2020 World Food Day

Virtual Event, 16/10/2020

This year's World Food Day marks FAO’s 75th anniversary under the theme “Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Our actions are our future.” #WorldFoodDay and #FAO75 are aligned with the spirit of the United Nations 75th commemoration, which is also celebrated in 2020.

This virtual event showcases “Food Heroes” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and promotes awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and malnutrition.

Speakers' bios

Opening

H.E. Mr Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

After graduating with a degree in law from Ankara University, Mr. Bozkir joined his country’s foreign service in 1972. He held several positions during his 39-year career there, including: Permanent Representative of Turkey to the European Union (EU); Ambassador to Romania; Consul General in New York; Counsellor of the Permanent Representation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); First Secretary of the Embassy in Iraq; and Vice Consul General in Stuttgart. He also served as the Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Turgut Özal; Chief of Cabinet and Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Presidents Turgut Özal and Süleyman Demirel; Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for EU Affairs; Secretary General for EU Affairs.

Mr. Bozkir was elected as a Member of Parliament first in 2011 and then in the following three parliamentary elections. During his nine years in Parliament, he served as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman of the Turkey-USA Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Caucus and Co-Chairman of the Turkish-Russian Civic Forum. He also served as the Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator from 2014 until 2016. In 2018, he was elected for the fourth time as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, during which time he chaired the Turkey-Australia Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group.

Mr. Bozkir was awarded the Order of the Star of Romania; the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic with the rank of “Knight”; and the 100th Anniversary Medal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015, heading one of the world’s foremost humanitarian organizations during some of the most serious displacement crises in decades. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Yemen, led to a huge rise in UNHCR’s activities as the number of people displaced by conflict and persecution rose from 38 million in 2005 to over 60 million in 2015.

Before joining UNHCR, Mr. Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor.

As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs, and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He was a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002.

Mr. Guterres was elected to the Portuguese Parliament in 1976 where he served as a member for 17 years. During that time, he chaired the Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Planning, and later the Parliamentary Committee for Territorial Administration, Municipalities and Environment. He was also leader of his party’s parliamentary group.

From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he chaired the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees.

For many years Mr. Guterres was active in the Socialist International, a worldwide organization of social democratic political parties. He was the group’s vice-president from 1992 to 1999, co-chairing the African Committee and later the Development Committee. He served as President from 1999 until mid-2005. In addition, he founded the Portuguese Refugee Council as well as the Portuguese Consumers Association DECO, and served as president of the Centro de Acção Social Universitário, an association carrying out social development projects in poor neighbourhoods of Lisbon, in the early 1970s.

Mr. Guterres is a member of the Club of Madrid, a leadership alliance of democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world. Mr. Guterres was born in Lisbon in 1949 and graduated from the Instituto Superior Técnico with a degree in engineering. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.

H.E. Munir Akram, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council and Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations in New York

His Excellency Munir Akram assumed his position as Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary on 01 November 2019. He was subsequently elected the seventy-sixth President of the Economic and Social Council on 23 July 2020.

Ambassador Akram previously served as Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York for six years between 2002 and 2008, after serving as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva for seven years from 1995 to 2002.

During his first term at the United Nations, Ambassador Munir Akram served twice as President of the Security Council in May 2003 and in May 2004; President of the Economic and Social Council in 2005; Chairman of the Group of 77 and China (developing countries) in 2007, and Facilitator on UN Administrative Reform in 2006. Among the positions he held in various intergovernmental organizations were: Member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament; Chairman of the WTO Trade Policy Review Body; President of the Conference on Disarmament (June 1996).

Between 1988 and 1992, Munir Akram was Pakistan’s Ambassador to the European Council, Belgium and Luxemburg.

Ambassador Akram joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1967, holding various positions in the Foreign Ministry as Additional Foreign Secretary and Director- General dealing with the United Nations.

He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Law and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Karachi. He is a prolific writer and has lectured and published several articles and papers on various strategic, political and economic issues.

In recognition of his selfless service and outstanding performance in the field of diplomacy and foreign policy, he was conferred the Award of Hilal-i-Quaid-e-Azam by the President of Pakistan.

H.E. Mariangela Zappia, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations and Chair of the Group of Friends on Food Security and Nutrition

Ambassador Zappia is the Permanent Representative of Italy to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, since the 1st October 2014. She is the first woman to be appointed to this position.

Born on the 12th August 1959, she is married to Mr. Denis Caillaux, and has two children, Claire (21) and Christian (17). A native Italian, she speaks fluent English and French, and has a good comprehension of Spanish.

She has a Master degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Florence and a Post-graduate degree in Diplomatic and International Relations.

In 2002, she was awarded the "Ufficiale dell'Ordine al merito della Repubblica Italiana" decoration.

