This talk by Mr Elvis Odeke from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Namibia is part of: “Namibia’s Journey Towards Nutrition and Food Security” – A series of engagement talks to share insights, experiences and ideas on how to ensure optimal nutrition for everyone in Namibia.

On 21 April 2021, Mr Odeke, WFP Namibia’s Head of Programmes in Namibia, supported by his colleague Mrs. Rachael Mhangu (Nutritionist), explained WFP’s priorities and main focus on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 2: Zero Hunger, with WFP’s role and involvement in Namibia being defined by Namibia’s National Development Plans.

As the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, WFP reaches over 80 million people around the world with food assistance each year.  A key approach hereby is to strengthen local economies by increasingly considering cash transfers that enable people to buy local nutritious food.

Mr. Odeke further explained that in Namibia, they work closely with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture around school feeding schemes, with a pilot around locally sourced food starting in a number of schools soon. WFP also works closely with the Office of the Prime Minister where they provide technical assistance and development aid to Namibia to improve responses to emergencies situations, such as droughts.

WFP Namibia is mandated to support government to achieve its goals by providing support to nutrition interventions, policies and programmes that for instance, include nutritious school meals and food fortification. 

Mr. Odeke ended  with highlighting the three pillars of food security: “Availability, Accessibility and Utilization”, before (as from ±19min) eloquently facilitating an interesting and extended Q&A session with comments and questions from the audience.