With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the Bread for the World Institute released its timely 2011 Hunger Report, with an event Monday at the National Press Club, featuring USAID administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah and recent World Food Prize winner and Bread for the World President David Beckman.

As American families prepare to gather with friends and loved ones to share a large meal this week, the panelists helped to highlight the growing global food crisis, estimating that 925 million people worldwide will go hungry in 2010 due in large part to soaring global food prices.

Fortunately, the US government has recently stepped up its response to hunger and malnutrition, thanks primarily to the new Feed the Future initiative that focuses on “improving the productivity and livelihoods of smallholder farmers.” This initiative isn’t about handing out emergency food aid, but empowering farmers to get the support they need to respond to high food prices. Now, this is a cause that we at ONE can get behind!

The program, which is working in 20 countries including Rwanda, Ghana and Tanzania, works with national governments for in-country leadership and ownership, all of which involves sustainable agriculture-led development. As Dr. Shah says, this is the way “to help the most people help themselves out of poverty.”

The new USAID approach means focusing on women farmers, as women produce between 60 to 80 percent of food in developing countries. It also means putting to use new technology to help smallholder farmers “deliver results on a large scale,” whether this means using YouTube to help farmers in India communicate with each other, or creating a new variety of maize to resist drought in East Africa.

Programs like Feed the Future are more important than ever. Global food prices are thankfully lower than their peak in 2008, but they are still higher than pre-crisis levels. As a result, poor families are spending 60 to 80 percent of their income on food.

The US has committed $3.5 billion to the global hunger and food security initiative, but policymakers must make sure this promise is carried out over the next three years. Check out Bread’s new report as you head home for Thanksgiving and make sure you tell your representatives to support Feed the Future to ensure nobody has to go hungry this holiday season!

The Huffington Post just did a great interview with David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World and winner of this year’s World Food Prize.

Mr. Beckmann is truly a modern-day Renaissance man (he’s a Lutheran minister, an economist and author of “Exodus from Hunger“), so it’s great to get to read a bit more about him, particularly about his upbringing and faith. Read the interview if you can — he says some really insightful things about poverty in America and the need for Americans to vote.

Photo courtesy of Bread for the World

It has been a good October for David Beckmann, head of Bread for the World (and my former boss) personally, and for we anti-hunger advocates generally. Last week, David — anti-hunger activist, Lutheran pastor and president of Bread for the World — received the 2010 World Food Prize (the Nobel Prize equivalent for food and agriculture) at a ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month.

October saw the launch of David’s latest book as well. In the new book, “Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger,” David argues that we can end world hunger in our lifetime. He makes an passionate plea for all ordinary citizens, especially people of faith, around the country and the world, to muster up the political will to end global hunger.

David combines an optimism born from faith and a down-in-the trenches approach to ending hunger. Since he’s a pastor and an economist, his combing of the two comes as no surprise. The pastor sees people moving out of poverty as part of “God moving in our time.” At the same moment, the former World Bank economist sees the economy as crucial. David relates that we “can moderate what the economy is doing to hungry and poor people and set the stage for rapid gains against hunger and poverty once the economy recovers. In fact, I think God is calling us to change the politics of hunger.”

Congratulations to David on the prize and the book. Head over to his website to find out more about the book and get your own copy.

Election raises concerns about suppression of rights – Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, is set to win another term Tuesday in an election marred by killings, a lack of credible political opponents and censorship. Critics are calling the leader the continent’s latest strongman, suppressing human rights to deepen his grip on power. (Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post)

American leadership crucial at MDG Summit – President of Bread for the World, Rev. David Beckmann, argues that by showing leadership on foreign assistance reform at the upcoming Millennium Development Goals Summit, President Obama will “attach actions to his words on development“ and hopefully lead others to empower the world’s poorest people to realize a brighter future. (Huffington Post)

U.S. plan fails to end Africa’s trade isolation – Ten years after the U.S. adopted the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) – a program that boldly proclaimed it would help end Africa’s isolation from world trade – American officials are being candid about its failures, emphasizing its modest results despite “the highest of hopes.” (Alan Beattie, Financial Times)

Sierra Leone taking initiative for maternal health – Health advocate, Mary Robinson, highlights the major steps Sierra Leone has taken in promoting maternal health and gender equality, both for its people and globally as a model of leadership and initiative in this critical area. She calls for other nations to look to Sierra Leone as an example as we move toward review of the Millennium Development Goals.

