WFP launched its first programmes in 1963 by the FAO and the United Nations General Assembly on a three-year experimental basis, supporting the Nubian population at Wadi Halfa in Sudan.

[12][16] WFP operations are primarily funded by voluntary donations by governments worldwide, along with contributions from corporations and private donors.

[6] In February 2025, the WFP received directives from the U.S. to halt operations on numerous U.S.-funded grants, despite an emergency waiver issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio intended to allow essential food assistance to continue.

[22] WFP is headed by an executive director, who is appointed jointly by the UN Secretary-General and the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The executive director is appointed for fixed five-year terms and is responsible for the administration of the organization as well as the implementation of its programmes, projects, and other activities.

[29] WFP provided food as well as vouchers for people to buy vital supplies, while also planning recovery, reconstruction, and resilience-building activities, after Cyclone Idai struck Mozambique and floods washed an estimated 400,000 hectares of crops on early 2019.

In the Sahel region of Africa, amidst economic challenges, climate change, and armed militancy, WFP's activities included working with communities and partners to harvest water for irrigation, restore degraded land, and support livelihoods through skills training.

In Bangladesh, weather forecasting led to the distribution of cash to vulnerable farmers to pay for measures such as reinforcing their homes or stockpiling food ahead of heavy flooding.

[32] WFP is the lead agency of the Logistics Cluster, a coordination mechanism established by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC).

In advance of Dorian, WFP deployed technical experts in food security, logistics and emergency telecommunication to support a rapid needs assessment.

They have proved highly beneficial in areas including education and gender equality, health and nutrition, social protection, local economies and agriculture.

[46] WFP uses cash transfers such as physical banknotes, a debit card or vouchers, aiming to give more choices to aid recipients and encourage the funds to be invested back into local economies.

[48] In the most climate disaster-prone provinces of the Philippines, WFP is providing emergency response training and equipment to local government units, and helping set up automated weather stations.

[52] The SMP PLUS software is an AI-powered menu creation tool for school meals programmes worldwide [53] WFP works with governments, the private sector, UN agencies, international finance groups, academia, and more than 1,000 non-governmental organisations.

[56] WFP joined the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) in 2013 as its 150th member[57] and has regularly published data since then using the identifier XM-DAC-41140.

[60][61] Receiving the award, executive David Beasley called for billionaires to "step up" and help source the US$5 billion WFP needs to save 30 million people from famine.

[62] In 2018, the Center for Global Development ranked WFP last in a study of 40 aid programmes, based on indicators grouped into four themes: maximising efficiency, fostering institutions, reducing burdens, and transparency and learning.