Trinity College Dublin hosts the visit of Executive Director of UN World Food Programme
The new Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, met with Trinity researchers from the Department of Clinical Speech and Language Studies yesterday.
Trinity researchers are partnering with the UN World Food Programme on a project addressing disability inclusion in food security programming. This strategic partnership has been in place since May 2020 and is funded by WFP.
During her visit to Trinity Ms McCain, who is on an official trip to Ireland, visited the Book of Kells and held discussions with the Trinity research team.
Dr Caroline Jagoe, Academic Lead of the partnership, said:
“We were delighted to welcome the new Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, to Trinity this morning and we thank our library colleagues for making the historic Henry Jones room available. The Trinity-WFP partnership represents evidence-based action to address food insecurity for the world’s largest minority – persons with disabilities”.
WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said:
“WFP’s continued partnership with Trinity College Dublin is vital to deliver food and nutrition assistance in the most effective and inclusive way. Disability inclusion is a pillar of our work as an organization; solutions to hunger must be accessible to everyone we serve.”
The multi-year research collaboration between Trinity and WFP is generating an evidence base for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in WFP food and nutrition assistance programmes. The WFP is the largest humanitarian organisation and, as the global body mandated with achieving “zero hunger”, it undertakes food assistance and food-related assistance programming in over 120 countries.
Earlier this year, the Trinity team and the WFP led an event at the United Nations in New York alongside the Conference of State Parties (COSP) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The event entitled, ‘Inclusion on the frontline of hunger solutions: Reaching under- represented groups of persons with disabilities’, was at the highest forum for issues related to the rights of persons with disabilities. The focus was on the disproportionate impact of food insecurity on persons with disabilities and actions needed to reach those most at risk of exclusion.