Rotavirus vaccines save poorest children, say reports – Trials in Asia and Africa show rotavirus vaccines can prevent between 39 to 48 percent of infections among children in some of the poorest countries in the world, with new reports urging governments of developing nations to make the vaccines a priority. (Maggie Fox, Reuters)

As you may have read from the blog post last week, two of our partners, David Beckmann of Bread for the World and Jo Luck of Heifer International, were awarded the World Food Prize. We would like to congratulate them once again for their achievements and efforts to fight global hunger.

During the 2010 World Food Prize Laureate Announcement Ceremony, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled a new research partnership: the Norman Borlaug Commemorative Research Initiative, named in honor of the dedicated plant scientist who is often called the father of the Green Revolution. This collaborative effort will combine the knowledge and resources of USAID and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to address the pressing needs of the rural poor. It will also work together with U.S. university scientists and their counterparts in developing countries. “We are committed to fight the twin afflictions of hunger and poverty,” said Secretary Clinton. She believes the question is “not whether we can end hunger but whether we will, because we think it truly is a matter of political will and capacity.”

Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of USAID, highlighted some of the specific features of the initiative. The program will involve a focus on core productivity, a careful prioritization of the best investments, and a “milestones-and-outcomes-based” funding approach. Following Administrator Shah, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack reminded us of the miracles that can happen when we remove our fear of giving to others. “When we remove that fear of sharing,” said Secretary Vilsack, “we are not only helping those who are in need; we are indeed receiving back far more than we are giving.” The full transcript can be found here.

This initiative confirms the administration’s stated commitment to agriculture. We are excited about this initiative and hope that it will result in new agricultural innovations and solutions for farmers around the world. We also look forward to additional details about the governance and scope of the program.

The World Food Prize has posted some great bios, videos and photos of both winners. Make sure to check them out here.

And we’ve now got some video from yesterday’s ceremony, too. This includes speeches by Secretaries Clinton and Vilsack, along with USAID Administrator Raj Shah who all spoke at the State Department ceremony. The full video is posted below, but here’s a quick excerpt from Secretary Clinton:

After he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007, Dr. Borlaug [the founder of the World Food Prize] urged our country to increase our stake in the fight against hunger. He said, “World peace will not be built on empty stomachs or human misery. It is within America’s technical and financial power to help end this human tragedy and injustice, if we set our hearts and minds to this task. We have the commitment, we have the technical power, and we intend to make this happen.

“David Beckmann and Jo Luck are receiving the World Food Prize for their landmark achievements in building Bread for the World and Heifer International into two of the world’s foremost grassroots organizations leading the charge to end hunger and poverty for millions of people around the globe.”

The announcement was made around noon today in a ceremony at the State Department with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and USAID Administrator Raj Shah. The award will be officially presented October 14, at the state Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa.

For more info on David Beckmann and Jo Lock’s work, click here and here. We’ll be posting more news about the big announcement soon, so stay tuned!

On the flight back I had a long conversation with another delegation member, who is sort of the ambassador of the Protestant Church to Germany and the EU, about all the everlasting impressions the trip had on us. We could think of so many and I’d like to share some of these with you:

Find out more and RSVP by clicking the links below—and don’t forget to tell your family and friends to sign-up, too!

May 5-6
Save the Children
Advocacy Day 2010

May 11-12
CARE
2010 National Conference and Celebration

June 2-4
InterAction
Forum 2010: Moving at the Speed of Change

June 14-18
Global Health Council
Dateline 2010: Global Health Goals & Metrics

June 15
Bread for the World
Lobby Day 2010

June 20-22
RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund
Celebrating the Past, Shaping the Future: 30 Year of RESULTS

July 21-22
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition
2010 Washington Conference

“We began with a tiny seed of an idea, but the seed had life and, when planted, God gave it growth.”

-Rev. Art Simon, The Rising of Bread for the World

We’re all in this movement together because we want to see change. We want our concern about poverty, hunger, and disease to help real people. We know that advocating for better policies is crucial to making this happen.

But when change seems to be taking forever, it can help to take a longer view. The great thing about advocacy is that once improvements are made, they continue to help people year after year.

A new book by Rev. Art Simon, founder of Bread for the World—a hunger advocacy group and ONE partner)—shows what can be accomplished when people all over the country contact Congress to urge for changes that help poor people (Simon is wrapping up a book tour on April 11 in Appleton, WI.).

One example from the book is the impact of establishing the Child Survival Account. Bread members successfully urged Congress to create the account in 1985. Every year since, it has immunized 100 million children. Since the account was established, the number of children dying of preventable causes has dropped from 40,000 to 26,000 per day. Both these numbers are still way too high—but the lives of 14,000 children every day are worth fighting for.

-Michele Learner, Bread for the World