Democratic Republic of the Congo Photo: WFP/Michael Castofas Photo credit 25.6 million at crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity 6.4 million people are internally displaced 3.7 million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished Download country brief
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) hostsone of the largest hunger crises in the world. Hunger and violence fuel one another, with armed conflict and widespread displacement prevailing for the past 25 years. Multiple other health, weather and economic crises compound humanitarian challenges.
North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri are provinces where war and unrest have been the most protracted. Countrywide, 6.4 million people have fled their homes and lost their means of livelihood. Since January, 1.4 million more people were displaced due to escalating violence.
A total 25.6 million people are experiencing Crisis and Emergency levels of food insecurity, and an estimated 4.5 million children are acutely malnourished.
Around 1.1 million Congolese nationals are refugees in neighbouring countries. At the same time, DRC – already struggling with internal conflict – hosts over 524,400 refugeesand asylum seekers who have fled violence in neighbouring countries, mainly the Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
Emergency
WFP's work in DRC is helping people in need.
DRC emergency page
WFP's support in 2024
What WFP is doing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Crisis response In 2023, WFP initiated a scale-up to its emergency food and cash assistance in the three conflict-affected provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. WFP can also rapidly respond to urgent immediate food needs in the aftermath of disasters (such as mass displacements and floods), through high-energy biscuit distributions. WFP’s efforts in addressing the hunger crisis are evolving to provide life-saving food assistance while transitioning towards development activities and long-term, food-security initiatives. Resilience in local communities WFP, in partnership with FAO, UNHCR and UNICEF, works with local communities to improve resilience to shocks, promote self-reliance and bring economic recovery. WFP helps smallholder farmers improve production capacities and business processes, which also prepares them for climate-related shocks, through training on climate-smart agricultural techniques. Literacy programmes improve women’s business and income opportunities. Construction and infrastructure rehabilitation projects give local workers an income while maintaining essential food-systems infrastructure. Nutrition WFP runs programmes to both prevent and treat acute malnutrition. At food and cash distribution sites, children under 5 and breastfeeding and pregnant mothers are assessed for signs of malnutrition and are referred to treatment or prevention programmes when necessary. Specialized nutritious foods are distributed regularly at health centres. WFP provides nutritious food to children aged 6 to 23 months, and to pregnant and breastfeeding women, in areas where there is a high prevalence of global acute malnutrition and there are aggravating factors such as high food insecurity, health epidemics and population movement. WFP also runs awareness-raising sessions, including cooking demonstrations, to help families maintain healthy diets and lifestyles. School meals WFP has provided school meals in DRC for over 20 years, in post-conflict and chronically food-insecure areas. Warm meals every school day stave off the risk of malnutrition among vulnerable children. The meals also help keep children in schools, which in turn reduces the risk of child labour and early marriage. School attendance and social mixing also helps to build peace among communities healing from years of hostilities. WFP buys food from local farmer organizations or suppliers, creating a local supply chain and a stable market for farmers. United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) provides the humanitarian community, donors and diplomatic missions with safe, flexible, efficient and cost-effective air transport to locations across a country the same size as Western Europe. In April 2023, UNHAS introduced a fleet of orange-painted helicopters to distinguish them from others and improve the safety of operations in conflict-affected eastern DRC. Other safety measures include ongoing access negotiations and community engagement. Support to humanitarian coordination As lead of the Logistics Cluster, WFP facilitates an uninterrupted supply of relief assistance across all sectors. WFP also provides transport and storage services for partners. The WFP-led Food Security Cluster ensures partners have access to reliable assessments and studies to inform decision-making. This includes the annual Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Assessment, which provides the humanitarian community with crucial information on food-insecurity levels across the country.
