Stand Up Fight Hunger

Original blog post (February 14, 2012), can be found here:

http://www.cwsglobal.org/blog/my-two-cents-state-of-the-union.html#.US0lYoUh90w

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I was disappointed that the president seemed to have forgotten what he said at the 2012 G-8 Summit: “We can unleash the change that reduces hunger and malnutrition… . I pledge to you today that this will remain a priority as long as I am the United States president.”

We commended him for this commitment in a letter to President Obama in the beginning of this year, CWS CEO and President John L. McCullough urged Obama to seek increased foreign assistance for hungry and impoverished people and to lead the way to “fair and generous” immigration reform.

Fortunately, President Obama said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. economy will be stronger when talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants are harnessed. And it is encouraging hearing the president say that he is ready to sign a bill in the coming months.

However, as my CWS colleague Erol Kekic stated today, it is disappointing to hear and read the continual focus on border and interior enforcement provisions including a mandatory employment verification system as these provisions have proven detrimental to communities. Erol said: “We do not need more enforcement. We need real solutions that can only be found in a pathway to full citizenship for our community members who are undocumented, and in visa reforms that make our immigration system more effective and timely for both family reunification and employment-based immigrants.”

CWS is also working to see that certain provisions will be included in legislation to improve the lives of refugees resettled in the United States. This is all a long overdue process that will finally give at least 12 million living in the U.S. who are without documentation right now citizenship status.

Interestingly, around 1.2 million (almost 10 percent) of these undocumented workers are employed on farms. Twilight Greenaway reminds us that if we add to that number the many people who work in feedlots, slaughterhouses, warehouses, factories and restaurants, we get some idea about the reality of the power of the food industry in our lives and will come to realize that our cheap and plentiful food supply is really only possible because it is produced by undocumented workers.

This is further explained in a report called The Hands That Feed Us, which notes that seven out of ten worst paying jobs in the US are food-related. And because undocumented workers don’t have right of citizens, they are prone to all kinds of vulnerabilities.

One of my CWS colleagues said to me yesterday: “Yes, you are right, my partner who is one of those undocumented workers was really sick yesterday, but decided to go to his work anyway being afraid of losing his job.”

Poor wages and working conditions in the food industry are not only applicable to undocumented workers, but to many workers in the food industry in the United States. Food workers also face higher levels of food insecurity, or the inability to afford to eat, than the rest of the U.S. workforce. They also use food stamps at double rate of the rest of the U.S. workforce.

Now, as immigration reform could change the face of food work, it might be also the right time to really make our food system more sustainable and equitable, so that we really can start doing something sustainable about those 1 billion hungry (as well as the 1 billion obese as I wrote in another blog.)

Now, what can we do about this? In the U.S. you can call your senators and tell them to protect anti-hunger programs. The Hands That Feed Us report list a couple of additional suggestions such as: “You can support responsible food system employers who are providing liveable wages, benefits, and advancement opportunities for all workers, and who provide sustainable food as well as to help educate other consumers and food justice advocates about the need to include sustainable working conditions for food workers within the definition of sustainable food.”

You can, of course, also support organizations like CWS who are working for a world free of hunger.

The original blogpost (February 14, 2013) can be found here:

http://www.cwsglobal.org/blog/improve-the-world-from-our.html#.US0iuIUh90w

People who know me have heard me say at more than one occasion that ending hunger and malnutrition is possible in our lifetime. I know that there are still skeptics but we really do know what is required to make this a reality. For one we need to ensure that we give a child the proper start by ensuring that a child in the first 1,000 days (from conception until the child is 2 years old) gets the proper nutritious food.  And we need to recognize that root causes of hunger and malnutrition are multi-factored and rooted in poverty and inequality.

While we work directly on those root causes, we know what the strategies on preventing chronic malnutrition are. In the short term it means that we need to ensure adequate nutrient intake by adding complementary food and food supplements to young children’s diets. Of course, we also need to advocate for strengthening social protection systems and including a focus on women’s roles.

And maybe we need to go even as far as totally reframing and rethinking the global food systems, as Ellen Gustafson believes.

Ellen Gustafson is CEO and co-founder of the FoodTank and 30Project. In her TedTalks she further explains her thinking. I was fortunate to hear Gustafson speak recently. Gustafson said (and I agree with her) that it is not only about feeding the world, but more importantly about feeding the world well. This problem is not only leading to almost 1 billion hungry people, but also to 1 billion obese people. These two phenomena are both seen in and outside of the United States. Globally, the WHO projects that by 2015, about 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese. 

