A New Era: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals

By Joan Holmes, President of The Hunger Project

Overview

The release of the UN Millennium Project action plan on January 17, 2005 marked the start of a new era for humanity, and a new era for The Hunger Project.

This is the first time in history that our community of nations has come together to create a unified plan of action to solve the basic issues facing humankind.

The action plan – “Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” – is designed to cut poverty and hunger in half by 2015, and to end these conditions altogether within the coming years.

For the past 15 years, The Hunger Project has pioneered large-scale, on-the-ground strategies that have proven effective at empowering people to achieve progress consistent with meeting the MDGs. As a member of the UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force, I was able to draw on our experience to ensure that critical issues, such as gender equality and social mobilization, were incorporated into the Hunger Task Force recommendations.

For humanity to achieve the MDGs, strategies like the ones we have pioneered will need to be taken to full national scale.

The Hunger Project totally and unequivocally supports the MDGs and the unified global strategy they call forth. We are aligned with these goals and will do everything possible to ensure that they are achieved.

This will be the essence of our discussion at our April meeting, and with this report I intend to provide the Directors with updates on our achievements appropriate to fueling that discussion.

My participation with the Hunger Task Force

As I reported in October, I saw that my contribution to the Hunger Task Force would be to work for the powerful incorporation of two issues: gender equality and social mobilization. These have formally been the two pillars of our own strategies since 1998. While these two issues have figured prominently in the rhetoric of development for many years and are of immense importance, they are yet to be given serious attention by the major players in the expert community.

As I stated on March 16 in a written statement to the UN Economic and Social Council on behalf of the Hunger Task Force, “The very institutions we are counting on to make up what I would call the structure for fulfillment for achieving the MDGs – the government ministries, the UN agencies, the research institutes, the international finance institutions, etc. – are in many cases top-down, hierarchical, patriarchal and non-participatory in their very nature.

“These institutions are perhaps well-suited to implementing technical solutions, but are not as well-suited to addressing issues in the social domain, such as gender and all forms of social exclusion.

“We do and will find it easier to improve soil fertility than to change the soil of inequality between men and women that gives rise to so much of the malnutrition in the world.”

While the challenge of keeping gender at the forefront of the MDG policy discussions is enormous, it is gratifying that I have been requested twice by the Hunger Task Force to represent them at UN meetings during March. In addition, as a result of participating with the Task Force, I have been invited to serve on the Board of the Yara Foundation in Norway which is awarding a Prize for a Green Revolution in Africa.

It was also enormously encouraging to receive a letter from the Nobel Peace Prize-winning father of the Green Revolution and a person who truly knows technical solutions—Norman Borlaug. In it, he wrote:

“I have spent 60 years seeing gender discrimination in scores of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. I agree with your call for action to remove this injustice. I will whole-heartedly back you. GO FOR IT!”

A new climate for development

Since 9/11, we have been living in a time of great fragmentation and polarization, when it has been extraordinarily challenging to stand as a global citizen, committed to global partnership and the resolution of hunger, poverty, HIV/AIDS and other global issues.

Yet, coinciding with the launch of the reports of the recommendations for meeting the MDGs, there has been a noticeable shift. The New York Times has carried frequent editorials calling for greater commitment. Time Magazine has featured Prof. Jeffrey Sach’s call for an end to poverty on its cover. The commitments called for by the Millennium Declaration from the wealthy countries – action to reduce debt, reduce trade barriers and increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) are on the policy agenda more seriously than they been in decades. Civil society organizations in both the developing and wealthy countries are banding together in new coalitions to advance this agenda.

The commitments made in the Millennium Declaration by developed countries for more aid, fairer trade and the resolution of debt – particularly as they relate to Africa – are being championed this year by Prime Minister Tony Blair, both through his own Blair Commission and through the UK chairmanship of the G8 this year. These and other factors have led many to declare that 2005 is a “make or break year” for the MDGs.

While the fragmentation and polarization persist, this new climate presents The Hunger Project with new openings and opportunities we intend to seize.

