The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
World Food Programme reaches deal to supply food to 185,000 children in Venezuela
The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) has signed an agreement with the Government of Venezuela to begin operations to provide the most vulnerable children in the South American country with nutritious school meals, it announced on Tuesday.
The agency’s goal is to reach 185,000 students by year’s end and 1.5 million by the end of the 2022-2023 school year. It estimated the food assistance programme’s annual budget at $190 million.
Humanitarian aid groups have long pushed for the Government of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro to allow WFP to distribute food aid in Venezuela.
The agency has previously worked in the country on a development project in the early 70s and has responded to flooding emergencies in later years.
The development follows Monday’s meeting between WFP Executive Director David Beasley and President Maduro and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.
“Our school meals programmes are independent, they’ve always been and separate from any other interference. Not only in Venezuela, but elsewhere that we have worked,” WFP spokesperson Tomson Phiri told journalists in Geneva.
Mr Phiri explained that the operation will focus on pre-primary and special education schools, as well as “investing in the rehabilitation of school canteens and training school staff on food safety practices as a means of reaching the wider community”.
In total, there are around eight million children under 14 in Venezuela,” according to WFP, its project coming amid a rise in child malnutrition linked to the spiralling economic crisis in the oil-rich country, soaring food prices and hyperinflation.
“One out of three Venezuelans - which is about 32.3 per cent is food insecure today - and they are in need of assistance” said Mr. Phiri. This includes 2.3 million people who are severely food insecure.
A joint analysis by WFP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in October included Venezuela among 20 countries that were “likely to face potential spikes in high acute food insecurity” over the following three to six months requiring “urgent attention.”
ENDS
STORY: Venezuela School Meals - WFP
TRT: 02 min 18s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 20 APRIL 2021 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a sunny day.
- Wide shot, podium with speakers in a near-empty Room XIV in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, spokesperson for WFP (UN World Food Programme): “After reaching an agreement with the government, WFP will start a humanitarian operation in Venezuela that will forecast on a school meals programme in areas that are most food insecure. Through a phased approach, WFP will aim to provide daily meals to 1.5 million students by the end of the 2022/2023 school year.”
- Medium shot, participant typing on phone, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, spokesperson for WFP (UN World Food Programme): “By the end of 2021, the World Food Programme operation will reach up to 185,000 children. WFP will also invest in the rehabilitation of school canteens and training of school staff on food safety practices as a means of reaching the wider community.”
- Medium wide shot, participants sitting in Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, spokesperson for WFP (UN World Food Programme): “One out of three Venezuelans, which is about 32.3 per cent is food insecure today and they are in need of assistance. The signing allows the World Food Programme to set up a presence in Venezuela and to start our operation which is focusing on children and schools.”
- Medium wide shot, podium with speakers to rear, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, spokesperson for WFP (UN World Food Programme): “There are some eight million children under the age of 14 in Venezuela. Our plan through a phased approach is to reach 1.5 million children by the end of the 2022/2023 academic year. This will cost us, it will cost WFP approximately 190 million to effectively start and mount an effective response.”
- Medium shot, journalist taking notes, Room XIV, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, spokesperson for WFP (UN World Food Programme): “Our school meals programme are independent, they’ve always been and separate from any other interference. Not only in Venezuela, but elsewhere that we have worked.”
- Medium shot, spokesperson speaking on the podium, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- Medium shot, journalist sitting in front of laptop, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- Wide medium shot, podium with speakers, side shot, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line have continued to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
2
1
3
Edited News | UNOG
“State of Silence”: Diego Luna brings the fight to protect the press to the UN in Geneva
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna has brought his fight to protect journalists all the way to the United Nations, in Geneva. Together with documentary director Santiago Masa, he is putting a spotlight on the silencing of investigative journalism in his country, and on the incredibly high price that many journalist have to pay in pursuit of truth.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Sudan’s displaced have endured “unimaginable suffering” in their search for shelter from the country’s ongoing war, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘Exceptional achievement’: Humanitarians reach over 105,000 with polio vaccine in north Gaza
Despite ongoing attacks and access challenges, humanitarians have managed to inoculate over 105,000 children in north Gaza with the second and final dose of the oral polio vaccine, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.