UN agency launches online donation feature to boost funding for fight against hunger

In a bid to bolster funding for the global fight against hunger, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today launched an online donation feature on its web site.

"With a few clicks of a mouse, individuals can make a difference in the fight against hunger," said WFP Executive Director James Morris, as he made the first two official online donations towards the agency's emergency operations and to its school feeding programme.

Visitors to the WFP web site can make donations via credit card. With just $100, the agency can provide 5,000 cups of rice; $1,000 will pay for 2,000 pounds of high energy biscuits, vital in the early stages of a humanitarian disaster when people are on the move and unable to cook food; and, $10,000 will buy a medium-sized warehouse for storing food aid.

The online donation feature is also timely for efforts to help the nearly 13 million people currently facing starvation in southern Africa. WFP's $507 million regional appeal has raised just $118 million so far - 23 per cent of the total amount needed for the agency to feed hungry people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The online donations will also help severely under-funded WFP operations in Afghanistan, West Africa and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where millions of people depend on the agency's food for survival.

Web users can also contribute to the agency's Global School Feeding Programme, which guarantees meals for over 15 million undernourished school children.