The United Nations World Food Program has seen both its operating costs and the needs of poor people in developing countries rise dramatically over the last year. Last month, the organization issued an emergency appeal for donations to cover a shortfall of more than $500 million — a figure likely to increase. If the organization is unable to cover the shortfall, say WFP officials, it may have to reduce food rations or eliminate them altogether in some countries.
The most vulnerable populations are found in countries like Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of individuals rely on humanitarian aid.
WFP assesses the vulnerability of people in 121 countries, based on criteria such as how much the country relies on imported food; how large the urban population and the current rate of inflation is; and what portion of their income families spend on food. At one end of the spectrum, families in Burundi spend 77 percent of their income on food, while the figure in the United States is closer to 10 percent.

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Nonprofit groups that promote human rights in Russia, protect the environment in Madagascar, and improve public radio in the United States are among the winners of a foundation prize recognizing the contributions of small, adept organizations around the world.
Eight nonprofit groups will each receive up to $500,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as this year’s winners of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
This year’s award winners say they will use the money for a variety of purposes, including buying new office space, expanding their ability to do research, and establishing a reserve fund.
The MacArthur foundation will award a total of $2.4-million in this year’s prizes, $350,000 each to the winning groups with annual budgets of less than $1-million, and $500,000 each to the groups with budgets between $1-million and $2.5-million.
The winners were: Project Match, PRX, Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montana, a human-rights group in Mexico; the Juvenile Law Center, in Philadelphia; the Kazan Human Rights Center, in Russia; the Legal Defence and Assistance Project, in Nigeria; Sangath, a mental-health organization for children in India; and the Tany Meva Foundation, an environmental group in Madagascar.

Google has announced a new feature for its mapping programs that traces the movement of refugees around the world, reports the Associated Press / San Francisco Chronicle
According to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which is working with Google on the project, the maps will assist humanitarian groups and help raise public awareness about the millions who have fled their homes due to violence or hardship.
Google is considering offering a stand-alone version of its mapping software for use by aid workers in remote areas who do not have Internet access and said it will also provide nonprofit groups in several countries with training and free copies of its mapping software.