Response to the Tsunami

One example of the new climate was evident in the world’s response to the tsunami – not simply in the quantity of the response, but in the quality of communications around the response. Twenty years ago, when there were major international disasters, the cry was only for relief. Only the most progressive organizations (like The Hunger Project) communicated the need for long-term, authentic partnership. This time, the leaders of the wealthy countries themselves spoke out from the beginning that long-term partnership was essential, and that disaster relief must not detract from the far larger (yet far more cost-effective) work of development.

The response of our team in India to the devastation in Tamil Nadu State is an excellent demonstration that the best way to deal with natural disasters is for local communities to be well organized and well linked to wider society. Given the partnerships that The Hunger Project in Tamil Nadu has established with local communities and the local organizations over 14 years, The Hunger Project was on the spot immediately – bringing workability to a chaotic situation, restoring people’s confidence and working with communities to plan for their reconstruction.

Expansion in Africa

We declared that 2004 would be a major year for expansion of The Hunger Project. I would like to cite examples of this in Africa, and relate them to the MDGs.

Expansion into Ethiopia: Ethiopia is the second-largest nation in sub-Saharan Africa – a nation whose name has been synonymous with hunger and which has a per-capita GDP only one-fifth of the sub-Saharan African average. At the National Strategic Forum held there in December to officially inaugurate our programs, the MDG framework was utilized by all the experts in the room. At one point there was a debate – some experts held that eight goals were too many objectives to pursue simultaneously. After some time, one of the villagers in the first epicenter community mobilized by The Hunger Project intervened, saying, “I don’t understand this debate. The MDGs are the things we need, and we’re the one who will do the work to get them.”

Expansion in our epicenter strategy. This strategy – by its comprehensive, multi-sectoral design and its highly visible success – is an outstanding example of the kinds of strategy that would work in Africa to achieve the MDGs. We were successful in having the epicenter strategy highlighted in the report of the Hunger Task Force.

Breakthroughs in AWFFI: During 2004, the strengthening of our African Woman Food Farmer Initiative (AWFFI) organization that took place in 2003 resulted in a four-fold increase in the rate of giving loans in 2004. In addition, AWFFI is moving into a more sustainable phase through the establishment of women-owned, women-managed, government-recognized rural banks at the epicenters. In 2004, we doubled the number of banks that had achieved this recognition, from four to eight. Micro-credit is identified as a major priority in the strategies to achieve the MDGs, and The Hunger Project has experience to contribute as to the importance of linking micro-credit to a more holistic strategy.

Joining country teams: The main MDG implementation structure being put forward by the UN is the creation of “country teams” headed by UNDP and including all relevant UN agencies. Our Africa country directors are committed to being included in these country teams. Already, Senegal, Ghana and Benin have achieved this distinction. I will travel to Ghana in late May to meet with country directors from across Africa to develop this strategy, and to meet with Ghanaian officials and Ghana’s National Committee for the MDGs.

New Nutrition Focus in Asia and Latin America

As we worked to influence the Hunger Task Force report, we also examined our own programs to ensure that we were at the cutting edge in all the relevant areas identified in the report. We saw that in Asia and Latin America (in contrast to our African epicenters where we directly implement nutrition interventions), we are now in a position to add a stronger nutrition intervention component to our leadership training strategies. We have done a good job in setting the stage for this through the empowerment of women leaders who are committed to making improved nutrition a priority and who understand that women’s nutrition throughout her lifecycle is critical to the nutrition of the entire community.

Now we need to equip women leaders with the knowledge they need to translate their commitment into effective nutrition interventions and awareness campaigns in their villages. We met with the leaders of our Asia and Latin American programs during the UN’s “Beijing Plus 10” meetings in New York in March, and identified key actions steps we will take.

Expansion in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a paradox. Our programs for social mobilization continue to expand rapidly, and we are building ever-stronger national coalitions for gender, the environment and for political reforms to strengthen local democracy. Bangladesh has followed the prescription of the Millennium Project and drafted their official poverty reduction strategy strictly in terms of the MDGs. On the other hand, political corruption is rampant, there is a growing breakdown of law and order, violence is rising from religious extremists and the government appears unwilling or unable to address it.

Our program of focusing on specific unions (clusters of villages) and strengthening women’s leadership and local democracy in those unions – while achieving and measuring progress in the breadth of goals within the MDGs – has now expanded to 352 unions.

