The IT Nerd

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today stepped up its search for innovative solutions to spur progress towards Zero Hunger by launching an Innovation Accelerator to identify and nurture new, bold responses to humanitarian and development challenges as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Based in Munich, the Innovation Accelerator combines internal WFP staff with experts and entrepreneurs from across the private sector and civil society. Teams collaborate for three- to six-month periods on selected ideas that are either proposed by WFP innovators with first-hand field knowledge or crowd-sourced by engaging members of the general public.

The world has made real progress by reducing the number of people suffering from hunger by 200 million since the 1990s. Yet there are still 795 million people who do not receive enough food for an active healthy life. The Innovation Accelerator should be a key way to help reach Sustainable Development Goal 2 and end hunger by 2030.

The Accelerator is generously supported by contributions from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and the Bavarian State Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forestry. With 12 projects drawn from WFP’s global operations currently in its portfolio, the Accelerator will both benefit from and contribute to Munich’s strong innovation and start-up community.

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries. Find out more about the Innovation Accelerator by following @WFPInnovation on Twitter or by going to innovation.wfp.org on the web.

ShareTheMeal, the award-winning app developed by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is switching its fundraising efforts to support Syrian refugee children in Lebanon.

ShareTheMeal’s fundraising goal in Lebanon will support 1,400 refugee children aged 3–4 in Beirut for a full year. The children’s parents receive funds transferred to their regular WFP electronic food vouchers, allowing them to buy the foods they want in local shops which also supports host communities and the Lebanese economy.

Through the app, smartphone users can join thousands of other people in support of a selected community or project goal and monitor its progress. Donations can range from US$0.50, the global average for feeding a child for a day, to a monthly gift. Since its launch in November, almost half a million people have helped ShareTheMeal reach funding goals in Lesotho, Jordan and Syria. The goal changes once the app users have reached a particular target. Most recently, the app raised funds for women and children in the devastated Syrian city of Homs.

On 26 April, it was announced that ShareTheMeal will receive the prestigious Webby People’s Voice Award for Mobile Sites & Apps—Best Practice Category. ShareTheMeal was also named among the best apps by both the Google Play and Apple App stores and recently won the SXSW Interactive Innovation Award.

With the Syrian conflict in its sixth year, more than a million Syrians now live in Lebanon, including vulnerable children. Many refugee families have exhausted their savings and are unable to earn an income, making them increasingly reliant on food assistance.

ShareTheMeal allows smartphone users to share their meals with hungry people via a free iOS and Android app. ShareTheMeal was founded in April 2014 and is an initiative of the World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator. Since November 2015, the app has been available globally and has received several awards for its design and innovative character. Learn more at sharethemeal.orgAw

Two months after its global launch, the United Nations World Food Programme’s ShareTheMeal app has fulfilled its goal of ensuring 20,000 Syrian refugee children in Jordan will have vital nutrition at school for one year. Starting today, app users can help a new group of needy Syrians with a tap on their smartphones – mothers, children and mums-to-be in the war-torn city of Homs.

The suffering of malnourished people in besieged towns such as Madaya, Fouah and Kefraya, has highlighted the importance of providing nutritional support to vulnerable Syrians. ShareTheMeal’s new funding goal supports pregnant women, nursing mothers and their children, enabling them to boost their nutrition with meat, dairy products, fresh fruit and vegetables.

The aim is for ShareTheMeal users to support more than 2,000 pregnant women, nursing mothers and their young children for an entire year at the Aoun Distribution Centre in Homs, Syria. At the centre, mothers receive vouchers from WFP to buy fresh produce, which is vital to improving dietary diversity. Good nutrition, particularly in the first 1,000 days of life, is vital for children to reach their full mental and physical potential.

Homs has experienced particularly severe fighting during the 5-year Syria conflict, and has been largely destroyed. While the city is now covered by a ceasefire, its inhabitants are still in great need of support, particularly displaced pregnant and nursing mothers with limited or no incomes who are at great risk of malnutrition.

ShareTheMeal was launched globally in November 2015. Through the app, smartphone users can donate to selected WFP programmes. The suggested donations start at US$0.50, which is WFP’s global average for providing vital daily nutrition during emergencies. So far, close to 400,000 users worldwide have provided the equivalent of almost 4 million meals.

Learn more at sharethemeal.org

Smartphone users will now be able to help feed Syrian refugee children with a tap on their mobile phone thanks to the ShareTheMeal app, developed by the United Nations World Food Programme and launched in countries around the world today.

Users can participate whenever they want and wherever they are. They can “share” their meals while having dinner with friends or eating lunch at the office. Even a donation as small as 50 US cents will provide a child with vital nutrition for a day. Contributions will benefit Syrian refugee children in Jordan who are part of WFP’s school meals programme.

The potential of ShareTheMeal is enormous: worldwide there are 20 times as many smartphone users as there are hungry children. In a ShareTheMeal test launch in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in June 2015, more than 120,000 users provided more than 1.7 million meals for schoolchildren in the southern African country of Lesotho.

The free app will be available for iOS and Android from 12 November in app stores worldwide. It only takes 30 seconds to register and users can start sharing meals with hungry children and follow the impact of their donations.