Gustafson thinks that the problem can only be solved by changing our broken food system. She mentions a number of problems that we are facing today — for example, that three-quarters of products on supermarket shelves contain soy, corn or wheat which are the result of agricultural subsidies. These subsidies are part of the U.S. Farm Bill. This support of the federal government started during the Great Depression and was of great importance in giving temporary assistance to U.S. farmers by paying them extra when crop prices were low. At present though, the benefits flow mainly to large producers of corn and soy who really don’t need extra support. Gustafson rightly points out that the export of U.S. corn is a key reason why since 1980, the production of corn in Africa has fallen 14 percent.

Gustafson would like to see easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables for every person on the planet – instead of corn-laden chicken nugget or corn syrup-sweetened drinks. Some experts say that this could be achieved in the U.S. if subsidies and insurance programs would be more widely extended to fruit and vegetable producers as well. 

Indeed as Ellen Gustafson says: we have the power to improve our health, our communities and the world… from our kitchen table. She is expected to elaborate more of her vision in her first book, expected in the spring of 2014.

My own personal drive to buy and eat more sustainable products came after seeing the film Food Inc. One way of doing this is by direct farm-to-consumer purchasing, something that is also available in the CWS NY office building or in many cities and towns in the U.S. If you Google “community supported agriculture” or “community shared agriculture” you will find out where you can purchase vegetables and fruit on a weekly basis while supporting one or more local farms. I hope that more people will follow Gustafson’s advice.

Briana Concepcion, 7, sits in front of grain silos that are part of CWS-supported work in Aguas Calientes, Carazo, Nicaragua. Photo: Sean Hawkey/CWS

I just returned from travels to Burkina Faso and Kenya. Below given article/interview from colleague Chris Herlinger with me is taken from the CWS website: http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=15405

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CWS responds to hunger in Africa as hunger summit begins in London

The end of the 2012 Olympics in London on Sunday marks the end of one event but the beginning of another. British Prime Minister David Cameron will host a day-long “hunger summit” with humanitarian groups, representatives of African nations, other world leaders and even Olympic athletes, the Guardian newspaper reports.

One focus of the event, to be held at the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street, will be on crises in Africa’s Sahel region and the Horn of Africa. Those living in the two regions face overlapping crises of hunger and malnutrition, rising food prices, increasing population density and climate change. Some estimates say that 200 million in the two regions are “food insecure,” the Guardian reports.

For more than a year, Church World Service has been responding to needs in the Horn of Africa; in addition, it now is responding to an increasingly worrisome humanitarian emergency in the Sahel, a vast African region south of the Sahara desert.

One root of the problem there is recent drought, which is affecting the production of crops, resulting in food shortages. Exacerbating the problem is political unrest, particularly in Mali, where more than 167,000 people have been displaced internally. Another 205,000 from Mali now are refugees who have fled to nearby countries, including Burkina Faso.

CWS and its partner Christian Aid are focusing much of their work on food assistance to help more than 83,000 people in Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal, as well as Mali. Among the work being done is the distribution of nutrition packs containing locally purchased food items, to malnourished children and their mothers.

CWS-supported work is also supporting long-term interventions that include providing farmers with seeds, tools and animal fodder, supporting community cash-for-work projects to control erosion, subsidizing rice sales by local farmers and promoting sustainable livestock management.

Maurice A. Bloem, CWS’s deputy director and head of programs, just returned from a humanitarian trip to Burkina Faso with other CWS staff members. Here are excerpts of an interview with Bloem by CWS staffer Chris Herlinger.

Herlinger: What are the essentials we need to know about this situation?

Bloem: The situation is not good, and the problems of the war and drought combined are making for a very difficult dynamic. The food security situation is particularly critical because there are so many elements at play: the ecosystem is already fragile in the region. Then you add the problems of hunger, growing populations, rising food prices and climate change. It’s a deadly combination.

The rains started too late this year to really make a big difference in this year’s crop-growing season, and it has not been good overall. And unlike the Horn of Africa, which weathered a severe drought last year, and is still struggling this year, there are not sufficient structures, or “coping mechanisms” in place in the Sahel to respond to needs internally. Of course, people within the affected countries are working very hard to solve this, but it is very, very tough situation.

Herlinger: So, a cornerstone for any humanitarian response is to strengthen “local capacity,” right?

Bloem: Yes. One of the things we are working with Christian Aid on is the expansion of community gardens – which are called “market gardens” there – which can provide food for those growing it but also bring in “more to market,” so that there can be an expansion of both food and also needed livelihoods, particularly for women.

