Before wearing a beige WFP vest and boots to tackle hurricanes, wars, and refugee camps, the Portuguese scientist worked with satellite imagery and cartography, creating maps to support humanitarian missions. Eventually, he realized he didn’t want to remain behind a computer screen.
On World Humanitarian Day, commemorated annually on 19 August, Mr. Matos shared his story with UN News.
Pedro Matos joined the WFP response team after the deadly Cyclone Idai in Mozambique in 2019.
“At a certain point, it just wasn’t enough,” he remembered about his space engineering job. “I didn’t want to be making maps for others to conduct humanitarian responses. I wanted to take those maps and be the one responding.”
At WFP, he initially developed maps on the ground and later coordinated the agency’s emergency operations.
Since then, he has visited numerous countries often at the center of crises, from Hurricane Idai in Mozambique to the war outbreak in Ukraine.
In 2018, Pedro Matos observed the Kutupalong refugee camp, home to Rohingya refugees.
Coordinating emergency response is akin to “moving an entire government,” where each UN agency acts as a “ministry.” Effective responses require collective efforts in four crucial crisis response areas: food, shelter, water, and health.
Returning from a mission in Bangladesh, he discussed efforts at Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp, home to 700,000 fleeing violence from Myanmar.
“We’ve improved conditions for people living in this limbo, providing a bit more comfort,” he said, recalling his 2018 visit at the crisis’s peak.
At that time, “a million people crossed the border in a month.” Today, despite remaining in “limbo,” he noted improvements like monsoon-resistant homes, roads, gas stoves, and reforestation.
Pedro Matos on a humanitarian aid flight after Cyclone Idai in Mozambique.
The job has presented both challenges and rewards.
“We’ve had a few instances of kidnapping or coming under fire, but the most impactful are the things that happen to others,” he said. “Hurricane Idai in Mozambique, a Category 5 hurricane that struck Beira in 2019, was one of the most intense crises but also the most rewarding,” he noted.
“There’s a mix of something very intense and hard since we couldn’t reach everyone, yet many – tens or hundreds of thousands – would have died without our presence,” he said. “That was the most impactful response in my 17 years at the United Nations.”
In Yemen, “bombings occurred 20 times a day” in the capital, Sana’a. “A strange normalcy” develops, he said, with thoughts like, “No, that wasn’t far; it was only 500 meters.”
Reaching central Ukraine weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022, he called it “very intense.” Within a week, he and his colleagues distributed money to those coming from the frontlines.
“We couldn’t reach everyone, but many would have died without us.”
Interviewing people, asking what they did with the money, was gratifying. “It was beautiful.”
War-wounded individuals bought painkillers with the funds, while others used it for gas to escape. One mother bought her daughter ice cream for the first time since the war started.
“Her daughter was thrilled,” he said. “There are rewarding moments.”
“We think we know what the humanitarian or aid sector is,” Mr. Matos explained, noting that crisis scales are much larger.
“I thought we’d rehabilitate schools, feed 100 people,” he continued. “I never imagined feeding 13 million daily in Yemen. The scale is truly incredible.”
However, humanitarian work is often perceived as separate, yet almost every private and government sector profession exists in aid landscapes, from lawyers to procurement and human resources.
“I basically perform work similar to social workers or firefighters,” he said. “They do it here every day; I do it elsewhere. Our work is in the same field and very similar.”
A toddler eats a food supplement through WFP’s nutrition program in Mokha, Taiz, Yemen.
WFP received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, a recognition Mr. Matos received with humility.
“Our work is largely invisible, despite feeding 120 million daily,” he said. “It gave us a platform to raise awareness about crises like those in Congo, Myanmar, Sudan, and Gaza, often overlooked.”
“Our work is largely invisible, despite feeding 120 million daily.”
His job involves giving voice to the voiceless when crises fade from headlines. Despite career difficulties and risks, Mr. Matos is certain about the most important lesson learned.
“People are essentially good,” he said. “When faced with imminent tragedy, people are fundamentally good and want to help others, even if they are very different. Realizing this was good because it’s not
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