Congress, the Obama administration and the global community are experiencing a trifecta of political will when it comes to addressing global hunger. President Obama’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative is well on its way to outlining a comprehensive strategy for global food security that prioritizes country-led strate¬gies with whole-of-government solutions.
Global hunger causes 25,000 deaths per day and deprives over 854 million people from living healthy, productive lives. Without food, men and women cannot work and children cannot learn, making long-term economic stability and growth in many developing countries nearly impossible. A majority of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people live on farms and in rural towns and are dependent on agriculture for food, employment and income.
Congress has agreed on a pre-conferenced Global Food Security Act, which is expected to be announced Thursday, April 22 during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. It outlines the necessary components of a successful food security strategy, highlighting, for example, the role of women and natural resource management within agricultural development. The bill also creates the necessary infrastructure for sustaining the Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative, instituting the necessary pieces for a coordinated inter-agency effort that draws on the strengths of private actors such as NGOs, private voluntary organizations, international organizations, multilateral institutions, and cooperatives.
Also of importance is the launch of the Global Hunger and Food Security Program (GAFSP) on Thursday, April 22. The GAFSP, a multi-donor trust fund to be administered by the World Bank, will help to leverage the global community to meet its L’Aquila food security commitments.
InterAction welcomes this unique point in history and looks forward to working with Congress, the administration, and the global community “to sustainably reduce chronic hunger, raise the incomes of the rural poor, and reduce the number of children suffering from under nutrition.”
Read more about InterAction's work on Food Security here.
