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The small Atlantic nation of Cape Verde took a major step towards defeating hunger on Tuesday as its government officially took full responsibility for the national school meals programme – a key plank in the country’s strategy for fighting poverty.

The viral word game that builds vocabulary while feeding the hungry has had a major upgrade that’s made it even more addictive than before. Players of the new version will be able to compete with friends, tout their scores on Facebook and play on the go by mobile phone – all while fighting hunger. Check it out!

Punjab, one of the heaviest populated regions in Pakistan, was among the hardest hit by the floods. After losing their homes in the disaster, three families are now living together in an old school house. One of the kids in the group is Shanza, who has clear ideas about her future.

Land mines are a constant threat in many parts of Sri Lanka in the wake of long years of civil strife. Parathachchelvi Navarajan says that a fuel-efficient stove, given to her by WFP, has reduced the amount of fuel she needs to cook and therefore lessened the risk that she will step on a mine when searching for firewood.

Civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo has led to an outbreak of sexual violence, with over 8,000 women raped last year. By drawing women to health centres and providing nourishment for them and their children, food aid has proved to be a key part of the healing process.

In 1990, seven-year-old Vera Tavares starred in a WFP documentary about the nutritious lunches that were keeping her in school. Today, she’s a college educated career woman able to support her mother and put her brother through university. Vera tells us how those simple school meals made it all possible. Watch video

A long dry spell in the El Chaco region of southern Bolivia has decimated maize harvests, threatening an entire culture of indigenous corn growers with destitution. As thousands sell their land and move to the cities, WFP is helping to make staying on their farms a real option.

“There is a triple threat unfolding as this crisis widens and deepens,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran on Tuesday after visiting one of the areas of Pakistan hit by devastating flooding. She called on the world to support Pakistan through the current crisis.

Amid growing concerns about disease and malnutrition among the millions of Pakistanis displaced by catastrophic flooding, WFP is providing nutritious ready-to-use foods designed to stem child malnutrition. The province of Sindh – which already had some of the worst nutrition indicators before the disaster – is particularly at risk.

As millions of flood victims across Pakistan struggle to feed their children, the country's already high levels of malnutrition risk climbing above the emergency threshold. A nutritionist in southern Sindh province, Bilan Osmanjama explains what’s being done to keep this epic natural disaster from becoming a child-hunger crisis.