Nobel Honors Hunger Heroes

Were you as delighted as I was to learn that the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Program? It was wonderful to know that people recognize the importance of food, especially in this time of pandemic as well as continuing violent conflict in the world. The World Food Program is a United Nations agency which was established in 1961 and has helped people who have found themselves in many humanitarian disasters including famine, war, and natural disasters. The WFP assisted about 100 million people in 88 countries during 2019.

The Nobel Committee commended its work to combat a surge in global hunger amid COVID-19 and continuing unrest in many parts of the world. The World Food Program has estimated that the number of people living without adequate food or suffering food insecurity could more than double this year. That would bring the number of those who live with hunger to 265 million.

The Nobel Committee is quoted in a Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial dated Oct. 10, 2020, as saying: “The link between hunger and armed conflict is a vicious cycle: war and conflict can cause food insecurity and hunger, just as hunger and food insecurity can cause latent conflicts to flare up and trigger the use of violence. We will never achieve the goal of zero hunger unless we also put an end to war and armed conflict.”

The World Food Program often depends on voluntary funding and has not always received the monetary support requested through the U.N. The Nobel Peace Prize, coming with a cash award of $1.3 million will certainly help, but highlighting the need may well help even more. Spread the word about the recipient of the Peace Prize and celebrate that ending hunger is seen as important worldwide while working right here to help those who live with hunger.

-Vernita Kennen
Incarnation, Shoreview