Over 60 years since its founding, the World Food Programme has grown into a behemoth. It now describes itself as the largest humanitarian organization in the world.
Its total procurement volume in 2021 amounted to $4.9 billion, making it the second biggest procurer among the agencies within the United Nations system — behind UNICEF. This is up 23.5% from the previous year, with the increase driven by higher spending on emergency response and food aid and its delivery.
Data from the U.N.’s annual statistical report — which only covers contracts over $30,000 — shows that of this amount, WFP spent $4.6 billion on major contracts. This makes the agency the U.N.’s biggest spender on major contracts, accounting for 20.9% of the total.