Browse by Theme: Food Security

The close of 2013 brings with it the inevitable series of lists of the best and worst of the year. It's good to reflect on deeds past, but this list takes a different approach: it describes what these lists should say a year from now.

Six business specialists from across CARE International answered the question: "What is your vision for inclusive business in 2014?" They identified 6 ambitious but achievable milestones for the new year that could change the future of inclusive business.

After the annual meeting of the world’s largest and most important body for agreeing international food and nutrition security policy, Larissa Pelham questions on World Food Day whether NGOs really have a voice in the process.

The 2013 Annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report was launched last week, in time for the annual meeting of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). This year’s report estimates that progress has been made towards the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halve the level of global hunger, albeit with wide disparities across regions.

It’s refreshing to have some positive news about the decrease in the number of people who are food insecure and I was pleased at the prominence given to social protection in the report. (See more on the positives below). However there were some glaring omissions. What about the focus on governance and women’s voice? Where is a reflection on the contribution of climate change to food security? And why, at a time when 4 million people inside Syria face food insecurity, does the report stay silent on emergencies and the impact of conflict and crisis on immediate and long term food insecurity? All at a time when the CFS, this week, is finalising policy recommendations for managing food insecurity during protracted crises.

The leaders of the G8 came to the UK over a month ago and David Cameron hosted a ‘Hunger Summit’. While the summit did pledge up to $4.15bn (USD) to tackle malnutrition did it take the opportunity to boost public investment in the small holder farmers that feed a third of the world’s population?

Along with a delegation from CARE International UK, I recently visited colleagues at CARE Peru (or Cah-Rey Peru as its pronounced in Spanish!) to witness how they are reaping real results in tackling the challenges of poverty and inequality in a ‘Middle Income Country’ (MIC).

A MIC is defined by the World Bank as any country with a Gross National Income per capita above $1000. The EU, UK and other donors are busy cutting aid to these countries,  arguing that in times of austerity development aid should be only be spent in Low Income Countries.

When I first worked in Kenya, 20 years ago, I saw how farming practices could provide a good life for men and women in rural villages even with little rainfall and where basic services, such as water and electricity were almost non-existent. Farmers and livestock keepers in the dry areas of Kenya have been, by necessity, resilient to difficult conditions. But this is at the cost of hard physical work over long hours on the farm alongside a constant search for additional income sources such as from small business activities just to feed the family and send children to school.

20 years on, rural communities are still dependent on the land but are now facing new challenges from the effects of climate change. Perhaps the biggest impact is the increased uncertainty of the weather patterns. Farmers are no longer sure when to plant, where to take animals for good grazing or when they will be affected by the increasing frequency of droughts and floods. This places a new demand on already vulnerable people. How can they adapt to climate change in the face of all this uncertainty?

As Usain Bolt pounded to the 200m finish line, displaying formidable human strength, my mind wandered to the Olympics and Paralympics aftermath. The Olympics this year closed to a new opening – one that is hoped to herald in new commitments to reducing malnutrition rates across the developing world.

Looking at Bolt’s muscles flexing across the screen, it seemed apt that the UK’s Hunger Summit on Sunday, which hopes to capitalise on the energy of the Olympics, was promoted by some of the UK’s leading athletes. Sportsmen such as David Beckham and Mo Farah must understand more than most the importance of nutrition.