The Hunger Project’s Executive VP, John Coonrod, has moved from New York City to Washington, DC to strengthen THP’s seat at the table of international development. Each week, John sends us insight into issues of health, policy, human rights and more by way of the Washington Weekly.
Obama’s Legacy: Ending World Hunger?
As you can imagine, Washington is abuzz about the US Presidential election and what it means. One of the most interesting rumors is that President Obama wants to have a global policy legacy achievement, but there are no specifics.
Last week at a meeting of the Alliance to End Hunger, several senior leaders suggested it would be quite possible to have the President have ending world hunger be that specific focus.
One thing is certain: the continuity of leadership in the US will permit important innovations of the past four years – Feed the Future, 1,000 Days, the Global Health Initiative – to bear fruit.
Action item: Survey on Feed the Future Consultation
A top priority for NGOs in Washington has been our demand for USAID to foster meaningful civil society consultation on its Feed the Future Initiative.
IF YOU work in a Feed the Future Country (BD, ET, GH, MW, MZ, SN, UG) please fill out our quick survey on the quality of such consultation in your country: Feed the Future Consultation Questionnaire.
Urgent Action item: Responsible Agricultural Investments
Last week was our monthly Agriculture and Food Security Working Group, and a special focus was on the G8 “New Alliance” commitment to enlist private sector investment in development. This begs the question of what constitutes responsible agriculture investment, and the UN’s Committee on Food Security (CFS) has endorsed a set of voluntary guidelines that relate to everything from land grabs to food sovereignty issues.
FYI: M&E Makes Headlines
Recently, the MCC (the US governments first big experiment in supporting country-led strategies) issued rigorous evaluations of five of its farm training programs – a gutsy move towards greater transparency and a willingness to learn.
>h4>Upcoming Events
November 13-15: Food Security and Nutrition Network Sharing Meeting (Leanna attending)
November 15: Deadline for written contributions to CSW 57 and InterAction Forum workshop proposals.
November 16: THP holds first consultation on our UNDEF project on Participatory Democracy.
November 19: Release of Bread for the World’s 2013 Hunger Report
November 25 –December 10: 16 Days Against Gender Violence
December 1: World AIDS Day
December 10-12: G20 CSO Joint Strategy Meeting in Moscow
February 6-15, 2013: UN Conference on Social Development
March 4-15, 2013 – UN Commission on the Status of Women
April 19-21, 2013 – World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington
April 29-May 1, 2013 – InterAction Forum, Arlington, Virginia
May 28-30, 2013 – Women Deliver Conference, Kuala Lumpur
June 2013 – Civil20, Business20, Youth20 Summits in Saint Petersburg, Russia
June 27-28, 2013 – International Conference on Population and Development, Paris
September 2013 – Leaders G20 Summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia
October 5, 2013 – The Hunger Project Fall Event
For all those who requested more information on Maternal and Child Health, there are LOTS of upcoming events.
