WFP works with UN partners to expand innovative booking hub

Rolling out the platform — humanitarianbooking.wfp.org — to wider audiences coincides with UN General Assembly meetings in New York, and is particularly timely in an era of multiple humanitarian crises. 

WFP is collaborating with other UN agencies and services, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the WFP-operated UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) and UN Medical Directors (UNMD), in providing the platform to roughly 300,000 humanitarian workers. 

“This is a great example of working together to deliver a customer-focused service,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “It fits into the broader spirit of a more innovative, effective and efficient UN.” 

The easy-to-use platform offers humanitarian workers access to some 150 UN guesthouses, 285 UNHAS flight destinations — along with driver pickups — 45 UN medical clinics and 27 psychological counselors in more than 50 countries. 

The hub is particularly useful during emergencies; it provides humanitarian workers online information about available accommodation and advance booking, and offers key information such as the need to carry sleeping bags or even emergency food rations. WFP worked closely with other UN agencies, including UNHCR, to provide a service that would be easy to use for aid workers from different agencies.

“UNHCR is happy to have contributed to shaping this innovative service for the humanitarian community that also increases the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations,” said Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly T. Clement.

For more information on the hub, please visit the website or watch this video.  Users can also discuss their experience on the feedback page. 

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The United Nations World Food Programme - saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding peo-ple caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.

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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):

Steve Taravella, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-556-6909, Mob.  +1-202-770-5993

Challiss McDonough, WFP/Washington, Tel. +1-202-653-1149, Mob. +1-202-774-4026

Herve Verhoosel, WFP/Geneva, Mob. +41 798428057

Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 6513 2321, Mob. +39 346 7600521

Francis Mwanza, WFP/London, Tel.  +44 (0)20 3857 7411, Mob. +44 (0)7968 008474