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World Food Programme

Website:

www.wfp.org/
Type:

International Food Assistance Organization
Headquarters:

Rome, Italy
Formation:

1961
Executive Director:

Cindy McCain

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The World Food Programme is an international food assistance organization within the United Nations. 1 The WFP has six regional bureaus, 86 country offices across six continents, and operates in over 120 countries across the world. It is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, and acts as a first response to emergencies caused by natural disasters, war, and pandemics by providing money, food, and other assistance to those affected. According to the UN, every year, the WFP “feeds almost 80 million people in around 75 countries.” 2

The executive director of the World Food Programme, as of December 2025, is Cindy McCain, widow of the late former U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ). 3 Both the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration called for McCain to resign or be forced out of her position in 2025 after the majority of aid trucks collected by the UN along the Israel-Gaza Strip border did not reach their destinations due to looting from citizens or “forcefully armed actors.” 4 5

Background and History

The World Food Programme is an international food assistance organization within the United Nations. The organization was established in 1961, and its first development program was launched in Sudan in 1963. 1

The WFP has six regional bureaus, 86 country offices across six continents, and operates in over 120 countries across the world. It is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, and acts as a first response to emergencies caused by natural disasters, war, and pandemics by providing money, food, and other assistance to those affected. According to the UN, every year, the WFP “feeds almost 80 million people in around 75 countries.” 2

The WFP is governed by its executive board, which consists of 36 member states of the UN or member nations of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The WFP is headed by an executive director, who is as of January 2026 Cindy McCain, the widow of the late U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ). 3

The WFP states that it is “fully committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” which broadly calls for critical race theory-influenced “just, equitable and inclusive societies,” supports the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, aims to reduce fossil fuel subsidies, attempts to implement universal health coverage, establishes international cooperation for orderly and regular migration, adopts policies to support the Paris Climate Agreement, and establishes an ethic of global citizenship. The 2030 Agenda also incorporates the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 policy goals that were adopted by UN member states in 2015 as a part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 6 7

Cindy McCain

The executive director of the World Food Programme is appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General and the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for a fixed five-year term. Cindy McCain, the widow of the late former U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), was appointed to the position of executive director of the WFP in April 2023. 3  8 Cindy McCain is a former chair of the board of trustees of the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University and was United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture from 2021 to 2023 under the Biden administration. 9

McCain was criticized in 2019 after she believed she helped stop an incident of child trafficking at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona. Whilst appearing on a radio show, McCain claimed she had spotted “a woman of a different ethnicity than the child,” adding that “something didn’t click” with her. McCain reported her suspicions to the police, who questioned the woman. McCain then claimed that the woman was certainly trafficking the child, and “was waiting for the guy who bought the child to get off an airplane.” 10

Although a police spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that they performed a welfare check at the request of McCain, “officers determined there was no evidence of criminal conduct or child endangerment.” 10

Both the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration called for McCain to resign or be forced out of her position at WFP in 2025, after the majority of aid trucks collected by the UN along the Israel-Gaza Strip border did not reach their destination, due to looting from citizens or “forcefully armed actors,” according to the New York Post. 4 5

Israel blamed Hamas for the attacks on the aid trucks, although McCain claimed that “people are desperate,” and that the looting had nothing to do with “Hamas or any kind of organized crime.” Instead, she claimed that the trucks were looted by people “starving to death.” 11

According to the New York Post, critics of McCain’s leadership of the WFP claimed that if the organization was doing its job, “Hamas wouldn’t be enriched and able to continue to prolong the war.” One senior U.S. official told the Post that “it’s wild incompetence,” as either McCain is “a useful idiot or she’s an active accomplice” in an “enormous, fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars.” Another official called McCain a “disaster.” 4

Controversies

Israel-Hamas Allegations

An international aid worker based in Gaza filed a formal whistleblower complaint to the Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2025. The whistleblower alleged “gross misconduct and misuse of humanitarian funds by the World Food Programme and other U.N. Agencies,” according to Fox News Digital. 12