That program tells a bigger story, because communities that have developed these programs – and our partners have worked with them for more than three year now – are doing much better in achieving food security than those where we just started providing emergency food aid. Where there are long-standing programs, there clearly is more hope. People talk more optimistically about the future. They also are more confident and ambitious for their families, with hopes that they will send their children to school. They see a better future for themselves.

Herlinger: Describe what you saw. Paint a picture for us.

Bloem: As I mentioned before, the ecosystem is very fragile in that part of the world (and it getting worse due to climate change), and people have to work hard – very hard – on the soil to make it work. It’s an area where, if you don’t work the land, you work in the gold mines. It’s a very, very tough place in many ways, and this was even before the drought. So, it has made an even tougher situation for the country’s poorest people, who are already living on the edge.

Then, although malnutrition is getting some attention now, it actually is often forgotten because the signs are not visible until the situation is very acute. Yet, while we tried to talk with the community about how we could try to improve the quality of the diet, we came across not just issues of knowledge, but also of availability of food. For example, people in the region say that if you give a child an egg, the child will become a thief. By that they mean if a child becomes used to eating an egg, they will like it very much and will want to eat more of them – but eggs are an income source and the people there believe they should bring in money instead of being fed to the children.

That has to be reversed, so that people can all enjoy a good, sustainable diet – which is why our focus is on ways to develop access to a more stable food supply – locally based, if at all possible. The bottom line is the need for better food security and nutrition security, both of which are particularly crucial for mothers and children.

Another issue is water. There isn’t enough of it there, and yet the region also faces challenges with floods on occasion. CWS’s East Africa program has experience with water catchment, which is why we plan to work with partners in the Sahel to develop ways so that rain water can be used and conserved as a resource. And of course, the issues of water and food are linked; they have worked at in a holistic way, the way so many issues need to be approached today.

Herlinger: What can come out of the “hunger summit”?

Bloem: With the upcoming hunger summit happening this Sunday, I have heard certain organizations say that our approaches towards malnutrition need to change from treatment to prevention, but that’s only partially true. We need to do three things: First, ensure that children have the proper start in life – the theme of the First 1,000 Days campaign – and this would include therapeutic feeding treatments.

Second, strengthening Africa’s smallholder farmers and agricultural productivity, like we do via our community gardens. And we need to remember that the gardens can’t just be a rural phenomena; there are growing urban problems as well as a rising urban population who are also struggling to feed their families. In the countryside, people can at least grow some of their own crops and vegetables. But in towns and cities, the majority of people need money to access food. As the price of staples rises, many are finding they simply are unable to earn enough to money to meet their needs. So we need to focus on gardens in urban areas, as well. The third thing is that we seriously need to look at our global food systems including issues like trade policies, speculation, food waste and sustainable consumption.

That’s a tall order. But in the spirit of international cooperation – the spirit of the Olympics – these problems can ultimately be solved.

Robert Block, MD, FAAP, President, American Academy of Pediatrics was not only on a panel during the 1,000 Days to Change the Future: Making Malnutrition History Summit in Chicago, May 21, 2012, but also responsible for the closing remarks during which he gave a summary of the Summit as well as some last important points. Here are some excerpts from his closing remarks.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel op Chicago spoke the opening remarks at the 1,000 Days to Change the Future: Making Malnutrition History Summit in Chicago on May 21, 2012. This the last part of his speech in which he explains that malnutrition is also of importance in the US.

Dr. Mehmood Khan, Executive Vice President, PepsiCo Chief Scientific Office, Global Research and Development talks about the strength of the food industry in helping to scale up products like plumpy nut and how to create the win-win. He was one of the panelist during the 1,000 Days to Change the Future: Making Malnutrition History Summit held in Chicago on May 21, 2012.

Ambassador Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic spoke at the 1,000 Days to Change the Future: Making Malnutrition History Summit that was held on May 21, 2012, to give a summary of the outcomes of the NATO summit that took place in the same city and share that the people in Afghanistan would not be left alone after 2014. Here are some excerpts from her speech.

Indeed, decades of unrest and war in Afghanistan have completely destroyed the health systems in Nangarhar, and Laghman provinces and in the rest of the country as well. In the rural areas of Nangarhar and Laghman provinces, access to quality maternal and child health care (MCH), reproductive health (RH) services, adequate medicine and the means to prevent diseases like malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS is limited. My organization established Health programs in Nangarhar/Laghman to provide local health centers that provide these much needed services and pays special attention to mothers and under five children.

