Nairobi/Rome: -The Food and Agriculture Organization office in Somalia has been nominated as this year’s winner of the global B.R. Sen Award for developing innovative emergency response, while facing one of the world’s worst food security challenges in the Horn of Africa nation.

The award, in memory of former FAO Director-General, Mr B.R. Sen for his transformational leadership, honors individuals or organizations that have made effective, evident and sustainable contributions towards food security in their of jurisdiction. Receiving the award on Saturday in Rome Italy, Luca Alinovi, FAO’s head in Somalia praised hundred of staffers who risked their lives in Somalia, which has suffered conflict for the last two decades.

“I'm honored to accept the BR Sen Award on behalf of hundreds of women and men, from Mogadishu to Rome, who work with determination, sometimes facing daily risk and danger to contribute to re-establishing a food secure nation,“ said Alinovi while delivering his acceptance speech at the 38th FAO Conference, the Organization's governing body in Rome Italy.

A recent study estimated that famine and severe food insecurity in Somalia claimed the lives of about 258,000 people between October 2010 and April 2012, including 133,000 children under 5. FAO is credited for fast responding to the unfolding crisis with creative cash-based initiatives, which were seen to have greatly eased the crisis. In that period alone, FAO, working in some of the most complex security environments, managed to reach at least 1 million Somali farmers and herders with assistance.

Alinovi said: “During our emergency response we continuously ask questions like: How do we reach those in need? How can we go beyond relief? And how can we prepare them to face future shocks? Answers vary but one is obvious: People are not helpless. This is why resilience building forms the bedrock of our current programming.”

Alinovi also expressed deep gratitude to donors who generously contributed to timely and appropriate response to Somalia’s food crisis. The donors include the European Union, USAID, UKAID, DANIDA and the governments of Switzerland, Italy, Australia and Spain.Until now, only three FAO field officers with the most outstanding contribution to the advancement of their country or countries of assignment have received B.R. Sen Awards.In other award categories, the European Union (EU) and British newspaper The Guardian have won FAO awards, the EU for a €1 billion initiative in response to the food price crisis in 2008-2011, and The Guardian, for improving worldwide understanding of development issues. The EU shares its award with Indian NGO Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), honoured for its innovative and dedicated efforts to lift extremely poor women out of poverty and hunger.

The EU received the award for its "EU Food Facility", an initiative that has improved the livelihoods of over 59 million people in 49 developing countries through the improvement of smallholder agricultural production in response to high food prices. José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission accepted the award in person on behalf of the EU.

The Guardian global development team won the FAO A.H. Boerma Award for its reporting on agriculture, food security and poverty, with emphasis on progress made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

The team receives the Award, which is presented biennially to a journalist or journalists who have helped to focus public attention on the world food problem. The Kenya Forest Service has won an FAO award for its implementation of the Sustainable livelihood development project in the Mau forest complex. The service receives the Edouard Saouma Award, which is presented to the institution or institutions that have implemented with particular efficiency a project funded by FAO's Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP).

The Organización del Sector Pesquero y Acuícola del Istmo Centroamericano has won the Margarita Lizárraga Medal 2012-2013 for its significant contribution to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development and to the practical and tangible application of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in the Central American countries.