WFP in smartphone app fundraiser
World Food Programme (WFP) has introduced a smartphone application known as ShareTheMeal to raise funds and support emergency food relief in Malawi.
The app, which is an initiative of the WFP Innovation Accelerator, allows smartphone users to share their meals with hungry people through a free iOS and Android app.
Through ShareTheMeal app, smartphone users can donate as little as $0.50 (K350) to provide food to a vulnerable child for a day.
In a press statement issued yesterday, WFP says the goal is to provide school meals for an entire year to 58 000 school children in Zomba, a district in southern Malawi severely affected by drought and experiencing high levels of food insecurity.
The children, aged between six and 13, will receive a specially fortified porridge through WFP’s school meals programme that supports government’s National Social Protection Programme.
ShareTheMeal joins what is set to become WFP’s largest emergency response in the country’s history, as Malawi’s already strained food security has worsened following this year’s El Niño-related drought which caused widespread crop failure.
“Malawi is in an extremely vulnerable situation, with over one in three people will be food insecure over the next nine months.
“People around the world who have enough to eat can easily imagine the terrible impact that hunger has on children in such a situation. I really encourage everyone to use the ShareTheMeal app and help now,” urged Coco Ushiyama, WFP country director in Malawi.
