REVISED DRAFT
November 9, 1997
An important determinant of the success of renewed
efforts in the U.S. to achieve global food security are the resources
that are mobilized and used effectively to underwrite food security
efforts.
New thinking about resources for food security and
development has been prompted by a global decline in development
assistance to an all-time low level, an increase in private resources
for select developing countries, and by shifting roles among government,
civil society, and market institutions. These have set in motion
processes of government downsizing and decentralization, which
have given greater emphasis to local level governance and development.
The actual and potential assets of poor people themselves are
recognized increasingly as the cornerstone of development and
food security.
To mobilize additional resources and to use these
and existing resources more effectively requires careful assessment,
innovation, and leadership at the highest levels. It also requires
a willingness to examine basic precepts, including not only policies
and programs that promote food security but a wide range of policies
and programs that may undermine food security in low-income food
deficit countries.
MAXIMIZING
Greater awareness and understanding of hunger and
food security on the part of the American public, business, policymakers,
and the media is needed to generate additional resources. Leaders
can cultivate public commitment by articulating a vision of a
food secure world built through successful efforts of government,
private organizations, business, and individuals.
Measures designed to promote increased equity are
needed to achieve greater results with available resources.
The experience of a number of countries suggets that land reform,
universal education, and other distributive measures are a necessary
pre-condition for broad-based economic growth.
The unsustainable debt-servicing bills of low-income
food deficit countries diverts resources that otherwise could
be devoted to food security and development. Civil society organizations
in low-income food deficit countries call for specific earmarking
of debt relief for food security and other development purposes.
TARGETING
While priorities for resource targeting are best
established based on the needs of a specific locality, five areas
are likely to emerge as priorities in most low-income food deficit
countries.
Greater progress toward achieving food security can
be made through resources invested in addressing women's rights,
helping women to generate and control income, educating girls
and fostering women's leadership. This requires systematic efforts
to analyze food insecurity from a gender perspective and to formulate
policies and programs in light of the conclusions of such analysis.
In the long-term, it is important that food insecure
groups themselves have a greater ability to command the resources
needed to achieve food security through increased political clout.
Support for organizations of those involved in local food systems
can help food insecure populations to articulate their own vision
for a better future and to advocate on its behalf.
COLLABORATING
Policymakers, theorists and practitioners increasingly
view development as a process that requires an appropriate balance
in the roles of state, the market, and civil society. Greater
emphasis is given to how the sectors interact. "Without
collaborative action, the sectors often work at cross-purposes;
with collaborative action they can take advantage of creative
synergies and achieve outcomes that are impossible for any one
of them alone." Each brings distinctive strengths, weaknesses,
and insights to the development and food security effort. The
challenge is to strengthen or overcome the weaknesses of each
sector and to nurture processes that enhance collaboration on
the basis of mutual respect and transparency. Such collaboration
will facilitate optimal use of available resources.
Bilateral Government Programs
The U.S. government provides food security resources
through a variety of departments and agencies. The U.S. Agency
for International Development is the preeminent institution for
such assistance. The Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural
Service mobilizes resources and provides technical assistance
to develop food and agricultural systems around the world. The
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) facilitates private
U.S. investment in developing countries, in many cases in the
food or agriculture sector. The Trade and Investment Agency
of the U.S. government provides financing for feasibility studies
in areas identified as priorities by developing countries. Finally,
the U.S. contributes to multilateral development banks and United
Nations programs that are involved in food security activities.
During 1997 food security has emerged as a. foreign
policy priority for the U.S. USAID's new Strategy for Sustainable
Development gives greater prominence to agricultural and rural
development within the objective of promoting broad-based economic
growth. This greater emphasis should be reflected through an
increase in funding for food security programs to reduce the steep
declines that have occurred in recent years. For FY 98, Congress
is expected to approve the $30 million requested for agricultural
development in Africa in its proposed Africa Food Security Initiative.
Voluntary U.S. contributions to United Nations programs involved
in agricultural development and food security have declined significantly.
Assessed contributions will decline on a permanent basis if
the U.S. persuades other U.N. member countries to agree to a reduction
of U.S. assessed contributions to the U.N. from 25% of the total
to 20%. This would reduce U.S. contributions to the U.N. Food
and Agriculture Organization.
