The World Food Programme (WFP) is a non-profit making organisation whose mandate is to eliminate food problems in the world. Through this mandate, WFP will help in alleviating poverty especially in the developing countries where there are a lot of incidences of food shortages. The organisation understands that it has a moral responsibility towards helping the poor who are suffering from hunger. The ethical issue in this case is social responsibility by the well-off individuals and nations. They should behave in a socially responsible manner for economically worse off individuals than those who are well off. When famine strikes, there are many lives that face the threat of hunger or even death by starvation. Programs that are meant to counter the adverse effects of starvation should be initiated to save lives. Social responsibility is an ethical issue in this case because people fail to understand that they have a responsibility toward each other of saving lives. Morally speaking, any person that knowingly allows another individual to starve to death is no different from a killer To achieve this mission, WFP is engaged in many initiatives, which include nutritional initiative, health initiative, 1000 days plus program, emergency response programs to deal with food program in case of disasters and many other initiatives.
Developing countries are mostly affected by the high poverty levels which results in food shortages. The group of people that are mostly affected by the food problem is that of children under the age of five years. Approximately every day a quarter of a million children die from hunger all over the world. About 200 million children in developing countries under the age of 5 years suffer from malnutrition. Out this huge figure, about 3.5 million dies every year because they are undernourished. There are human conditions that when associated with lack of food becomes detrimental to the survival of an individual’s survival. People living with diseases such as TB and HIV/AIDS are adversely affected by lack of food. The organisation responds immediately to disasters like the massive earthquake that hit Haiti in January 2010 where it provided. This is because the mortality rate is higher for malnourished patients suffering from HIV/AIDS because of the use of antiretroviral drugs. The WFP staff are also affected by the issue of food shortage around the world. They face many dangers and challenges as provide food assistance in various parts of the world. The WFP faces security challenges like civil strives and terrorism during its operation. A total of 20 staff members was killed by a suicide bomber in 2009 while 35 were left injured.
There are leadership issues in this case that need to be addressed as soon as possible. Governments are examples of critical shareholders that the WFP deal with in its daily operations. One leadership issue that need to be addressed is cooperation by the government. This is achieved by providing administrative support that facilitates the activities of the organisation. Another issue is that of financial commitment. Leaders should ensure that the initiatives supported by the WFP continuously receive financial assistance in the future. Leadership that is visionary is the key to developing strategies that will ensure the organisation easily tackle future challenges. A leader must be innovative and enter into a partnership that is progressive with various stakeholders. This will ensure that worldwide hunger issues are addressed in an efficient manner.
