| The example of Sierra Leone |
| In Sierra Leone, FAO, WFP and IFAD support the Government's goal that by 2007 no one should be hungry. Much of the agencies' work draws on mapping, by WFP, which was in the front line feeding the population after the war ravaged agriculture. |
| FAO's first operation in post-war Sierra Leone allowed farmers to make educational trips to farm study centres in Ghana and Uganda to see training programmes under way there. “When they saw the programmes they said they wanted to do something like that but using their national expertise,”says Kevin Gallagher, an FAO senior programme development officer. “Then they opened national workshops to define the kind of work that had to be done with research, universities and NGOs.” |
| IFAD is working in two districts in the country, supporting the post-conflict recovery of rural communities and farming activities development, while laying the basis for long-term rehabilitation and participatory development. |
FAO, IFAD and WFP are accelerating their efforts to help countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). More than 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, suffering hunger or undernourishment. The vast majority -about 810 million women, men and children - live in rural areas, where they depend on agriculture and related activities for their survival.
The three Rome-based agencies agree that none of the Goals can be achieved unless extremely poor people, especially those living in rural areas, are supported in their struggle to emerge from poverty and hunger. Consequently, the agencies are focusing their efforts on the targets of the first Goal, to reduce by half by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and hunger.
They are advocating a twin-track approach that combines immediate assistance for the poor and hungry with long-term development programmes that boost productivity, create employment and increase the value of people's assets. Programmes and policies must focus where they are needed most - in rural areas and in agriculture. The agencies agree that if real progress is to be made, the international agricultural trading system must become fairer, offering developing countries the same chance to earn export income from their commodities, while ensuring reliable and affordable food imports in countries that need them.
FAO analysis indicates that an additional US$24 billion in public investment will be needed to achieve the World Food Summit goal of reducing by half the number of chronically hungry by 2015 -- an even more ambitious hunger target than that of Millennium Development Goal 1.
In a statement to ECOSOC in June, 2005, the heads of the three agencies said that, “tackling poverty will not automatically take care of hunger. In fact, research suggests that developing countries that focus exclusively on poverty - without special attention to hunger - will take a generation longer to make real progress on improving their people's nutrition and health.”
By encouraging investment in rural development and agriculture, the Rome-based agencies want to support developing countries in creating vibrant economies, in which people can provide for themselves. This means investments in increasing productivity, in rural financial and service institutions and in markets, all backed by policy reforms.
Immediate, direct and well targeted assistance to get food to hungry people, prevent disease, send children to school, and rebuild infrastructure shattered by armed conflicts is the twin to longer-term investment in rural development. Specific interventions can include: provision of bed nets to fight malaria or bore wells for safe drinking water; water control, fertilizers and improved seeds to raise crop yields; school meals, food-for-work programmes, emergency help after natural disasters or war, and nutritional programmes for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, small children and people living with HIV/AIDS.
The three agencies are strengthening their collaboration to ensure that the twin-track approach works. FAO's technical expertise in agriculture supports rural development, while WFP's direct feeding gives people the strength they need to work, and school feeding helps build healthy, well educated workforces. IFAD's almost 200 ongoing poverty eradication projects increase rural poor people's access to financial services, markets, technology, land and other resources, while also building the capacity of rural poor people and their organizations to lead their own development.
They are also seeking joint solutions to meet the other MDGs in countries around the world:
Goal 2 — Achieve universal primary education: poor families often cannot afford to send their children to school, but school feeding and other projects boost families' incomes and encourage school attendance.
Goal 3 — Promote gender equality and empower women: when women have secure access to food, and productive assets like land, agricultural inputs, water and financial capital, they can increase their earnings and financial status, leading to better lives for themselves and their families.
Goal 4 — Reduce child mortality: hunger and malnutrition are behind the deaths of more than 6 million children under five each year. Addressing hunger and poverty is essential if this goal is to be reached.
Goal 5 — Improve maternal health: community development programmes, labour-saving technologies, better nutrition and greater household food security, especially in rural areas, all contribute to better maternal health and reduced mortality.
Goal 6 — Combat AIDS, malaria and other diseases: malnourished bodies are more prone to disease and infection; ensuring better nutrition and food production are crucial to keeping populations healthy.
Goal 7 — Ensure environmental sustainability: secure land tenure, sustainable and integrated management practices and restoration of degraded environments help poor people avoid over-exploitation of the resources on which their livelihoods depend.
Goal 8 — Develop a global partnership for development: FAO, IFAD and WFP are working with other partners to promote the International Alliance Against Hunger and to raise awareness about the links between rural poverty and international trade practices, intellectual rights, debt and aid.
In New York, in June 2005, the three agencies took stock of progress made towards the MDGs. While some agencies and donors have expressed frustration at the speed of progress against hunger in particular, FAO, IFAD and WFP remain convinced that, with concerted action and adequate resources, it is possible to achieve the MDGs. All three agency heads have urged their staff to cooperate and support national alliances in the field, bringing together all of the force, energy and resources available for each country to beat hunger in the 10 years to 2015.
