How did it start?

The origins of our partnership with the WFP are now legendary within TNT. While on a flight to Sydney, Australia, in November 2001, our CEO Peter Bakker was reading an article that quoted a horrifying statistic: every five seconds somewhere in this world a child dies from hunger.

“The article also noted that while there was enough food in the world for everyone; it just wasn't reaching the places where it's needed most. That made it even worse,” recalls Bakker. “So fighting hunger is, to a certain extent, a logistics issue. It seemed to me that TNT was in a unique position to help solve this problem. Our company has the skills, systems and people that could make a real difference.”

A few months later, Bakker began discussions with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to find out how TNT skills could support the agency in reaching the hungry. “We visited some of WFP's development and emergency projects and saw the incredible work they are doing,” Bakker says. “Together, we agreed on a set of project initiatives and began to make plans to implement them.”

The partnership between TNT and WFP is an excellent example of the way private corporations can cooperate with United Nations agencies to do vital life-saving work. -Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General.

On 2 September 2002, during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, the WFP Executive Director James Morris, and Peter Bakker signed a letter of intent that set out the objectives of the partnership between their organisations. The partnership, which was given the name Moving the World, was officially launched on 19 December of that year with a memorandum of understanding signed by both executives.

Two years later, the tsunami disaster of 2004 turned out to be a defining moment for the partnership. The way WFP and TNT responded demonstrated the depth and strength of their willingness to work together. With emergency operational procedures already in place, TNT was able to move swiftly and efficiently, transporting emergency response goods, staff and food to assist the six countries affected by the devastating catastrophe. And it meant that WFP could provide relief aid far sooner than would have been possible in the past.