Tackling rural poverty, together

Extract

The Alliance will bring together the strengths of different groups into a single effort, to work harder to create the policy environment, provide the funding and implement the programmes to allow people to overcome hunger and poverty.

The idea of an international alliance was proposed by Johannes Rau, President of the Federal Republic of Germany on World Food Day in 2001. He urged the formation of an alliance to counter the faltering political will that prevented nations from allocating adequate resources to fight hunger and poverty. Enthusiasm for the initiative grew and, by the following year, participants at the World Food Summit: five years later entitled their final declaration an “International Alliance against Hunger”. It is the hope of many that this Alliance gains support and leads to strong political will that will put in place programmes to eliminate the misery caused by hunger and poverty.

The Alliance provides a forum for advocacy promotes joint actions by its members and facilitates information exchange - through Web sites, newsletters and progress reports. Partners of the Alliance can offer assistance in their spheres of competence, which may include technical training, policy advice and monitoring the progress of hunger reduction strategies. Together, these activities will help to attract increased funding from financing institutions, the private sector and other donors.