1)83—dc22 2011012456
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne
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To the Staff of the UN World Food Programme
Past and Present
Women and Men
Locally and Internationally Recruited
In Developing Countries, Liaison Offices, and at Headquarters for
Their Dedication to Ending Hunger
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By three methods we may learn wisdom:
first, by reflection, which is noblest;
second, by imitation, which is easiest;
and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Confucius
Humanitarian assistance is the aid and action designed to save lives, alleviate
suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and in the after-
math of emergencies. To be classified as humanitarian, aid should be consist-
ent with the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and
independence.
Principles and Practice of
Good Humanitarian Donorship
There are no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems ...
Humanitarian action may create space for political action but on its own can
never substitute for it.
Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (1990–2000)
Hunger is a complex, multidimensional challenge that requires bold and decisive
action. The enormity of the problem, with its social, economic, human, [and
political] consequences have been well-documented. If the first Millennium
Development Goal of halving the proposition of hungry people by 2015 is to be
achieved, then agencies such as WFP must seek out new partners and be open to
new forms of partnership [and innovative interventions].
WFP’s Private Sector Partnership and
Fundraising Strategy
Instead of managing poverty, we should help people out of poverty and avoid
creating dependency.
US President Barack Obama, UN General
Assembly, 22 October 2010
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Contents
List of Illustrations xii
Acknowledgements xiii
Notes on the Text xix
List of Abbreviations xx
Introduction xxiii
1 Historical Background 1
The pre- history of the WFP 1
United States food aid programmes: growth and development 1
Public Law 480: the institutionalization of United States’ food aid 3
The food aid debate 4
Pioneering work of the FAO 7
An expanded programme of surplus food utilization: an expert study 9
The birth of the WFP 11
The WFP constitution: a joint UN/FAO undertaking 15
The experimental years: 1963–65 20
Food-f or- work programmes 21
Land settlement and reform 22
Special feeding programmes 22
Animal production projects 23
The lessons of the experimental period 23
Policy considerations 24
Administrative procedures 26
WFP study programme 30
Continuation of the WFP 32
Transportation and logistics 32
Complex food aid management 33
Ocean shipping 35
Insurance 36
Logistics 37
Humanitarian diplomacy 37
Future directions 38
Food for development 40
Development and/or emergency aid 43
Tripartite evaluation of the WFP 44
WFP mission statement 45
Enabling development policy 46
External evaluation of the enabling development policy 47
vii
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viii Contents
Transformation 50
Appendix 50
2 From Development Projects to Emergency Operations:
Tipping Points in the WFP’s Transformation 52
Increasing involvement in emergencies 52
Civil war in Nigeria 53
The African droughts of the 1970s 54
Special measures for least- developed countries: meeting internal costs 56
World Food Conference 1974: increased responsibilities for the WFP 56
Kampuchean emergency operation 58
Afghan refugees in Pakistan 61
Tipping points 63
Establishment of a WFP emergency service 64
The African food crises of the 1980s: evaluation of the WFP response 64
Comprehensive review of the WFP management: shifting the
centre of gravity to the field 71
Emergencies caused by conflict: WFP/UNHCR co-o peration 71
Protracted relief operations 72
Horn of Africa: personal recognition 73
Ingram’s legacy 74
Motivation 76
3 Emergency Assistance: Transformation Accomplished 80
Escalation in emergencies 80
Issues and concerns 82
Transformation completed 87
Profile of WFP operations (2010–11) 92
Sub-S aharan Africa 93
Asia 95
Middle East, central Asia and eastern Europe 96
Latin America and the Caribbean 96
Some examples of WFP emergency operations 97
Large-s cale natural disasters 98
Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004 98
Southern Africa: food insecurity and the
impact of HIV/AIDS, 2005–07 101
Pakistan/Kashmir earthquake, 2005 104
Bangladesh: Cyclone Sidr, 2007 106
Central America region: relief and recovery operations, 2002 108
Complex conflict-i nduced emergencies 111
Recurring challenges 111
Conflict and genocide in Rwanda, 1994–95 112
Armed conflict and civil unrest in coastal west Africa, 1989–2004 116
Relief and recovery in Afghanistan 121
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Contents ix
Darfur, Sudan: one of the WFP’s largest, most complex, and
prolonged emergency operations 125
Special, ‘new wave’, emergency operations 133
War in Bosnia- Herzegovina 1992–95: UNHCR/WFP joint operations 133
Iraq: UN oil- for- food programme 135
Emergency operation in the Lebanon 137
Myanmar: swift assistance to cyclone victims 138
Georgia: the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union 140
4 Anatomy of WFP Emergency Operations 143
Towards a comprehensive policy and operational framework
for WFP emergency operations 143
Definition of emergencies 144
Exiting emergencies 146
Humanitarian principles 147
Targeting in emergencies 149
From crisis to recovery: special needs 152
Emergencies in urban areas 153
Livelihoods in emergencies 154
Food-b ased safety nets for emergencies 155
Vouchers and cash transfers as food assistance instruments:
opportunities and challenges 157
Disaster risk reduction 160
Strategic deployment of the WFP staff throughout
the developing world 164
The decentralization process 164
Assessments of the decentralization initiative 174
Resource problems: WFP Biennial Management Plan (2008–09) 178
The impact of UN system reform 179
Transport and logistics expertise 182
Augmented Logistics Intervention Teams for Emergencies (ALITE) 183
Virtual food stocks 183
Special operations 183
Lead agency in logistics 185
UN Humanitarian Air Service 186
UN cluster lead in logistics 187
Information and communications technology 189
WFP Information Network and Global System (WINGS) 190
Fast information technology and telecommunications
emergency and support team (FITTEST) 191
Emergency preparedness and response 192
Co-o peration with other agencies 194
Major international humanitarian agencies:
working arrangements 195
Collaboration among the UN Rome-b ased agencies 199
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