She previously held different positions in New York (1990-1993), Dakar (1986-1990) and Rome (1983-1986). She worked at the Ministry Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva. Her special assignment was as coordinator of major events under the Italian Presidency of the G8 in 2009. From 2011 to 2014, she was Ambassador, Head of the European Union Delegation to the UN and other International Organization in Geneva.

She has also worked as Head of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Balkans Department for Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome; First Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN in New York; First Counsellor, at the Italian Embassy in Brussels; Detached, on a special assignment, to the NATO media task-force during the conflict in Kosovo; Counsellor, in charge with relations with Italian press and media at the Press and Information Service and Office of the Spokesperson of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Rome.

H.E. Inga Rhonda King, Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the UN

Until her appointment, Ms. King had an extensive career in academia and publishing, as well as in business development and financial management. Since 2010, she served as Honorary Consul for Portugal to the Saint Vincent and Grenadines Government, working concurrently as Chairperson of National Investment Promotions, Inc. in Kingstown.

Along with being a business owner, strategy consultant and Editor-in-Chief of a literary journal, Ms. King taught English as a foreign language in China between 2002 and 2003, and designed and conducted seminars to mitigate cross-cultural sensitivities for Chinese English teachers there, receiving teacher-of-the-year award from the Mayor of Jiangdu City.

Among her many other pursuits, she assisted in the development and implementation of a mathematics summer programme, successfully preparing students to take a wide range of standardized mathematics examinations. As a volunteer, she taught mathematics for at-risk children in Miami.

Ms. King reviewed and improved the disbursement procedures of a Government-funded high-density housing project, and conducted investigative cash audits, assets and investment programmes of pension funds.

With a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and mathematics from The State University of New York at Albany, Ms. King is also a Certified Management Accountant and Certified Financial Manager.

H.E. Louise Blais, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN

Louise Blais began her professional career as an Art Theft Analyst at Interpol. She then managed the Development Program at the National Archives of Canada from 1992-1996 before joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1996. As a senior diplomat, she has served abroad as Counsellor at the Embassy in Washington and Tokyo and as Minister-Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in Paris helping coordinate Canada’s participation in the 2011 G8 in Deauville and the G20 in Cannes. During this period she was also the Director of the Canadian Cultural Centre. In Ottawa, at Global Affairs Canada, she held the positions of Director of the Public Diplomacy Division where she oversaw Canada’s International outreach and Executive Director of the Rotational Staff Division. Ms. Blais and her team were responsible for the deployment of over 2000 employees world-wide.

In August 2014, the Minister of Foreign Affairs appointed her Consul General of Canada in Atlanta, covering North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

As of September 2017, Ambassador Louise Blais is Canada’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

She has served on numerous boards including the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington DC, the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Board of Advisors of the Atlanta Ballet. She is an alum of the Herbert Quandt Foundation’s Trans-Atlantic and World Young Leaders Forum (2001, 2002, and 2005). And member of the Responsible Leaders Network.

She is a Distinguished John Robson Lecturer at Emory University as well as a Rotarian. And in 2017, she received a Distinguished Leadership Award from the Business Council of Alabama. Among her personal commitments, Ambassador Blais has been dedicated to the advancement of women entrepreneurship and has led her team to launch the first ever North America Summit of Women in Business.

Louise Blais holds a B.A. from McGill University. She is married to Peter Falkner and has two sons.

Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner for International Affairs, Mayor of New York City

Penny Abeywardena is New York City's Commissioner for International Affairs. As head of the Mayor's Office for International Affairs, she leads the City's global platform for promoting its goals for a more just and accessible society, showcasing the diversity of New Yorkers and sharing policies and best practices with cities and states around the world.

Since her appointment in September 2014, the International Affairs team has launched a series of initiatives focused on connecting New Yorkers and City agencies to the diplomatic community, as well as more effectively serving NYC's diplomatic corps, which is the largest in the world. Prior to joining Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, Penny was the Director of Girls and Women Integration at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a non-partisan organization that convened global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing problems.

Penny joined CGI in 2009 and led the program's evolution into one of CGI's most successful efforts. While at CGI, Penny was responsible for the portfolio of CGI commitments focused on empowering girls and women worldwide, developing year-round programming and integrating the gender lens throughout the CGI platform. During her tenure, she advised multinational corporations, philanthropists, NGOs and multilateral institutions to increase investments in gender-focused development initiatives while expanding the community of CGI members who incorporated the gender lens in their work. Before joining CGI, Penny worked in both development and programmatic areas for Human Rights Watch, the Funding Exchange and the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.

She serves on the Board of Directors of the United Nations Development Corporation, the International Advisory Council of the International Peace Institute (IPI), the World Economic Forum’sGlobal Future Council on Cities and Urbanization; and is a Core Member of the United Nation’s SDG Strategy and Action Hub. In her personal time, Penny serves on 92Y’s Innovation Advisory Committee and the Advisory Board of the Helm.