According to the whistleblower, senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials had offered support, including protection and security, to representatives of WFP and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Both representatives of the organization denied such assistance from the IDF. 12

The whistleblower added that “the IDF is actively helping the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) get food into the hands of civilians,” while the UN agencies were “inhibiting the distribution of such aid,” due to “their unwillingness to coordinate with the IDF.” 12

The whistleblower also claimed that “there is a concerted effort to discredit GHF and any attempts to provide aid out of [the] U.N.” 12

Misconduct

According to a confidential survey of staff attitudes, commissioned by former World Food Programme executive director David Beasley and completed by more than 8,000 WFP staffers, the organization’s leadership had abused their authority, engaged in harassment, and discriminated against women and ethnic minorities. 13

28 staffers claimed they had experienced “rape, attempted rape or other sexual assault or rape” while at the WFP. 2,848 people who responded said they witnessed abuse of authority, and another 641 people said they witnessed or experienced sexual harassment. 13

Ethiopia

World Food Programme Ethiopia country director Claude Jibidar announced his resignation in June 2023, shortly before the findings of an investigation into the misappropriation of food aid were released. 14

The internal investigation scrutinized reports that significant amounts of food aid had been sold on the commercial market in Ethiopia, rather than given to people in the northern war-affected Tigray region. 14

Jibidar announced his resignation at the June 2, 2023, meeting “with immediate effect.” The initial findings of the investigation suggested that the food aid diversion extended beyond aid for the Tigray region, and also was present in the Somali region of the country. 14

References

  1. “History.” World Food Programme. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.wfp.org/history. 
  2. “Where we work.” World Food Programme. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.wfp.org/countries. 
  3. “Governance and leadership.” World Food Programme. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.wfp.org/governance-and-leadership. 
  4. Christenson, Josh. “Exclusive | Wife of late Sen. John McCain facing calls to resign from UN post over failure to distribute emergency food in Gaza: ‘Wild incompetence’.” New York Post. September 9, 2025. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/09/09/us-news/cindy-mccain-under-fire-over-un-failure-to-distribute-emergency-food-in-gaza-wild-incompetence/. 
  5. Reyes, Ronny. “90% of UN aid trucks in Gaza were looted by starving Palestinians, ‘armed actors’ before reaching destinations: officials.” New York Post. August 5, 2025. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/08/05/world-news/90-of-un-aid-trucks-in-gaza-were-looted-by-armed-militants-or-hungry-palestinians-before-reaching-their-destination-report/. 
  6. “WFP Strategic Plan 2022-2025.” World Food Programme. December 17, 2025. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-strategic-plan-2022-25. 
  7. “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda. 
  8. “A Tribute to Senator John McCain.” National Archives. August 31, 2018. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/mccain. 
  9. “Cindy McCain.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyhmccain/?originalSubdomain=it. 
  10. Fieldstadt, Elisha. “Police refute Cindy McCain’s claim a child at airport was trafficked by ‘woman of a different ethnicity’.” February 7, 2019. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-refute-cindy-mccain-s-claim-child-airport-was-trafficked-n968726. 
  11. staff, MEE. “UN food programme chief denies claims Hamas stealing from Gaza aid trucks.” Middle East Eye. May 26, 2025. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-food-programme-chief-denies-claims-hamas-stealing-gaza-aid-trucks. 
  12. Weinthal, Benjamin. “Exclusive: Whistleblower alleges misconduct by United Nations in Gaza.” Fox News. August 15, 2025. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.foxnews.com/world/exclusive-whistleblower-alleges-misconduct-united-nations-gaza. 
  13. Lynch, Colum. “Popular U.N. Food Agency Roiled by Internal Problems, Survey Finds.” Foreign Policy. October 8, 2019. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/08/world-food-program-un-survey-finds-abuse-discrimination/. 
  14. Anyadike, Obi. “EXCLUSIVE: WFP leadership in Ethiopia resigns amid aid diversion probe.” The New Humanitarian. June 5, 2023. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2023/06/05/exclusive-wfp-leadership-ethiopia-resigns-amid-aid-diversion-probe. 
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