On May 21, 2012, I attended the 1,000 Days Summit: Make Child Malnutrition History in Chicago. Secretary Clinton was not able to be present, but we were able to “meet” with her via this Video Address.

When Administrator Raj Shah spoke with representatives of different U.S. NGOs last week, he mentioned that as a result of a request of several African leaders, the G8 would be looking at the birth of an informal group, table or even circle to look closely at the needed results and accountability around food and nutrition security on the continent.

Well, President Obama was able to be more explicit in his speech at an event organized by the Chicago Council last Friday in Washington D.C. Obama announced the new alliance to support accelerated implementation of the African-developed and led agricultural plans through assistance and by catalyzing private sector investment in African agriculture.

The ideas embrace the commitments made at the 2009 G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, and combines assistance with effective policies driven by African governments, increased private sector investment, new tools to scale innovation, and a focus on managing risk. Initially launching in Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia at the G-8 Camp David Summit, Obama’s administration stipulated in a new release that the new alliance will expand rapidly to other African countries, including Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and other African nations that are participating in the Grow Africa Partnership. Over time, the alliance will expand to all African countries prepared to join, Obama said.

G-8 and African partners have designed country cooperation frameworks in Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania. More will follow across Africa. USAID reports more than 45 multinational and African companies have committed to specific agricultural investments that total more than $3 billion and span all areas of the agricultural value chain, including irrigation, crop protection, financing and infrastructure.

G-8 members are following through on L’Aquila commitments and continuing to make a down-payment of more than $3 billion to kick-start this new approach. G-8 members are also taking joint actions to bring agricultural innovations to scale, support effective finance, reduce risk for vulnerable communities and economies, improve nutrition and reduce child stunting—focusing, in particular on supporting smallholder farmers especially women.

This week I heard how G-8 nations are making some strides on the 2009 L’Aquila goals. Among those that stood out to me:

++ G-8 members are supporting the launch of new partnerships to identify key productivity technologies, set 10-year adoption and yield improvement targets, and promote commercialization and adoption of key technologies, including improved seeds and post-harvest management systems.

++ Support for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, known as GAFSP, with a pledge target of $1.2 billion over three years in pledges from existing and new donors for the public and private sector windows.

++ G-8 members are also and supporting the preparation and financing of bankable agricultural infrastructure projects including through a new fast track facility for agriculture infrastructure.

++ There is also support for national risk assessment to help African governments formulate strategies for managing risks to women and men smallholder farmers, such as drought.

++ Perhaps most encouragingly, G-8 members are actively supporting the so-called “scaling-up nutrition movement” and welcome the commitment of African partners to improve the nutritional well-being of their populations, especially during the critical 1,000 days window from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday.

Not everybody is impressed with these latest developments. Mamadou Cissokho, honorary president of the Network of Farmers and Agricultural Producers Organizations, known as ROPPA, wondered in a letter to the African Union how “food security and sovereignty of Africa could be secured through international cooperation outside of the policy frameworks formulated in an inclusive fashion with the peasants and the producers of the continent.”

Those are legitimate worries, and on the basis of the participation of the different small holders associations and representatives of grass-roots bodies, we probably need to realize that we will hear more discussions about the road to follow in the coming months. I am encouraged to notice that all parties seem to agree one thing: when it comes to food security and nutrition, it can’t be business as usual.

One last thing: I am especially encouraged by the mention that G8 and the African leaders have agreed to actively improve the nutritional well-being of people with special emphasis on the first 1,000 days of a child.  Remember that we learned this week as well that “each dollar spent reducing chronic under-nutrition has more than a $30-pay-off.” Better nutrition improves cognitive functions and thereby also an individual’s education and income prospects, as well. Most worthy of investment is bundled micronutrient interventions to fight hunger and improve education.

Yet, how disappointing that so little attention and mention was given to nutrition last Friday. Even when reading the blog of Gayle Smith and Raj Shah, the nutrition component is hardly mentioned http://blog.usaid.gov/2012/05/new-alliance-for-food-security-and-nutrition/#.T7aVmOUNBlQ.twitter

Luckily, there was Hillary Clinton at the end of the day with a great speech including the mention of women being key in development of Africa and proper emphasis of first 1,000 days of a child as basis for a better future.

Looking forward to hearing and discussing more during the Child Malnutrition Summit today in Chicago.

Writing daily blogs and posting video blogs is not an easy task, but I do try to send regular tweets about what is happening this week around food and nutrition security and the G8. follow me @mauricebloem