CRS calls for increased U.S. role in fighting global hunger

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CRS calls for increased U.S. role in fighting global hunger
February 25, 2003, Washington, DC - As global hunger crises around the globe escalate, the U.S. Government should support the unique role of American private voluntary organizations (PVOs), which represent the spirit of American generosity and address long-term hunger needs through effective local partners, according to a Catholic agency official who testified at a Congressional hearing today.

"The problem of hunger is age-old; the President’s support for faith-based and private efforts to provide accountable solutions, though, has never been more possible and relevant," said Catholic Relief Services Executive Director Ken Hackett in his address to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

More than 30 million Africans alone are facing the risk of starvation as drought, HIV/AIDS, war and civil unrest, and poor and unaccountable governance plague the region. The United States, with its abundant wealth and generosity, can most effectively aid the poor, sick and malnourished in Africa, Asia and Latin America by supporting private, civil society responses in those countries. American PVOs, Hackett said, "work through networks of partners that provide a level of accountability, community access, and knowledge that most governments in the developing world are unable to provide."

In an era when the United States is confronting terrorism and insecurity, organizations such as Catholic Relief Services act as unofficial ambassadors of the American people, and work to build relationships among people of all backgrounds. "The interaction on a human level when Americans of different faiths, ethnicities, political views, and backgrounds directly engage in the oversight of official and private humanitarian and development assistance builds bonds of solidarity that can overcome and transcend stereotypes, and media projections of Americans," Hackett said.

Hackett urged lawmakers to support the humanitarian work of these diverse agencies through U.S. foreign and food aid programs. "Our official government-to-government and multi-lateral assistance is neither a complete nor adequate manifestation of our nation," he said.

Hackett emphasized that total global needs greatly exceed the resources available now. He urged Congress to provide $250 million in emergency supplemental funding in addition to the recently approved omnibus 2003 spending bill that included $250 million for emergency food aid for Africa.

In written testimony, Hackett said his agency is increasingly challenged by budget shortfalls and administrative delays dealing with U.S. aid programs, noting that millions of people in southern Africa and the Horn of Africa had to wait for critically needed food supplies because of a three-four month holdup in the approval of a joint PVO proposal. He asked Congress to support initiatives underway to streamline approval procedures.

He also requested greater support of PVO efforts to improve local capacities to deal with food insecurity through long-term agricultural, education, health and economic development programs. "Food is not a panacea," Hackett said. "Simply feeding people will not solve the problem of hunger.

Hackett called for a minimum budget of $1.4 billion in 2004 to fund such long-term development programs.

Catholic Relief Services is a signatory of "The Baltimore Declaration," a pledge by a group of 15 American humanitarian organizations and the United Nations World Food Program to act cooperatively in response to the food shortage emergency in Africa.

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