Skip to main content
United Nations Evaluation Group
Main navigation
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Membership
    • Partnerships
  • OUR WORK
  • REPOSITORY
  • RESOURCES
    • Community Members
    • Evaluation Plan
    • News
    • Training
    • Vacancies
  • EVENTS
Login

Page Header

Back
Default publication image
Downloads: 0
Download
  • https://www.wfp.org/publications/wfps-engagement-middle-income-countries-2019-2024-evaluation-synthesis
Synthesis 2025
Evaluation synthesis on WFP’s engagement in middle-income countries (2019–2024)
Agency
World Food Programme

Overview

This synthesis of evidence from evaluations on WFP’s engagement in middle-income countries (MICs) conducted by the Office of Evaluation in 2024 looked at WFP’s strategic positioning, partnerships and results in MICs. It analysed evidence from 73 WFP evaluations conducted in 25 MICs, between 2019 and 2024.
Despite representing the majority of WFP’s operational contexts, MICs accounted for only 34 percent of its total funding over the period 2019–2024. The synthesis concludes that:

The category of MICs is too broad to inform programming effectively. However, upper-middle-income countries share characteristics that make them particularly distinct within this broader group;
The absence of a clear rationale for WFP’s engagement in such settings has constrained its strategic positioning;
WFP could better articulate its strategies and programme offer particularly in MICs hosting refugees and internally displaced persons, and assisting irregular migrants; in MICs where it does not target direct beneficiaries; and in MICs transitioning out of crisis.
The main elements of strengths identified in the evaluations are:

WFP's increasingly diversified role and programme offer in MICs, while maintaining consolidated service delivery and emergency response functions;
WFP’s adaptive capacity to respond to government requests and pivot towards crisis response.
Evidence of key contributions by WFP in MICs was found in: strengthened food security and nutrition systems; expanded social protection during crises; improved policy frameworks; enhanced disaster preparedness; gender-inclusive economic opportunities; and improved social cohesion and refugee integration into national systems.

Challenges and missed opportunities in MICs were noted in:

Navigating uncertain financing prospects when countries move from low to middle-income status;
Moving ‘upstream’ from small-scale, single initiatives and adopting a coherent approach to programming and partnerships, considering the vulnerability to piecemeal donor funding;
Capturing and conveying WFP’s added value and contributions to national systems and capacities.

Report Details

Year Published 2025
Type Synthesis
Theme/s Aid modalities
Joint No
Partner/s N/A
SDG/s
SDG2 - Zero HungerSDG17 - Partnerships for the Goals
Agency Focal Point Francesca Bonino
Focal Point Email francesca.bonino@wfp.org
Managed by Independent Evaluation Office Yes
Geographic Scope Global

Share:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin

Related

Default publication image
Member Publication
Synthesis
2024
Agency :
WFP
Synthesis of evidence and lessons on WFP’s cooperating partners from centralized and decentralized evaluations
Downloads:
3
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Annual Evaluation Report 2016
Downloads:
0
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Annual Synthesis of Operation Evaluations (2016-2017)
Downloads:
1
Operation Evaluations Series, Regional Synthesis 2013-2017: Southern Africa Region
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Operation Evaluations Series, Regional Synthesis 2013-2017: Southern Africa Region
Downloads:
0
Operation Evaluations Series, Regional Synthesis 2013-2017: Asia and the Pacific Region
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Operation Evaluations Series, Regional Synthesis 2013-2017: Asia and the Pacific Region
Downloads:
0
Default publication image
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Operation Evaluations Series, Regional Synthesis 2013-2017: Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe…
Downloads:
1
Operation Evaluations Series, Regional Synthesis 2013-2017: Latin America and the Caribbean Region
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Operation Evaluations Series, Regional Synthesis 2013-2017: Latin America and the Caribbean Region
Downloads:
0
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Annual Evaluation Report 2017
Downloads:
0
Default publication image
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Annual Evaluation Report 2018
Downloads:
0
Default publication image
Member Publication
Synthesis
Agency :
WFP
Synthesis of WFP's country portfolio evaluations in Africa (2016-2018)
Downloads:
0
Back
YOU 'RE READING
Evaluation synthesis on WFP’s engagement in middle-income countries (2019–2024)
2025

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
Footer Menu
  • About
    • Overview
    • Membership
    • Partnerships
Footer Menu Two
  • Our Work
  • Events
Footer Menu Three
  • Resources
    • Community Members
    • Evaluation Plan
    • News
    • Training
    • Vacancies
Footer Menu Four
  • Repository
    • UNEG publications
    • Member publications
  • FAQ
UNEG Secretariat

220 East 42nd Street,

Room 2036 New York, NY 10017, USA

Email: uneg.contact [at] undp.org
footer-logo
Follow Us on :
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Youtube

Copyright © 2025 - UNEG. All Rights Reserved