Five ways WFP makes every penny count for food security
How the World Food Programme uses data to steer funding to the people who need it most
By and Nicola Theunissen
Tackling hunger lies at the heart of WFP’s mission, but doing so is one of the most complex and resource-intensive parts of humanitarian work. Balancing cost-efficiency with fairness, accuracy, and community acceptance requires thoughtful, context-sensitive strategies, especially in fragile and conflict-prone areas.
Here is how WFP works to make every cent count in its fight against hunger.
1. Delivering data for impact
WFP knows that giving aid isn’t enough; we also need to understand which approaches are working well, which aren’t, and the reasons behind both. That’s why tracking the impact of our work is crucial.
In 2019 WFP launched a six-year impact evaluation strategy, guiding 25 impact evaluations across 21 countries. Through the collection of rigorous evidence, WFP has already demonstrated the impact of our work in countries like El Salvador, Niger, South Sudan, Jordan and Nepal, among others, so that we reach more people, more effectively in a data-driven way.
2. Acting early, saving more
WFP is leading efforts in anticipatory action: providing support before disasters strike to reduce harm and lower the cost of the emergency response. In 2023 alone, WFP’s anticipatory action programmes reached 4.1 million people across 36 countries.
WFP evaluated the impact of supporting 90,000 households with digital transfers before the disaster hit in flood-prone districts of the Jamuna River basin in Bangladesh.
The evaluation compared people who received help before the flood with those who received it after. Those reached early, had better food security, felt less stressed, and were less likely to skip meals or use other harmful coping strategies. However, as people received later support, the initial gains of early action evened out. (A similar pattern was found in the recently published WFP impact evaluation from Nepal.)
Early action requires substantial upfront capital investment in forecasting systems, satellite data, preparedness, and staff training. There’s also a risk that support may not reach those most in need.
While responses after the flood are typically more precise in reaching the most affected, it often comes too late to prevent damage. Understanding the trade-offs between preparedness and precision will ensure that WFP’s anticipatory action programmes deliver more impactful, cost-effective use of humanitarian aid.
3. Beyond the lunch line: School meals that feed futures
In The Gambia, over 15 percent of children are affected by stunting, while school completion rates remain alarmingly low (as low as 36 percent in the east of the country). To address this, WFP and the Ministry of Basic Education launched a home-grown school feeding programme, delivering healthy school meals to over 420 schools every day.
An impact evaluation confirmed that school meals improved food security, dietary diversity, and children’s all-round well-being, especially for girls. The evaluation found that school meals were as cost-effective to improve the quantity and quality of education, as cash transfers or the provision of school supplies such as textbooks, and uniforms.
When combining school meals with teacher incentives, the evidence showed that every US$100 invested prevented two dropouts, one child not being food insecure, one child not having depression, and two children not having reading difficulty.
4. Building supply chains for scalable school feeding
WFP collaborates closely with national governments to design programmes that are impactful, scalable and guarantee value for money. In Burundi, WFP worked with the Government to provide meals to nearly 750,000 children across 885 public schools as part of its goal to achieve universal school feeding by 2032.
WFP piloted a commodity voucher system connecting smallholder farmers to the school meals supply chain — putting locally sourced, locally packed food on the plate.
Evidence shows that the number of school meal days nearly doubled from 7.4 to 13 per month while saving more than US$6 on the annual cost per child of $46.85.
Smart costing tools and evidence-based planning enabled WFP and its partners to make informed decisions about scaling up the programme.
5. Navigating trade-offs: Equity and cost in targeting
Through its humanitarian workstream in impact evaluation, WFP is leveraging new technologies and data sources, such as satellite imagery, drone data, and administrative records, to explore critical questions like: “Which targeting methods deliver the greatest precision and satisfaction, while keeping costs down?”
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a WFP impact evaluation is testing two approaches: a statistical model (Proxy Means Test) and a community-based method. While the statistical model may offer objectivity, in many cases it relies on outdated census data, potentially reducing its relevance. The community-based method, though more transparent and easier to implement, could introduce local bias and exclude minorities.
Preliminary findings show that while community-based targeting covered fewer people than the statistical method, it garnered comparable levels of community satisfaction and acceptance. If these trends hold, the approach may offer a more cost-effective option for humanitarian targeting, without compromising precision or community satisfaction.
The bottom line: Making every cent count
In a world where humanitarian needs are rising and resources are thinly stretched, ensuring that every cent delivers maximum impact is not just an operational imperative — it’s a moral one.
