CFS:2003/5

1. Since the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS), FAO has sustained a number of programmes and initiatives in an effort to meet the target of reducing hunger by half by 2015. While a complete overview of recent initiatives is included in a document for the FAO Programme Committee (PC 89/8), the purpose of this paper is to discuss two specific FAO initiatives introduced in the last year: The Anti Hunger Programme, and the International Alliance Against Hunger (IAAH).

2. In an effort to reinforce the commitments made at both the 1996 World Food Summit and, more recently, at the 2002 World Food Summit:five years later (WFS:fyl), the FAO has undertaken two initiatives to strengthen the fight against hunger. The first is the preparation of a paper entitled: “Anti-Hunger Programme,” (CFS: 2003/5 Sup.1), which was discussed originally at a side event during the WFS:fyl, and successively presented as a second draft at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. The paper proposes, inter alia, a twin-track approach that combines (i) resource mobilization for agricultural and rural development, which creates opportunities for the poor and hungry to improve their livelihoods, with (ii) measures to meet the immediate food and nutrition needs of the seriously undernourished.

3. The Anti-Hunger Programme also recognizes that the achievement of the goal of reducing by half the number of hungry is dependent upon a broad international alliance of all those seriously concerned with working together to overcome the scourge of hunger. The Heads of State and Government, who gathered at the WFS:fyl, called upon “all parties (governments, international organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector) to reinforce their efforts so as to act as international alliance against hunger to achieve the WFS targets no later than 2015.” In line with the Declaration of the WFS:fyl, the paper, International Alliance Against Hunger (CFS: 2003/5 Sup.2), outlines the proposed aims, guiding principles and activities of such an alliance, which would contribute to strengthening the political will and enhancing the allocation of adequate resources required in the fight against hunger and poverty.