“The United Nations and the United States Peace Corps signed an agreement [Thursday] to cooperate in combating worldwide hunger by increasing food security in the 76 countries where the more than 8,600 U.S. volunteers currently work,” the U.N. News Centre reports. “The agreement, signed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) at their Rome headquarters, builds on years of cooperation with the 50-year-old U.S. organization,” the news service writes.

“Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams underscored his organization’s commitment to doing its part to tackle the critical issue of food security at the grassroots level,” and “WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran highlighted the shared commitment of all three organizations … ‘to improve their own ability to produce and access food for their families and communities,'” according to the news service. “The Peace Corps has worked with FAO and WFP in nearly 40 countries, sharing techniques and practices identified to promote food security through broad-based citizen participation, education, and capacity building,” the U.N. News Centre notes (10/20).