In 2017, Penny was named by the French American Foundation as a Young Leader. She is a World Economic Forum 2016 Young Global Leader, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was a Founding Member of Lincoln Center’s Global Exchange and has previously served on the Hillary for America Policy Working Group on Global Women's Issues, the World Bank's Advisory Council on Gender and Development, and the Boards of Directors of Sakhi for South Asian Women, Global Partners, Inc., the Eastside Greenway and Park, and Resource Generation. Penny was a contributing author to Women in the Global Economy: Leading Social Change, and in 2012 was recognized by the United Nation’s Decide Now Act (DNA) Summit as one of 101 Global Innovators for her work to put women's rights on the global political agenda. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California and completed her Master of International Affairs at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Kate MacKenzie, Director, New York Mayor's Office of Food Policy

Kate MacKenzie leads the de Blasio Administration's food policy efforts that center equity and resilience into ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to healthy, nutritious food while supporting the local and regional food economies. She currently leads the city's COVID-19 food response, which has provided more than 150 million emergency meals to the homes of vulnerable New Yorkers. Additionally, she leads the Administration's commitment to Good Food Purchasing, focused on increasing access to healthy sustainable foods for over 238 million meals and snacks served daily by City agencies, from public schools to senior centers. In early 2021, she will release a 10 year food policy vision and strategy for the City of New York.

Ms Agnes Kalibata, Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit

Ms. Kalibata is the President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) since 2014. She leads the organization’s efforts with public and private partners to ensure a food secure and prosperous Africa through rapid, inclusive, sustainable agricultural growth, improving the productivity and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa.

Prior to joining AGRA, Ms. Kalibata was Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources from 2008 to 2014, where she drove programmes that moved her country to food security, helping to lift more than a million Rwandans out of poverty.

She has records of accomplishments as an agricultural scientist, policymaker and thought leader. She was awarded the Yara Prize, now the Africa Food Prize, in 2012, as well as honorary doctorates from the University of Liège (2018) and McGill University (2019). She was the 2019 recipient of the National Academy of Sciences prestigious Public Welfare Medal for her work to drive Africa’s agricultural transformation through modern sciences and effective policy, thereby improving livelihoods of stallholder farmers.

She holds a doctorate in entomology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is fluent in English, with working knowledge of French.Storytelling

Daniel Gustafson, Special Representative of FAO's Director-General

Daniel Gustafson holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and International Relations and an Master of Sciences in Agricultural Economics, both from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D in agricultural extension from the University of Maryland. He started his career at the InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). He was based in Brazil from 1977-1988, working in support of Brazil’s agricultural research and extension programmes. He moved to the University of Maryland in 1988 where he worked in the International Development Management Centre, linked to the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service, as Programme Director, responsible for developing and implementing project activities, institutional development and policy implementation in agriculture and natural resources.

He joined FAO in 1994, working on a project based in the National Department of Rural Development and Extension in the Ministry of Agriculture in Maputo, Mozambique. He was appointed FAO Country representative in Kenya in 1998, which also included responsibility for FAO’s programmes in Somalia, and FAO’s Country Representative in India an Bhutan in 2002. From December 2007, he was Director of FAO’s Liaison office for the US and Canada, based in Washington D.C. The Liaison Office facilitates communication and cooperation between FAO and the Governments of Canada and the United States, and between FAO and the World Bank and other international and inter-American organizations based in Washington, and with universities, civil society and the private sector.

In February 2012, he was appointed Director of FAO’s Office of Support to Decentralization (OSD), based at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. Since then, he has led the Organization’s ongoing efforts to strengthen FAO’s country and regional offices, with a particular emphasis on the leadership of FAO’s country offices. More broadly, he has supported the decentralization-related aspects of FAO’s ongoing transformative process. In addition to his leadership of OSD Division, in October 2012, he was temporarily appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Corporate Services, Human Resources and Finance Department. Later that year, he was appointed FAO Deputy Director-General for Operations.

In February 2020, he was appointed Special Representative of the Director-General.

Panel

Myrna Cunningham Kain, President, Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean

As one of the best-known figures of the global indigenous movement, she is notable for her excellent merits as a university graduate, researcher, public health specialist, member of parliament, and social activist for the rights of indigenous peoples, and in particular indigenous women from Nicaragua, America, and all over the world.

She was governing minister delegate of the North Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. In the 1980s, she participated in the peace process and the establishment of an autonomous regime for indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and ethnic communities of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. She was also a member of the Regional Autonomous Council of the North Caribbean Coast and the National Assembly (parliament) of Nicaragua.