Our courageous leadership team is staying the course – continuing to move forward with our strategies, and looking for every opportunity to contribute to building authentic, stable and peaceful democracy in Bangladesh.

Expansion in India

The surprise election last summer of a new, pro-decentralization national government in India has catapulted The Hunger Project-India into a significantly prominent national position. The Prime Minister called for a series of Round Table meetings with the Central and State government ministers for local government, and The Hunger Project was one of only two NGOs in the country asked to organize these meetings. This, in turn, has led to invitations for The Hunger Project to organize similar meetings in some of the states.

The government has its own set of human development goals, the “Common Minimum Program,” that is perceived as being consistent with, but more ambitious than the MDGs.

Many of the states where we work have either just had, or are about to have panchayat elections. During these periods, The Hunger Project focuses its energy on pre-election awareness campaigns. Following the elections, we are planning for a burst of women’s leadership workshops.

New strategies in Latin America

As we shared at both of the last two Board meetings, 2004 was a year when we shifted from having modest but catalytic programs in Latin America, to having full-fledged strategies that are in a position to play an important role in achieving the MDGs among the marginalized indigenous communities in Latin America.

In Mexico, since our last Board meeting, we entirely redesigned our programs and implemented a new, decentralized program in six states. The training components of this strategy now incorporate gender in cutting-edge ways, and focus the mobilization of people on the 35 most high-leverage actions for the end of hunger.

In Peru, in the wake of hosting the Fourth Continental Meeting of Indigenous Women, our colleague Tarcila Zea is now playing a highly prominent leadership role on behalf of indigenous women in the international arena. She headed a delegation of 40 Latin American women during the recent Beijing Plus 10 meetings, during which The Hunger Project partnered with the human rights group Madre to co-host a session.

In Bolivia, our partnership with Radio ACLO has proven to be an invaluable source of empowerment to indigenous rural people at a time of national upheaval. The expanded number of “people’s reporters” we have trained are helping people understand the natural resource and decentralization issues now being debated, and are ensuring that the voice of grassroots people is heard in the national debate.

Progress in Investment

Last year was the first in which all Hunger Project fundraising countries worked within a unified strategic framework of fundraising. As a result, we had one of the most successful fundraising years in the history of The Hunger Project.

If you look at our fundraising overall – including funds raised in Mexico and India, and all the funds raised in partner countries including those needed to meet their own expenses, The Hunger Project raised a total of $9,647,000 in 2004 – a 21% increase over our very successful year in 2003. Excluding India and Mexico, the total was $9,347,000 – a 20% increase.

Our primary global fundraising measurement has not included Partner Country expenses – it includes all US fundraising plus the portion the Partner Countries send to global programs. Our final results by this measure, compared to 2003, were:

2004 2003 % Increase

United States $6.590M $5.765M 14%

Partner Countries $2.105M $1.482M 42%

Total Global $8.695M $7.247 20%

If we look at the total growth over the past two years since I began leading fundraising and introduced the strategic framework that we now use, this total has grown from $6.130 million in 2002 to $8.695 million, a total growth of $2.565 million, a 42% increase.

This year, we have set targets for $8+ million in the US and $2.5+ million in the Partner Countries for $10.5+ million overall, an increase of 21% over our 2004 result. To achieve this result, we have launched five new initiatives:

A new high-level appeal, the Millennium Development Campaign

Our first Global Investment Group expansion campaign in many years

An expanded focus on new investors through our volunteer activists

Greater focus on quickly following up with first-time investors, so that first-time investors have the opportunity to make a second gift within three months of their first.

A new “community foundation” campaign to build the awareness of The Hunger Project within a broader community of family and corporate foundations.

By the time we meet, we will be able to review the first quarter results of this year’s fundraising.

Plans for our fall event

Our Fall Event this year will be “The MDGs and The Hunger Project: A Global Citizen’s Briefing” on October 22 at the New York Hilton. That afternoon, we will hold a Policy Forum that delineates the entire policy framework through discussions by senior people in key areas like democracy, hunger, and HIV/AIDS. At the Evening Gala, we will showcase The Hunger Project’s groundbreaking contributions to the achievement of the MDGs.

Our next Global Board meeting will again be held on the Sunday morning following these events.