Nobel Prize 2020: United Nation's World Food Programme has won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to combat hunger. The 'World Food Programme' is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger.

"The World Food Programme contributes daily to advancing the fraternity of nations referred to in Alfred Nobel’s will. As the UN’s largest specialised agency,  WFP is a modern version of the peace congresses that the Nobel Peace Prize is intended to promote," the official Twitter handle of the awards said on Friday afternoon.

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Programme (WFP)," it announced.


Responding to the news, the WPF tweeted: "Deepest thanks Nobel Prize,  for honouring the World Food Programme with the 2020 #NobelPeacePrize. This is a powerful reminder to the world that peace and #ZeroHunger go hand-in-hand."

Here is a look at the contributions of WFP as cited by the Nobel Prize committee:

  •  In 2019, the WFP provided assistance to close to 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger.

  • In 2015, eradicating hunger was adopted as one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The WFP is the UN’s primary instrument for realising this goal.

  • In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Programme has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts.

  •  The world is in danger of experiencing a hunger crisis of inconceivable proportions if the World Food Programme and other food assistance organisations do not receive the financial support they have requested.

  • The World Food Programme has taken the lead in combining humanitarian work with peace efforts through pioneering projects in South America, Africa and Asia.

  • The World Food Programme was an active participant in the diplomatic process that culminated in May 2018 in the UN Security Council’s unanimous adoption of Resolution 2417, which for the first time explicitly addressed the link between conflict and hunger.

  • The World Food Programme plays a key role in multilateral cooperation on making food security an instrument of peace, and has made a strong contribution towards mobilising UN Member States to combat the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.