President Obama just gave a really important speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, which outlined a new alliance against global hunger and next steps to help improve food security around the world. We wanted him to put this issue on the agenda at the G8, and boy, did he do that in a bold way!
Check out this great quote:
“This weekend at the G-8 we’ll be representing many of the largest economies in the world. We face urgent challenges—creating jobs, addressing the situation in Europe, and sustaining the global economic recovery. But even as we deal with these issues, I felt it was important to also focus on the urgent challenge that confronts some one billion men, women and children around the world every day—the injustice of chronic hunger and the need for long-term food security.”
The United States’ New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition will work closely with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, President John Atta-Mills of Ghana, and President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete with the help of African Union Chair Boni Yayi, President of Benin, to help solve the continent’s hunger crisis. These leaders have vowed to make food security a priority for their countries and beyond, and will specifically work to promote agricultural growth and raise 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years.
The best part of the New Alliance is that it truly puts the power in the hands of African governments, allowing donor countries and the private sector to align their assistance with individual country plans.
“There is no reason why Africa should not be feeding itself,” he said.
President Obama said that as long as he is in power, the US will remain a global leader in development, with the fight against global hunger at the forefront. Here’s another great quote from his speech on that note:
“As President, I consider this a moral imperative. As the wealthiest nation on earth, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition—and to partner with others. So we take pride in the fact that—because of smart investments in nutrition, agriculture and safety nets—millions of people in Kenya and Ethiopia did not need emergency aid in the recent drought. Still, when tens of thousands of children die from the agony of starvation, as in Somalia, that’s unacceptable. It’s an outrage.”
Keep an eye on the ONE Blog for more analysis on his speech from our policy experts over the next few days. In the mean time, join us in thanking President Obama for putting global food security at the top of his G8 Summit agenda by sending him a thank you message via Tweet or Facebook Status:
TWITTER: .@WhiteHouse, thank you for putting food security at the top of your #G8 agenda @ONECampaign #letsthrive #globalag
Thank you for your support on global agriculture through the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. We look forward to following the progress of the Alliance in helping to raise 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years.
Sincerely,
NAME, ONE member
Read more about President Obama’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutritionhere, and his full remarks from today’s speechhere. And be sure to read our press release here.
Photo credit: @DerekYach via Twitter
Clear some space in your schedule this Friday for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, a discussion on new activities to advance global agricultural development, food and nutrition security in Africa.
Bono and President Obama, at last year’s World AIDS Day event, will meet again at the Chicago Council’s Symposium on Global Agriculture. Photo credit: Ralph Alswang/ ONE.
This event is a dream come true for us here at ONE — we’ve been trying to “plant the seed” in the G8 to put sustainable global agriculture at the top of their agenda at this year’s summit. And now, thanks to this event, President Obama, G8 and African leaders, businesses, international organizations and civil society, Bono and more will have the opportunity to devote time and attention to this topic. Although we can’t be certain it will affect the outcomes of the Summit, we think it’s a great way to kick off the G8.
We were pleased that both President Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron mentioned their support for our issues in their remarks at Mr. and Mrs. Cameron’s official White House arrival ceremony this morning. The visit symbolizes the countries’ deepening relationship, as outlined in their joint op-ed in the Washington Post yesterday.
As the UK Prime Minister David Cameron visits Washington, Michael Elliott, ONE’s President and CEO responds to today’s joint article by the Prime Minister and US President Barack Obama in the Washington Post. In the article they make clear that they “embrace their responsibility as leaders in the development that enables people to live in dignity, health and prosperity.”
ONE welcomes the support of the Prime Minister and President for investment in food security, their work to improve maternal health and reduce the preventable deaths of children, and their ‘renewed commitment’ to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria and reaching the ‘beginning of the end of AIDS’. We also applaud their recognition of the importance of the Open Government Partnership, which will help to make governments all over the world more transparent and accountable.
Emily Korenak from ONE’s US advocacy team reports on a recent ONE event in Washington, D.C.
What’s nice about living in Washington, D.C., is that we’re not far away from the White House -– so if there’s anything that we want to say, we can always go right up to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and share our message.
That’s just what we did last Friday. A group of 19 ONE interns, staffers and members of George Washington University’s ONE chapter participated in a photo shoot in front of the White House to send President Obama a strong message in support of foreign aid: “What happens there matters here.”
Although President Obama did not mention our issues during the State of the Union last Tuesday, he did discuss and defend foreign aidduring his Google+ Hangout session this week, which aimed to give Americans a chance to personally ask him about his policies and administration through social media.
A homeless veteran in Boston asked President Obama why the US should be spending so much on foreign aid when so many Americans are hurting at home. Obama responded, “We only spend about 1 percent of our budget on foreign aid. But it pays off in a lot of ways.” It goes toward helping countries improve their economies and prevent famine, avoiding “some military crisis somewhere down the road that could be even more expensive.”
He goes on to say, “So, aside from it being the right thing to do, as a very wealthy country… it’s also important to make sure that people understand this is part of our overall security strategy.”
Listen to his quote here:
ONE members were asked last week to vote on a question on the beginning of the end of AIDS from ONE member and University of Florida student Liz, but it was not chosen for Obama’s Google+ event. We will continue to keep HIV/AIDS on the president’s radar at events like this one and beyond.
In case you missed ONE and (RED)’s World AIDS Day event on Twitter earlier today, you can watch a recorded video of our event in the player below. President Obama made a bold commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS, former President George W. Bush and President Jakaya Kikwete joined us from Tanzania, and President Bill Clinton brainstormed real solutions to the AIDS epidemic.
Note that the event starts at 16:20:
In addition, here’s a recap of our World AIDS Day conversation on social media:
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