Good morning, this is Michelle. As of this week, the World Food Programme (WFP) has a new boss. Cindy McCain, a well-seasoned US diplomat, will have a full plate as she takes over the UN agency while the world comes to grips with unprecedented levels of hunger.

After her predecessor’s unconventional methods of fundraising, the former ambassador’s first challenge will be to fill the funding gap that the humanitarian organisation, like the rest of the sector, is facing.

Michelle Langrand

07.04.2023

On our radar

Photo article

Cindy McCain speaking with supporters at a 2018 US presidential election eve rally hosted by the Arizona Republican Party in Prescott, Arizona. (Flickr)

New UN hunger chief enters the arena as famine looms. Efforts to keep an acute global hunger crisis from spiralling out of control are in new hands as of this week, as former US ambassador to the United Nations Rome-based agencies, Cindy McCain, takes over the reins of the world’s largest food aid organisation. McCain, 68, arrives at the helm of the World Food Programme (WFP) at a make-or-break moment for the global fight against hunger, with humanitarian groups warning of dwindling resources as they man the frontlines of the worst food crisis in modern history.

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