Publications
Annual Country Reports - Democratic Republic of the Congo
29 March 2024
Summary of evaluation evidence: Home-Grown School Feeding
27 September 2024
Summary of evaluation evidence: WFP’s budget revision process
7 August 2024
DRC - WFP-UNHAS Flash Appeal - May 2024
17 May 2024
Unequal Access: Gendered barriers to humanitarian assistance
10 November 2023
Democratic Republic of Congo, Evaluation of the program to strengthen the socio-economic resilience of small-scale farmers and vulnerable populations
6 November 2023 Show more
In focus
Why disinformation threatens humanitarian operations in restive DRC
Story | 22 October 2024
UNGA79: To end hunger we need peace, say WFP chiefs
Story | 23 September 2024
Sixty Seconds With... AfroCongo music star Innoss’B: School meals, ending hunger and DRC
Story | 2 July 2024
UNHAS at 20: Humanitarian response planes and helicopters touch down in tough places
Story | 16 February 2024
AFCON: DRC kicks off football dreams as conflict and climate change drive hunger
Story | 18 January 2024
In eastern DRC, women and girls pay a high price in ongoing conflict
Story | 28 November 2023
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Democratic Republic of the Congo news releases
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Partners and donors
Achieving Zero Hunger is the work of many. Our work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is made possible by the support and collaboration of our donors, including: Canada Congo D.R. European Commission France Germany Japan Norway Private donors Sweden Switzerland UN CERF UN Other Funds and Agencies (excl. CERF) USA World Bank View all
Find out more about the state of food security in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Visit the food security analysis page
Operations in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo Country Strategic Plan (2021–2025)
CD02 - Country Strategic Plan (CSP)
View all operations
Contacts
Office
116, Boulevard du 30 Juin, Immeuble MIBA – Gombe, Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa, Congo - Kinshasa
Phone
Switchboard (+243) (0) 817 006 714 and 815 552 199/2499/2899/2399
Email
claude.kalinga@wfp.org
For media inquiries
claude.kalinga@wfp.org
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Resilience in local communities WFP, in partnership with FAO, UNHCR and UNICEF, works with local communities to improve resilience to shocks, promote self-reliance and bring economic recovery. WFP helps smallholder farmers improve production capacities and business processes, which also prepares them for climate-related shocks, through training on climate-smart agricultural techniques. Literacy programmes improve women’s business and income opportunities. Construction and infrastructure rehabilitation projects give local workers an income while maintaining essential food-systems infrastructure. 
Nutrition WFP runs programmes to both prevent and treat acute malnutrition. At food and cash distribution sites, children under 5 and breastfeeding and pregnant mothers are assessed for signs of malnutrition and are referred to treatment or prevention programmes when necessary. Specialized nutritious foods are distributed regularly at health centres. WFP provides nutritious food to children aged 6 to 23 months, and to pregnant and breastfeeding women, in areas where there is a high prevalence of global acute malnutrition and there are aggravating factors such as high food insecurity, health epidemics and population movement. WFP also runs awareness-raising sessions, including cooking demonstrations, to help families maintain healthy diets and lifestyles. 
School meals WFP has provided school meals in DRC for over 20 years, in post-conflict and chronically food-insecure areas. Warm meals every school day stave off the risk of malnutrition among vulnerable children. The meals also help keep children in schools, which in turn reduces the risk of child labour and early marriage. School attendance and social mixing also helps to build peace among communities healing from years of hostilities. WFP buys food from local farmer organizations or suppliers, creating a local supply chain and a stable market for farmers. 
United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) provides the humanitarian community, donors and diplomatic missions with safe, flexible, efficient and cost-effective air transport to locations across a country the same size as Western Europe. In April 2023, UNHAS introduced a fleet of orange-painted helicopters to distinguish them from others and improve the safety of operations in conflict-affected eastern DRC. Other safety measures include ongoing access negotiations and community engagement. 
Support to humanitarian coordination As lead of the Logistics Cluster, WFP facilitates an uninterrupted supply of relief assistance across all sectors. WFP also provides transport and storage services for partners. The WFP-led Food Security Cluster ensures partners have access to reliable assessments and studies to inform decision-making. This includes the annual Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Assessment, which provides the humanitarian community with crucial information on food-insecurity levels across the country. 
Show more 