In the wake of the global food price crisis of 2008, a broad-based coalition of non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups and faith-based organizations developed a document entitled The Roadmap to End Global Hunger. It was endorsed by more than 40 organizations and became the basis for legislation introduced in the House of Representatives.
Last week, a new report was launched: A Roadmap for Continued U.S. Leadership to End Global Hunger. The new Roadmap document reviews progress over the last three years toward the goals set out in the original Roadmap, and offers recommendations to ensure continued effectiveness of U.S. global food security programs.
A total of 51 organizations, including The Hunger Project, stand in support of the recommendations laid out in the Roadmap and in urging the U.S. government to continue to invest in a comprehensive approach to end global hunger and malnutrition.
Policy Recommendations
The Roadmap document outlines the following six recommendations, which build upon U.S. leadership and progress, and chart a path forward towards a world with less hunger and greater prosperity for all:
- INTEGRATION: The U.S. should ensure coordination and integration of food security programs by appointing a Global Food Security Coordinator responsible for overseeing development and implementation of the government-wide global food security strategy, with corresponding budget authority overall global food security programs.
- RESILIENCE: The U.S. should increase support for programs that build resilience to shocks by making dedicated Development Assistance (DA) funding available to be jointly programmed by USG staff (including staff of all relevant USAID Bureaus, USDA, and other operational agencies) in countries at high risk of suffering crises.
- SAFETY NETS: The U.S. should support effective safety net programs and build the capacity of host governments to develop and deploy their own national safety net systems.
- NUTRITION: The U.S. should strengthen and institutionalize the focus on nutrition across all programs by establishing a high-level focal point for global nutrition as required of all Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement countries, defining the nutrition budget across initiatives and accounts, and developing a global nutrition strategy.
- COUNTRY-LED DEVELOPMENT: The U.S. should strengthen country-led development planning processes by increasing engagement of stakeholders, assisting governments in overcoming legal and policy constraints, and making criteria for selection of the countries and regions targeted more clear and transparent.
- INVESTMENT: The U.S. should invest $5 billion annually in emergency, safety net, nutrition and agricultural development programs. This investment constitutes just over one-tenth of one per cent of the U.S. budget, yet would support increased food security for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
(Photo: Lucy Sullivan, Director of 1,000 Days, at Roadmap Launch Event on July 24, 2012 at U.S. Senate – Caucus Room)
Links
- Check out THP Executive Vice President John Coonrod’s photos of the July 24 launch event of the new Roadmap document.
- Download the full document: Roadmap for Continued U.S. Leadership to End Global Hunger (PDF 1.81 MB)
July 31, 2012
