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Dear Members of the Board,

Following is the initial response from WFP concerning the news story/internal audit. We will receive a detailed briefing from WFP next week and will provide an update following the briefing.


WFP Response to the Fox online news story (May 28):


* The Fox News Report concerning WFP's Corporate Trust Fund Audit report says: the audit found no misuse of funds.

* As part of WFP oversight, the audit looked at the financial mechanisms and systems underpinning trust funds rather than the implementation of programs and activities supported by trust funds, which are evaluated in audits at the Country Office level.

* WFP is working diligently with its partners to address issues with systems and financial mechanisms in the audit report. The Fox News report credits WFP management for having started some of the required work and analysis prior to the audit.

* We are extremely grateful to all donors to Corporate Trust Funds, particularly foundations, because trust funds are aimed at longer-term development and national priorities and are a means to help us innovate beyond core activities such as life-saving food in emergencies.

* Trust Funds give WFP the means to shift the global paradigm from food aid to food assistance. They help us innovate into non-food based programs such as cash and vouchers with the overall goal of improving food security and achieving zero hunger.

* Even the Fox article cites good examples of our work funded by trust funds, such as contracting small farmers through the Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative to boost their food production in areas hit by drought and food shortages.

* The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 report issued on Wednesday found the number of hungry people in the world has dropped to 795 million -- 216 million fewer than in 1990-92 -- or around one person out of every nine.

* The report found that critical to achieving the MDG hunger target were improved agricultural productivity, especially by small-scale and family farmers, and the expansion of safety nets and social protection such as cash transfers and food vouchers and guaranteed procurement contracts through P4P.

* Trust funds enable all these activities and is why they are key to WFP.

* This was not an exclusive to Fox as it claims but was in response to the journalist's questions sent to WFP when the audit was released.

* The story has not been picked up by any other media outlets.