The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands wholeheartedly congratulates the World Food Programme for winning the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.

In announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said the WFP “provided assistance to close to 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger” in 2019.  The agency is the world’s largest humanitarian organization focused on hunger and food security.

The committee noted that the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to an upsurge in hunger in countries such as Yemen, Nigeria, and South Sudan. But, even in the face of the pandemic, “the World Food Programme has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts,” the committee said.

Over the past three years, the World Food Programme has partnered with Sunnylands in its efforts to address global health and food security issues.

David Beasley (center), executive director of the World Food Programme, claps hands with Gilbert Huongbo (right), president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and Jose Graziano da Silva (left), director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, at a Sunnylands retreat in 2018.

Sunnylands president David Lane, who worked closely with WFP during his four years as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies in Rome, lauded the agency for its work and its recognition by the Nobel committee.

“Congratulations to the men and women of the UN World Food Programme — I’m glad their lifesaving work has been recognized by the Nobel committee,” he said. “Sunnylands is eager to continue to collaborate and support their efforts to tackle food insecurity in the toughest places on earth. WFP’s mission is more important today than ever.”

Sunnylands also congratulates Ertharin Cousin, WFP’s executive director from 2012 to 2017, who now serves on Sunnylands’ Global Health and Food Security Advisory Committee.