USAID/Senegal Feed the Future Activities

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

At the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy in July 2009, global leaders committed to “act with the scale and urgency needed to achieve sustainable global food security.”1 They recognized that the combined effect of longstanding underinvestment in agriculture and food security, historically high and volatile food prices, and the economic and financial crisis was increasing dramatically the number of poor and hungry and jeopardizing global progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). By robbing people of a healthy and productive life and stunting the development of the next generation, hunger leads to devastating consequences for individuals, families, communities, and nations. At L’Aquila, leaders called for increased investment in agriculture and rural development as a proven lever for combating food insecurity and as an engine for broader economic growth, prosperity, and stability.

Feed the Future (FTF), the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, renews our commitment to invest in sustainably reducing hunger and poverty. At L’Aquila, President Obama’s pledge of at least $3.5 billion for agricultural development and food security over three years helped to leverage and align more than $18.5 billion from other donors in support of a common approach. The 2009 G8 and G20 Summits established a framework for coordinated and comprehensive action among host governments, donors, civil society, the private sector, and other stakeholders. The five principles of a common approach, first articulated at L’Aquila, embrace the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action, and were endorsed unanimously as the Rome Principles for Sustainable Food Security by 193 countries at the 2009 World Summit on Food Security.

We are guided by the Rome Principles as we work alongside development partners to support processes through which countries develop and implement food security strategies and investment plans that reflect their needs, priorities, and development strategies. The country-owned plans, referred to in this document as Country Investment Plans (CIPs), serve as the foundation for countries to mobilize resources and coordinate with development partners to accelerate their progress toward the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger and poverty by 2015. As described in the Rome Principles, we commit to work in partnership to:

» »Invest in country-owned plans that support results-based programs and partnerships, so that assistance is tailored to the needs of individual countries through consultative processes and plans that are developed and led by country governments

» »Strengthen strategic coordination to mobilize and align the resources of the diverse partners and stakeholders – including the private sector and civil society – that are needed to achieve our common objectives

» »Ensure a comprehensive approach that accelerates inclusive agricultural-led growth and improves nutrition, while also bridging humanitarian relief and sustainable development efforts

» »Leverage the benefits of multilateral institutions so that priorities and approaches are aligned, investments are coordinated, and financial and technical assistance gaps are filled

» »Deliver on sustained and accountable commitments, phasing-in investments responsibly to ensure returns, using benchmarks and targets to measure progress toward shared goals, and holding ourselves and other stakeholders publicly accountable for achieving results.

A family is considered food secure when its members do not live in hunger or fear of hunger. Food security is defined as having four main components: availability, access, utilization, and stability. Families and individuals require a reliable and consistent source of quality food, as well as sufficient resources to purchase it. People must also have the knowledge and basic sanitary conditions to choose, prepare, and distribute food in a way that results in good nutrition for all family members. Finally, the ability to access and utilize food must remain stable and sustained over time.