No one really likes help. It is a great deal more satisfactory to be given the opportunity to earn one’’s daily bread; and if, by so doing, one can create a continuing means of livelihood, more jobs, and better living conditions for one’’s community, which is more satisfactory still. It is on this premise that the World Food Programme bases most of its operations. But how can a man born of unemployed, undernourished parents, in the depths of poverty that spreads the shanty towns near Latin American cities, or displaced people’’s camps in Africa and Asia, begin to make some improvement Someone must help, someone who understands that both food and employment are fundamental to his need. Most thinking people must have remarked at some time or other that it doesn’’t make sense for half the population of the world to be in need of better food while governments and farmers elsewhere are worried by surpluses. For a number of years, until recently, North America and Australia had too much wheat. Japan had too much rice. Similarly the EEC rapidly built a butter "mountain" in its short history. It was an awareness of the cruel paradox of a world with surpluses and starvation that prompted the setting up of the World Food Programme by the United Nations and also by the Food and Agricultural Organization. Its organizers realized that it could be useful both to developed and developing countries. It could remove surpluses in such a way that they did not upset normal trading or threaten the livelihood of farmers in contributor countries, and then use these food to feed people and aid development in poor-privileged areas. So how does the World Food Programme (WFP) work and what has it achieved Logically, the story starts with a pledging session. The contributor countries, of which there have been a hundred and four over the years, pledge themselves to give a certain value during the succeeding two years. Most of these pledges are honoured by gifts of food, but countries which do not produce food surplus to their own needs pledge money to finance the administration and shipping of the food given by others. Meanwhile, the WFP staff in Rome get requests from countries which would like to receive this food aid. Some of these are emergency requests when earthquake, hurricane, flood, drought or pestilence strikes, or political disorder cause a new wave of refugees. Of course, WFP responds to these, but they represent no more than a quarter of its aid in any one year. The real objective is to aid constructive development , and so to make full preparation against the every day disaster of having little food to eat, no work to go to, no dignity to have. So the WFP staff are responsive to requests from governments who want initial help to develop new lands for farming, to build roads, to provide irrigation, and so on. The government of the would-be recipient country has to put forward what is considered to be a worthwhile and workable scheme, and if this is accepted, WFP agrees to supply food to a certain value for a specified period of years (usually three to five). Usually the food is for the people; sometimes it is for their farm livestock. The main aim of the WFP is to______.