Thought-provoking articles that deal with hunger and the issues involved in meeting the hunger challenge.
The United Nations' World Food Program tries to stop the poorest of the poor from going hungry. But its budget has dwindled during the crisis as donor countries focus on their own economic problems. Aid workers face the unpleasant task of deciding who gets food -- and who doesn't. John Aylieff was once shot at in Burundi in eastern Africa, by a gunman standing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Aylieff only survived because his driver aimed the vehicle directly at the gunman.
The youngsters of Wodo Dobili receive frequent lessons in what it is to be an outsider. “When our children go to school the others beat them up, so they come back here,” says Jean-Claude Mele, a 21-year-old who is one of the estimated 500,000 members of central Africa’s various Pygmy ethnic groups.
The EU food sector can remain competitive and tackle challenges that lay ahead by forging strong partnerships (..). The congress theme was People Planet Partnership, and Monica Marshall, deputy director and global head of public-private partnerships of the UN World Food Programme, threw down the gauntlet to the industry to engage in more public-private partnerships in developing countries, and to “do well by doing good”. “A generation ago companies had to chose between doing well and doing good”, she said. “Now they do both, but only because they do not have the choice. Food security is the first threshold on the way out of poverty, and poverty is not good for anyone’s business.”
As Thanksgiving approaches, we think of the early settlers at Plymouth and the beginning of the holiday tradition. But Thanksgiving should also be remembered for another historical event that took place in Plymouth. (..) The public was engaged, and so too were the government leaders. President Truman and his Cabinet Committee on World Food Programs made fighting hunger a top priority. Former president Herbert Hoover served as food ambassador in 1946-1947.
Partnerships between the private sector and international developmental agencies are breeding success in tackling malnutrition in the world’s poorest. An event in New York City, hosted by BASF, the Micronutrient Initiative, and the UN Global Compact, brought together about 100 nutrition experts from the private sector and international developmental agencies attended, to discuss how to capitalize on the private sector’s global reach and distribution systems to combat malnutrition.