IRELAND STRENGTHENED its position as a privileged partner of the US in fighting hunger by co-sponsoring a conference in Washington yesterday.
The meeting, entitled “1,000 Days to Scale Up Nutrition for Mothers and Children; Building Political Commitment”, was organised by Concern and the US group Bread for the World.
Tom Arnold, the chief executive of Concern Worldwide, and Kevin Farrell, Ireland’s special envoy for hunger, opened the conference, alongside officials from the US and the UN.
Several hundred civil society activists from countries that are targeted by the nutrition initiative, including Malawi, Zambia, Uganda and Ethiopia, attended the conference.
In this way, Mr Arnold said, the “top down” approach that originated with the US and Irish foreign ministers converged with “bottom up” activism based on grassroots experience.
The purpose of the meeting, Mr Arnold said, was “to sustain the political momentum that has been building” since secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin launched the “1,000 Days” programme last September, and “to share our practical experience of what’s working and drive it forward”.
One thousand days refers both to the time from conception to a child’s second birthday, and to the duration of the initiative, which is now one quarter completed.
Fighting hunger is the biggest thing the US and Ireland do together. In his speech in Dublin on May 23rd, President Barack Obama praised Ireland’s role, saying: “Today, a people who once knew the pain of an empty stomach now feed those who hunger abroad.
“Ireland is working hand in hand with the United States to make sure that hungry mouths are fed around the world.”
“The people of the US and the people of Ireland are working together,” Mrs Clinton noted in a recorded video address.
The previous day, she and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore met in Tanzania to launch a nutrition initiative there.
Not only are nutrition and fighting hunger a worthy cause, Ireland’s role in what Mr Arnold has called “the Oslo of hunger” raises its profile on the world stage.
“Our big challenge (in Washington) is to be relevant and stay relevant,” said Ambassador Michael Collins. “This is an area where we can work very closely with the Americans. To be their preferred partner on this is hugely important to us.”
Speakers at the conference repeatedly called the hunger of hundreds of millions of children “scandalous” and “an obscenity”. “The bounty of our planet affords enough food for every human being,” said Maria Otero, the US undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs.
Three and a half million children die yearly from undernutrition.
David Nabarro, the UN secretary general’s special representative for food security and nutrition, noted that undernutrition in childhood leads to lifelong disabilities.
“One billion people – a sixth of the world’s population – are hungry,” Mr Nabarro said. “Another one billion are affected by a shortage of micro-nutrients. If you add these together, one third of humanity are affected by under-nutrition. This is an emergency that should be engaging every world leader.”
