Responding to Change: Wfp and the Global Food Aid System

The WFP has played a key role in international response to the rapidly changing environment and immediate threats to food security. This was achieved by a process of piecemeal, but incomplete adaptation within the severe constraints of the global food aid system with its resource uncertainties and massive donor influences. The rapid shift from a focus on development to a focus on relief and the gradual erosion of the multilateral character of the WFP especially give urgency to clarifying WFP's mandate and providing a clearer basis for determining when food aid is an appropriate international response to food insecurity.