WFP Philippines Country Brief, February 2026

KEY MESSAGES

• WFP is supporting the Government to enable the scale-up of national programmes for school meals, social protection, and resilience building activities through policy and programme reforms. Support from development partners is critical to ensure initiatives continue to be scaled, sustained, and embedded in government systems by unlocking greater domestic resources for food security and nutrition solutions.

• Given the Philippines’ disaster vulnerability, WFP welcomes donor support to strengthen national and subnational disaster risk management and social protection systems while maintaining a capacity to rapidly fulfill government response augmentation requests year-round.

OPERATIONAL CONTEXT

• Home to approximately 115 million Filipinos and one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia, the Philippines has made significant progress in reducing poverty and improving food security, despite the impacts of unprecedented levels of climate shocks, lingering inflation, and sporadic conflict.

• Natural hazards and human-induced conflicts contribute to food and nutrition insecurity. Since 2022, the Philippines has had the highest disaster risk worldwide due to its exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards compounded with low coping capacities (2025 World Risk Report). In 2023, 17.5 million Filipinos were living below the poverty threshold. Malnutrition remains prevalent, with child stunting incidence at 23.6 percent.

• Against this backdrop, WFP’s Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2024-2028 continues to support the Government in achieving food and nutrition security as the Philippines gears up to become an uppermiddle income country. The CSP focuses on i) improving disaster risk management, ii) enhancing the delivery of social protection, and iii) strengthening resilience against climate related and other shocks. WFP uses a conflict-sensitive approach particularly in the Bangsamoro Region.