Key questions remain unanswered as to whether today’s announcement of US$20 billion over three years for food and agriculture will truly deliver for one billion people suffering from hunger.
Despite the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative, an encouraging rebalancing between funding for food aid and aid for agriculture, the G8 is once again being opaque about the details of its financial commitments.
A Real Effort to Fight Hunger?
“The G8 wanted to pull a big rabbit out of the hat on the final day, but it’s still unclear how much of this sum is an illusion and how much is a real effort to end global hunger,” said World Vision’s Head of Public Affairs Patrick Watt.
Concerns about this Initiative include: How much of this is new money? Will it reach the countries most affected by hunger? How will the initiative be rolled out and how much of it will be loans and how much grants?
“Significantly, the Initiative does not yet include a donor-by-donor breakdown, making accountability impossible,” added Watt.
The Best Decision Yet
“Every six seconds a child dies of hunger-related causes,” says Watt, “Malnourished children in poor countries are twice as likely to die from such diseases as malaria and pneumonia. If this renewed focus on fighting global hunger is followed through, it will be the best decision the G8 leaders have made in L’Aquila.
“Considering their failure to meet their promise to double aid to Africa by 2010, the G8 must seize this opportunity to help save millions of lives and demonstrate global leadership.”
World Vision’s Activities
Prior to the summit, World Vision delivered more than 22,000 messages from its supporters to the G8 leaders. The messages urged the leaders to keep their promises on funding to the poor.
World Vision Canada president Dave Toycen also penned an op-ed article in the Toronto Star just before leaving for the summit.
The Italian Job
One of the key activities World Vision staged was a recreation of a scene from The Italian Job. World Vision supporters costumed as the G8 leaders were spotted in London and Rome loading Mini Coopers with bags of money.
The purpose of these stunts were to catch the media’s attention around the idea of a heist being pulled by the G8 leaders—a heist of funds that were previously promised as aid commitments. In catching the media’s attention, World Vision was able to highlight the issue and effectively call on the G8 leaders to support child-health initiatives and poverty reduction.
Watch the video “G8 Leaders Do an Italian Job”.
Setting the Agenda for 2010
Finally, World Vision Canada is working with other Canadian NGOs to respond to a statement expected from Prime Minster Harper on Friday regarding the agenda of the Canadian G8 Summit in 2010.
Learn more about World Vision’s role at this year’s G8 and why child health is so important.
