USAID leads international food assistance efforts within the U.S. Government. For more than 60 years, USAID has brought hope and nourishment to the hungry corners of the world, saving lives, reducing suffering and supporting the early recovery of people affected by conflict and natural disaster emergencies, including refugees. During times of crisis when people face food insecurity or even the threat of starvation, USAID provides food assistance to the most vulnerable in the form of food, cash transfers or food vouchers. To assess and determine appropriate emergency food assistance responses, USAID and partners use a standardized USAID Modality Decision Tool for Humanitarian Assistance.

Food assistance often plays a key role in USAID's responses to crises around the globe, and in many instances goes hand-in-hand with non-food assistance such as shelter and water. To learn more about the role of food assistance in USAID's emergency response, visit Working in Crises and Conflict. For general inquiries about the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, please email AskBHA@usaid.gov.

USAID provides emergency food assistance in several ways:

Emergency Food Security Program (EFSP)

USAID receives emergency food assistance resources through the International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account, authorized in the Foreign Assistance Act. IDA allows USAID to address food security emergencies through approaches that strengthen existing and functional local markets by purchasing food locally or from nearby countries and distributing to those most in need, or providing cash transfers for food and food vouchers so people can buy food of their choosing at local markets.

Title II

Title II of the Food for Peace Act primarily provides U.S. food to those suffering from hunger or starvation. Title II food commodities are grown in the United States by U.S. farmers and sent overseas to feed vulnerable populations in the poorest corners of the world.

The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT)

The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT) is a special authority in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) that allows USAID to respond to unanticipated food crises abroad, when other Title II resources are not available.

Essential Complementary Activities

Through both Title II and EFSP, essential complementary activities enhance the overall effectiveness and impact of emergency food assistance described above, and contribute to the stabilization of household/community availability of, access to, and utilization of nutritious foods. These include, but are not limited to, prevention and/or treatment of acute malnutrition; agriculture and food security; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); capacity-building support; gender equity; youth empowerment; and disaster risk reduction.

Emergency Activity Application Guidance

• BHA Interim Guidance for COVID-19 Applications
• Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) Emergency Application Guidelines (document only)
  • See all related BHA Emergency Application guidelines 
• Final- Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Program Statement (APS) for Joint Emergency Operation for Food Assistance in Ethiopia (JEOP)
  • Fiscal Year 2020 Ethiopia JEOP APS Solicitation Briefing Recording
• Final - Fiscal Year 2020 International Emergency Food Assistance Annual Program Statement (APS)
  • Summary of Changes in Fiscal Year 2020 International Emergency Food Assistance Annual Program Statement (APS)
• Final - FFP Multi-Year Emergency Annual Program Statement (APS)
  • APS Amendment 1 for Nepal
  • APS Amendment 2 for South Sudan
    • Annex 1 Partnership for Recovery and Resilience Framework (PfRR) - South Sudan
    • Annex 2 USAID South Sudan Gender Based Violence Prevention and Response Roadmap
  • APS Amendment 3 - Administrative Modification
  • APS Amendment 4 - Reporting Modification
  • APS Amendment 5 - Anticipated number of awards for Nepal
• Final - Fiscal Year 2019 International Emergency Food Assistance Annual Program Statement (APS)
  • Closing Amendment 1 for Fiscal Year 2019 International Emergency Food Assistance Annual Program Statement (APS)
  • Summary of Changes in Fiscal Year 2019 International Emergency Food Assistance Annual Program Statement (APS)
  • Annual Program Statement (APS) Activity Overview Table
• Policy and Guidance for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting for Emergency Food Security Activities
• Guidance for an Abbreviated Statement of Work for a Baseline Study and Final Evaluation for Emergency Programs
• Supplemental Guidance for "For Work" Emergency Activities
• FFP EFSP Full Application Budget Template
• Beneficiary Targeting and Verification Guide for FFP Emergency Food Security Activities - May 2017
• Partner POC Information Sheet for FFP

Related Guidance

View all Food for Peace announcements of or modifications to Food for Peace policies and procedures in the Food for Peace Information Bulletins. 

Related Resources

• Modality Decision Tool for Humanitarian Response
• Types of Emergency Food Assistance
• Food Assistance: What We Do
• Resources for Food for Peace Partners