Multilateral Government Programs
The World Bank is increasing attention to food security
through its recently-adopted strategy for rural development.
Civil society organizations continue to press for greater participation
and equity in World Bank operations, including through the private
sector lending institutions, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee
Agency, and the International Finance Corporation.
Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative
is seen as an important but inadequate step toward relieving low-income
countries of unsustainable debt burdens. A more far-reaching
initiative that will ensure the availability of resources for
development and food security purposes is needed. Religious and
other civil society organizations have launched a global campaign
for debt relief, Jubilee 2000. Debt relief is likely to
be a priority concern of global civil society for the next few
years.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) was established in 1978 as a multilateral initiative to
reach small-scale agricultural producers. Over the years, IFAD
has supported pioneering efforts in village banking, micro-credit,
and other innovations to assist the poorest producers. U.S. support
for IFAD has waned in recent years, with current contributions
totaling only $5 million per year.
Civil Society Programs
Civil society organizations are involved in a wide
range of activities that are highly relevant to food security.
At the same time, food security, per se, has not
emerged as a clear focus among a large number of organizations
involved in overseas development. In general, private and voluntary
organizations have developed a specific capacity to work with
groups and individuals at the local level.
Beyond direct support for food security activities,
civil society organizations also carry out programs of constituency
education and mobilization. Food and hunger themes figure prominently
in these activities, particularly in organizations with a religious
or faith affiliation. Some of these activities are funded by
Biden-Pell development education grants. World Food Day annually
continues to provide a national focus on food and hunger issues,
but has not traditionally been linked directly with efforts to
mobilize resources for food security.
Dwindling contributions combined with increased fundraising
competition resulting from the proliferation of civil society
organizations has prompted some groups to launch innovative resource-generating
mechanisms. Among these are for-profit sales, marketing artesanal
and food products from developing country producers, establishing
credit card programs that generate contributions to the organization,
and social investing.
MAXIMIZING
The formulation of budget priorities
is a key issue in generating resources for achieving global food
security. Priorities too often are formulated on the basis of
outmoded policy frameworks, short-term and primarily geo-political
objectives, and the political clout of specific interest groups.
The articulation of a long-term vision and the exercise of leadership
from the highest levels is needed to establish more effective
priorities and to reallocate resources accordingly.
Government programs and policies that undermine local
food systems should be reviewed and resources redirected to programs
that strengthen local food security. Of particular concern are
macroeconomic structural adjustment programs whose provisions
may undermine already precarious food security in low-income countries.
Also of concern are skyrocketing arms sales, including U.S. government
and commercial sales, that fuel local conflicts and divert scarce
developing country resources.
TARGETING
The issue of criteria and conditionality
need to be addressed in relation to targeting resources. There
is a notable trend toward concentrating resources on those countries
that demonstrate the greatest readiness to pursue macro-economic
and governance reforms. Little attention has been given to the
impact of this trend on poor and food insecure people in those
countries that are not targeted. Macroeconomic conditionality
is rarely subject to public debate in countries where it is undertaken.
The formulation of an Action Plan for Food
Security as follow-up to the World Food Summit would provide
an opportunity to rationalize resource use within specific
low-income food deficit countries. It is critically important,
however, that such planning include the active and meaningful
participation of all stakeholders. Evidence to date suggests
that formulation of Action Plans in many food deficit countries
is unlikely to advance significantly without support from donor
countries or institutions.
Those involved in food security efforts need to update
models, methods, and approaches to ensure that resources
are used effectively. New approaches should incorporate lessons
of recent decades and insights articulated in global conferences
and summits. Among the most relevant lessons are the importance
of social capital and empowering poor people, especially women,
the need for an appropriate enabling environment, and the importance
of focusing efforts on the local, sub-national, and regional levels.
The social responsibility of business
is an issue of growing concern. The changing role of the state
has resulted in an expanded role for business in the development
process. The profit-making activities of business need to be
tempered by standards of the common good. Ethical standards and
the means by which they are ensured require further development.
Several initiatives have been undertaken in this area including
the Apparel Industry Partnership, and the proposed Sunshine Standards
for Corporate Reporting to Stakeholders.
Capacity building of civil society organizations
is needed if they are to fulfill their role in the process of
achieving the World Food Summit goal. This includes many different
aspects including network building and communication, research
and policy formulation , and more effective program implementation.
