Global Food Crisis Response Program

• Situation. Over a billion people are currently living on less than $1 a day while 923 million are reported to be undernourished. Amidst these problems, rising food prices pose more threat especially to the world’s poor.
• Objective. The World Bank established the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP) in May 2008 to provide immediate relief to countries that are severely affected by high food prices.
• Top priorities. GFRP funds are used to feed the poor, provide nutritional supplement to mothers and children, meet additional expenses of food imports, and buy seeds for new seasons.
• Funding. The World Bank increased funding in 2009 to $2 billion from $1.2 billion in 2008. Grant funding has also been made available to support the GFRP. External multi-donor trust funds have received contributions from different countries including Australia, Spain, Korea, Canada, and Russia.
• Milestones. GFRP has approved $1,479 million worth of projects, $1,148 million of which has been disbursed. Bank-funded, board-approved GFRP projects amount to $1,238 million. Under externally-funded trust funds, operations totalling $240 million have been approved. The program has helped approximately 40 million people in 44 countries.
• Coordination. The World Bank is coordinating with other development partners including agricultural and food security working groups. It is actively engaged with the United Nations High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, where the GFRP Secretariat actively participated in updating UN’s Comprehensive Framework of Action. The World Bank also participates in the Multilateral Development Bank’s Working Group on Food and Water Security.
• Impact. The food crisis projects led to competing demand for fund transfers. This contributed to a drop in assistance to agriculture lending and rural development from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Agency (IDA). Additional funding, however, was given by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for these ventures.
• Other initiatives. The World Bank established an Agricultural Finance Support Facility. It also developed financial market insurance products and risk management strategies. In addition, it tripled investments in safety nets and social protection programs in health and education.

Source:

“Food Crisis. What the World Bank is Doing.” The World Bank Group, 7 April 2011 from http://www.worlbank.org/foodcrisis/bankinitiatives.htm.