On her first field visit as the United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) Goodwill Ambassador, world-renowned athlete Ons Jabeur is visiting WFP and the Egyptian Government’s joint programmes in Luxor and Cairo that are designed to address the impacts of climate change, improve access to education, increase nutrition awareness, and support women and youth empowerment.

At a time of unprecedented development needs, Jabeur’s visit highlights Egypt’s effective development models in education, rural development and economic empowerment in the face of growing global challenges.

“From fighting hunger and food insecurity to combatting the effects of climate change to supporting vulnerable communities like refugees, WFP’s work is more critical than ever. Seeing firsthand how WFP and the Egyptian Government are addressing these issues locally has been incredibly inspiring – they are truly saving and changing lives,” said Jabeur. “As WFP’s Global Goodwill Ambassador, I am committed to lending my voice to global issues that require urgent and focused efforts, especially in these challenging times.”

In Upper Egypt’s Luxor, which suffers extreme weather changes and has recently witnessed unprecedented high temperatures, Jabeur engaged with small-holder farmers whom WFP supports in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation through access to green energy, enhanced seed varieties and water-saving solutions. She learnt how these projects are helping farmers adopt new agricultural techniques through trainings thereby increasing their agricultural productivity by 40 percent.

Jabeur was also keen on visiting a community school to see how WFP supports vulnerable children with access to education through school meals. WFP’s school meals programme encourages regular school attendance especially in vulnerable communities as it provides each child with 25 percent of their daily caloric needs – alleviating some of the economic burden families bear. Also working with the Government, WFP is transforming students’, especially girls’ education experience in these remote schools by introducing digital educational tools, allowing for new learning resources and improving students’ attendance.

“Ons Jabeur brings a powerful voice to our mission in Egypt. Her engagement, especially with women and children, sheds light on how education and skills are key to improving lives. We are proud to have such an inspiring figure championing global food security,” said WFP Egypt Representative and Country Director Jean-Pierre de Margerie who joined her in Luxor.

As a role model for women, Jabeur also engaged with rural women who transformed their lives by launching small businesses and increasing their incomes by almost 50 percent after completing WFP’s entrepreneurship training and receiving micro-loans.

Jabeur will continue her tour in Cairo, visiting a Sudanese refugee family supported by WFP’s crisis response programme, which provides refugees with vocational trainings to boost their employment prospects, alongside cash assistance to meet their basic needs.

Jabeur is the first Arab and African woman to have reached the Wimbledon final. She was appointed WFP Goodwill Ambassador in February 2024, joining a distinguished group of goodwill ambassadors, including Kate Hudson, The Weekend, Andrew Zimmern and Michael Kors.