About Us

Alvera, Rwanda
 

Alvera used to worry that the torrential rains that thrash Rwanda might one day carry her house down the hill and that her land wasn’t producing enough food for her family of seven. Erosion was eating away her land – until a WFP food-for-work project made it possible to create terraces on the hills. The terraces help to keep topsoil in place and improve the way water trickles into the river valley. Local people earn food rations in exchange for working on the terraces.

WFP supports the value of work and of helping people acquire the training necessary to feed their families and rebuild their nations in the wake of armed conflict and natural disasters.

WFP’s food for work programs offer food as payment when people go to work—building roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, ports and other essential elements of their communities’ infrastructure. Meanwhile, food for training programs provide food for those who participate in projects that teach a skill, such as sewing or gardening, or offer education on nutrition and health issues.

Howard G. Buffett, a WFP Ambassador Against Hunger, has traveled throughout Africa and Asia, seeing firsthand how food for training programs work. “From emergency relief to development assistance, WFP gives hope to many while saving lives every day,” he noted.