In the 1990s, she created and founded the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN), becoming its founding president from 1994 to 2002. URACCAN was one of the earliest instances of intercultural higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Cunningham was also Secretary General of the Inter-American Indigenist Institute and founded the Intercultural Indigenous Chair of the Intercultural Indigenous University of the FILAC.

Between 2011 and 2013, she served as member of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, becoming chair. She is currently chair of the Board of Directors of the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC).

Ciara Sidell, Urban Farm Manager, Randall's Island Park Alliance

Ciara has been committed to working at the intersection of farming and education in New York City since she interned at the Queens County Farm Museum as a senior in high school. After two summers on the Queens Farm, Ciara went on to teach with the City Growers team on Brooklyn Grange’s rooftop farms. Diving deeper into farm education, she spent three years overseeing Harlem Grown’s twelve agriculture facilities -- youth community farms, school gardens, hydroponic greenhouses, & compost processing spaces. She has spent the last two seasons as Farm Manager at the Randall’s Island Park Alliance’s Urban Farm -- an educational farm, designed completely with teaching and learning in mind. In response to COVID-19, she and her team pivoted their growing model to increase production, ensuring their healthy, locally-produced food would reach food insecure families in nearby communities on a weekly basis.

Marie Rose Umutoni, Rwanda - Joint Programme on "Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women"

Marie Rose UMUTONI is a Programme Associate at WFP Rwanda and has been working for WFP since 2017. She holds a bachelor’ s degree in agricultural science and a master’s degree in rural development and food security. Prior to WFP, Marie Rose worked for the Ministry of Agriculture of Rwanda (MINAGRI). She has 8 years’ work experiences in agricultural projects and working with farmer cooperatives. She is passionate about rural women empowerment and she has played an active role in the implementation of JP RWEE programme in Rwanda. She speaks English and has a working knowledge of French.

Carla Mucavi, Director, FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations

Carla Mucavi, a national of Mozambique, is Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Liaison Office to the United Nations in New York. She oversees FAO’s contribution to discussions and decisions at the United Nations related to sustainable development, resilience building and sustaining peace, and UN coordination, coherence and reform. Ms. Mucavi represents FAO on the wide range of issues relevant to the work and mandate of the organization, including, eradicating hunger and all forms of malnutrition, promoting sustainable food systems for healthy diets, and empowering family farmers and rural communities. She also represents FAO at various intergovernmental meetings, notably meetings of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), as well as related committees, functional commissions and subsidiary bodies.

Prior to joining FAO, Ms. Mucavi served as a career diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, serving in different functions from 1989 to 2015, including as Chief of Cabinet of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and, between 2007 and 2015, as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mozambique to Italy, Greece and Malta, and Permanent Representative to FAO, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Ms. Mucavi holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Institute for Higher Studies in International Relations, Mozambique and a master’s degree in Cooperation and Development Planning from the University La Sapienza, Italy.

Coco Ushiyama, Head of Office, World Food Programme, New York

Ms. Coco Ushiyama, a Japanese national, assumed her responsibilities as Director of the UN System & Multilateral Engagement Division at the World Food Programme’s New York Office starting mid-June 2017.

Prior to her assignment in New York, Coco was the WFP Representative in Malawi and in Indonesia and before that, WFP Deputy Country Director in Cambodia. Coco has over 20 years of professional experience with the United Nations primarily with the World Food Programme in various field assignments in Asia and Africa as well as in the WFP headquarters in Italy. Coco also served in the United Nations Secretariat in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and in Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Thailand.

Prior to joining the United Nations, she worked at an investment bank in Tokyo as well as with a Japanese News Agency.

Teresa Liu, Head, IFAD New York Liaison Office

Ms. Teresa Liu is Head of the New York Liaison Office of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as of March 2020.

Prior to joining IFAD, Ms. Liu was Special Advisor to the Executive Office at the United Nations Office for Project Services. She started her UN career at UNDP in 2001 where she served for 17 years, including as Planning and Deployment Advisor for a major UN reform and business process re-engineering initiative involving five UN agencies, and as Division Chief for Development Solutions and Technology Exchange with the Office of the Envoy of SG and UN Office for South-South Cooperation. For the past two decades, Ms. Liu has devoted her career in various development issues, including sustainable agriculture and food security, climate change, global health, crosscutting areas of technology acquisition and transfer, financing for development, women entrepreneurship, Asia-Africa cooperation, particularly involving the Least Developing Countries (LDCs), the Land-locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS).

Before her UN career, Ms Liu worked in the private sectors, including in marketing, and in management consulting at Accenture.

Born in China, Ms. Liu holds a Masters in International Peace and Development Studies from University of Notre Dame, with an awarded title "International Peace Scholar" (championed by Jimmy and Roselyn Carter), and a Doctorate in distance learning and multi-cultural education from Purdue University in the United States.

FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York

2020 World Food Day

Speakers' bios

Opening