If all else fails, logistics officers have been known to use a car s rear vision mirror to signal an aircraft to a drop zone. In 1999, WFP had to respond to increasing food needs. Major new emergency situations in Kosovo and East Timor demanded the rapid establishment of entire offices, including staff, equipment and food stocks. The number of people assisted by WFP increased by around 17 percent over 1998, to 89 million, the highest number ever assisted in a single year. All contributions to WFP are voluntary.
Contributions are either in commodities, cash or services.
WFP's Global Activities WFP is also the UN's largest supporter of development projects involving and benefitting poor women, the largest provider of grant assistance for environmental protection and improvement, the largest purchaser of food and services in developing countries, and thus the major supporter of South-South trade in the UN system. Convinced that women are the Programme's most important allies in the fight against poverty and hunger, WFP focuses much of its resources on helping women to help themselves - and their families. WFP distributes food through the senior female member of a household whenever possible. It enlists local women to help in planning, managing and monitoring food aid programs in refugee and displaced persons' camps and in rural communities alike. Some WFP projects revolve entirely around women, like a highly successful initiative in Pakistan in which WFP encourages families to send their daughters to school by offering a free five-liter can of cooking oil for each month of attendance.