COLLABORATING
The development of partnership experiences and models
have occurred primarily between government and business or between
government and civil society. Relatively little progress has
been made toward fomenting partnerships between business and
civil society organizations or business, civil society, and
government. Efforts are needed to understand better the organizational
cultures of each sector and to bring the sectors together in a
productive fashion.
MAXIMIZING
The Campaign should involve presidential and other
highly visible leadership to catalyze a national vision by highlighting
success stories and reaching into workplaces, schools, voluntary
associations, local and state governments, business organizations,
ethnic groups, and religious organizations. The Campaign could
include a fundraising component that would match voluntary contributions
with government and business resources on the basis of an agreed-upon
formula.
A Food for All campaign would provide
a vehicle for exercising leadership to educate and mobilize public
opinion and to generate national commitment. The campaign could
also provide an opportunity to stimulate creative approaches and
responses to a global need. Immediate opportunities for action
by individuals through volunteer service, lifestyle choices, financial
contributions, or policy advocacy could be part of the campaign.
Such action opportunities would serve to reinforce learning
and deepen commitment.
Government, civil society, and business are involved
in a multitude of efforts to implement commitments undertaken
in relation to the series of U.N. conferences and Summits that
have been held over the past six years. Policies and programs
developed to follow-up to the summits and conferences could be
made more coherent and effective through consolidating and synthesizing
these efforts. The synthesis and harmonization of the insights
of these global events points toward the definition of a Human
Security Agenda, which should be reflected in U.S. policies,
programs, and resource allocations.
As the role of the private sector in development
changes and expands, these programs should be reviewed for their
actual and potential impact of food security. This review could
lead to the development of food security criteria to guide the
programs, could increase public accountability of these programs.
A better understanding of the food security impact of these programs
would determine whether they offer an opportunity for partnering
relationships for government, business and civil society.
Resources devoted to servicing debt in low-income
food deficit countries is a major obstacle to efforts by government
to promote greater food security. While an important step in
the right direction, the Highly-Indebted Poor Country Initiative
(HIPC) adopted by the World Bank does not go far enough to achieve
the degree of debt forgiveness needed by these countries. [HIPC
terms] Debt forgiveness for poor countries will be a very high
priority for the religious community around the world for the
next few years as the Jubilee 2000 campaign gets underway.
.
Civil society should survey and identify creative
mechanisms for resource mobilization. A means for disseminating
these experiences should be found to increase their potential
impact. A number of these efforts have the added benefit of providing
additional options for individual citizen action in support for
food security and development. This effort might be carried out
in conjunction with the proposed Consultation on Food Security
Partnerships, described below.
TARGETING
Setting a target of not less than 50 percent of bilateral
foreign assistance and trade enhancement resources to low-income
food deficit countries would reflect substantially revised priorities
that are more reflective of the preferences of the American public,
as reflected in numerous opinion polls.
The increased emphasis on agricultural and rural
development incorporated in USAID's Strategy for Sustainable Development
will become reality only if additional resources are shifted into
this area.
Strengthening the organizational capacity of rural
organizations could enhance their political clout and ability
to claim national resources for agricultural and rural development.
Food security programs are also likely to be more effective to
the extent that the rural people are enabled to identify their
vision, formulate action possibilities and policy needs, and implement
and evaluate such activities.
COLLABORATING
9. Government and civil society organizations
should convene a Consultation on Food Security Partnerships to
discuss appropriate roles of government, civil society and the
private sector in food security efforts, examine best practices,
and identify specific possibilities for collaboration. These
groups also could consider working in collaboration in support
of Food Summit follow-up by all stakeholders in specific low-income
food deficit countries. In conjunction with the convening of a
Consultation on Food Security Partnerships, civil society organizations
should convene a roundtable to examine their role in food security,
to exchange experiences, identify common interests and needs,
facilitate program collaboration, and to work together to influence
policy in favor of global food security.
A Consultation on Food Security Partnerships would
provide a critically needed forum for constructive and thoughtful
discussion among government, private sector, and civil society
on food security issues. Such a Consultation could help facilitate
greater consensus among diverse sectors in the U.S. on food security
issues.
Submitted by
Cheryl Morden
Church World Service/
Lutheran World Relief
Tel: 202-543-6336
Fax: 202-546-6232
e-mail: cmorden@igc.org