What is it?
The objective of the EU funded Humanitarian Food and Livelihood Assistance (HFLA) is to:
- safeguard the availability of, access to, and consumption of adequate, safe and nutritious food
- protect and where possible recover livelihoods and contribute to increasing resilience
The EU provides HFLA in anticipation of, during, and in the aftermath of situations of acute food insecurity and acute undernutrition.
Why is this important?
In 2024, food insecurity reached unprecedented levels, with over 295 million people in 53 countries/territories facing acute food insecurity according to The Global Report on Food Crises 2025 (GRFC 2025). This represents an increase of almost 14 million people compared to 2023 figures.
Furthermore, the number of people in IPC/CH Phase 5 (catastrophe), the highest on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC/CH), has more than doubled between 2023 and 2024, reaching 1.9 million people, the highest figure in GFRC reporting history. In this phase of acute food insecurity, people face extreme lack of food and exhaustion of coping capacities leading to starvation, acute malnutrition and death. Over 95% of these individuals were in the Gaza Strip and Sudan.
Food insecurity has been following an alarming trend in recent years, and is explained by the interlinked effects of:
- armed conflicts
- economic shocks
- weather extremes
- structural vulnerabilities, such as poverty and low level of investment in safety nets
The Global Report on Food Crises 2025 (GRFC 2025) identifies conflicts and insecurity as the major driver of food insecurity. Armed conflicts were the main culprit for 4 of the 5 countries/territories with population in catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) namely:
- the Sudan
- Palestine (Gaza Strip)
- Haiti
- Mali
The outlook for 2025 is bleak. Ongoing conflicts and civil insecurity in countries and territories such as the Sudan, Myanmar, Syrian Arab Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Gaza Strip are expected to hinder their recovery from food crises in 2025.
Other factors will contribute to persisting food crises in 2025. These include inflationary pressures, forecasted to remain high in countries like Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sudan, and potential drought. Seasonal forecasts indicate poor rainfall in Afghanistan, parts of Pakistan, and southern Ethiopia during the upcoming crop season.
Moreover, the reduction in foreign assistance by some of the main humanitarian donors in many of the countries heavily affected by nutrition and food crises, has already significantly impacted the delivery of essential services, including food, nutrition and livelihood support. Funding cuts have also limited the ability to collect critical data and evidence, necessary to inform timely response. This reduction in funding will exacerbate the food and nutrition crises situation in 2025.
How are we helping?
The EU provides humanitarian food assistance to victims of food crises worldwide and invests in reducing the risk of famine.
Between 2021 and 2024, the EU used around 1/3 of its annual humanitarian aid budget to provide emergency food assistance and nutrition. Against the current trend of declining funds for populations affected by food crises, the EU remains a reliable and principled donor.
In these challenging times, to maximise the impact of EU funded assistance, in 2025 the EU updated its Humanitarian Food and Livelihood Assistance policy guidelines. The guidelines places significant emphasis on the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions through better programming, focusing on targeted, efficient aid, digitalisation and climate resilience as well as on the operalisation of the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.
These guidelines are underpinned by the ‘Council Conclusions on Stepping up Team Europe’s support to global food security and nutrition’, endorsed in December 2024, and which reaffirm the EU’s commitment to fight global food security and nutrition.
Some of the largest HFLA interventions supported by the EU include countries like: Palestine, Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Myanmar, Nigeria, Haiti or Burkina Faso.
Destabilised by escalating conflicts, economic shocks and extreme weather, these countries and many more are facing acute food insecurity. Despite the bleak outlook, EU funded humanitarian food and livelihood assistance helps thousands of people every single day, sustaining them beyond sustenance, with hope.
Some stories of positive change:
Abdulaleem, YemenBefore arriving to Ammar Bin Yassar in 2018, Abdulaleem and his wife lived normal lives in Al Hudaydah, Yemen.
Fleeing their home hasn’t been an easy journey and every day Abdulaleem fights a battle to provide 3 meals for his family as he dreams of a better future.
Bousseina, ChadPregnant, baby in her arms, barefoot, and hurt. That’s how Bousseina arrived in Farchana, Chad from Sudan. Having survived the murder of her husband, herself badly tortured, she made her way to safety.
Having a routine is essential to establishing consistency and the EU’s food assistance helps provide stability and security to Bousseina and her children.
Sabekun, BangladeshIn 2017, Sabekun and her 3 children came to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh from Myanmar and they had to build a new life for themselves.
For Sabekun, the future is her kids and everything she does, she does for them.
Thanks to the EU’s food assistance, she doesn’t have to worry about her next meal and is freer to focus on her children.
Facts & figures
Over 295 million people in 53 countries were acutely food insecure in 2024.
Largest beneficiaries of EU-funded food assistance in 2024: Afghanistan, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia.
Food and nutrition assistance accounted for around 1/3 of the EU’s total humanitarian budget between 2021 and 2024.
Over 1/4 of EU humanitarian food assistance (around €175 million) was distributed in ‘forgotten crises’ in 2023.
EU humanitarian food assistance in 2024:
over €731 million