Hunger No More
Third Quarter 2005
by Terry Woodnorth
"But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" Amos 5:24 TNIV
June 7, 2005, National Hunger Awareness Day
Hunger No More. Make Hunger History. Make Poverty History. The One Campaign. The Micah Challenge. Global Call to Action Against Poverty. The Hunger-Free Communities Act. Millennium Development Goals Resolution. These slogans, campaigns and legislative initiatives represent a movement that is growing in size and intensity to heed the call to act justly in response to the needs of the poor and hungry of our world.
Is it realistic to hope that poverty and hunger can be reduced so dramatically in the next decade that these scourges upon humanity can really become history, or at least be radically reduced? Hunger advocates, entertainment stars, and political and faith community leaders have come together as a diverse coalition to answer that question with a resounding Yes!
I joined more than 600 Christians (from food pantry workers to advocates against hunger to Executive Directors of relief and development organizations, primarily from the United States, but also from other countries including Canada and Haiti) on the campus of American University in Washington, DC, for the conference One Table, Many Voices: A Mobilization to Overcome Poverty and Hunger. We gathered June 4-7, 2005, for worship, reflection, advocacy training, and lobbying on Capitol Hill. It was described as the first time that so many people, organizations, and denominations have come together to bear witness for those who are hungry and poor. The song "Let Justice Roll" based on Amos 5:24 permeated the worship time during the conference.
The conference was co-sponsored by Bread for the World and Call to Renewal. Bread for the World is a nonpartisan citizens' movement of 54,000 people of faith, including 2,500 churches, which helps hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers on legislation that addresses hunger in our communities and around the world. Call to Renewal is a national network of churches, faith-based organizations, and individuals working to overcome poverty in America.
What's at Stake?
Worldwide, 10 million children die every year from preventable causes. Over 800 million people suffer from hunger. One woman dies every minute due to pregnancy or childbirth; 1.1 billion people lack access to clean water. Tuberculosis and malaria are on the rise—500 people die of TB everyday. There are 300-500 million cases of malaria each year.
In the United States, people are considered food insecure and at risk of hunger when they do not know where their next meal will come from or have to cut back on the types and amount of food they eat because they do not have enough money. In 2003, more than 36 million people, including 13 million children, were at risk of hunger in the United States. One in four people in a soup kitchen line is a child.
What Has Been Promised in the Past?
In 1963, President Kennedy told delegates to the first World Food Congress, "We have the means, we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the earth in our lifetime. We need only the will."
As a result of the 1996 World Food Summit, the U.S. government adopted the goal to cut U.S. food insecurity in half by 2010.
In September 2000, 147 leaders and 189 nations, including the United States, affirmed a set of international development goals in the U.N. Millennium Declaration. Known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) they have helped focus the energy and resources of the nations of the world on a common vision to address the issues of hunger, poverty and health. The promises found in the "Development and poverty eradication" section of the Declaration include the following:
11. We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected. We are committed to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want.
19. We further resolve to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water.
One of the most important paragraphs from the Declaration is paragraph 13:
Success in meeting these objectives depends, inter alia, on good governance within each country. It also depends on good governance at the international level and on transparency in the financial, monetary and trading systems. We are committed to an open, equitable, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading and financial system.
International Campaigns
A number of related campaigns are now in full swing to rally support behind these promises to reduce hunger and poverty.
The Micah Challenge is a global Christian campaign that aims to deepen engagement with the poor and to challenge leaders to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and so halve absolute global poverty by 2015.
The ONE Campaign is an effort by Americans to rally Americans—ONE by ONE—through a diverse coalition of faith-based and anti-poverty organizers to show the steps people can take, ONE by ONE, to fight global AIDS and poverty. You may have even seen the ONE video on television. Make Poverty History in the United Kingdom and Make Poverty History in Canada are similar campaigns.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are derived from the Millennium Declaration. In recent decades, many countries have made tremendous strides in improving the livelihoods of their people, but progress has slowed. The MDGs provide a framework for designing and implementing development programs. International institutions, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization, as well as governments, the private sector, private voluntary organizations (also now often referred to as civil society organizations), and citizens groups recognize their importance and usefulness.
The MDGs are a valuable tool for raising citizen awareness, coordinating action, and evaluating progress in the global effort to provide basic living conditions to millions of poor and hungry people. The following is a summary of those goals:
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day.
Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Target 3: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education no later than 2015.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Target 5: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Target 7: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Target 9: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
Target 11: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Target 12: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. Includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction —both nationally and internationally.
Target 13: Address the special needs of the least developed countries (LDC). Includes: tariff and quota free access for LDC exports; enhanced program of debt relief for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) for countries committed to poverty reduction.
U.S. Domestic Campaign
The Hunger-Free Communities Act, introduced in the U.S. Senate on May 25 and in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 26, would commit the United States to the goals of cutting U.S. food insecurity and hunger in half by 2010, ending U.S. hunger by 2015, and requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to report annually on progress toward those goals. It includes sense-of-Congress language protecting the structure and funding for the national nutrition programs, which include the Food Stamp Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and National School Lunch Program. Further, it authorizes $50 million for a grant program that would fund grassroots groups who collaborate to develop innovative strategies to end hunger, provide direct assistance, and strengthen public programs. Finally, it authorizes collection of hunger data at the county level.
"With the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives introducing this bill on consecutive days, a clarion call has been sent to our nation's leaders that we are moving closer to ending hunger in our nation, " said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "This legislation will also empower local groups to work together on solutions that fit the circumstances in their communities."
Signs of Hope
On June 6, 2005, I joined more than 1,000 people of faith in Washington National Cathedral for the first annual Hunger No More Interfaith Convocation. It brought together Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Muslims, and Buddhists for worship and commitment to ending hunger and poverty. The Most Rev. Njongonkulu W. H. Ndungane, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa (successor to Desmond Tutu), gave the keynote address, pronouncing this a "kairos" moment. Paul Wolfowitz, the new president of the World Bank also attended, although not as an invited guest.
Faith community leaders stated the following commitment: "We stand together as leaders of faith communities across the United States and we echo the sacred texts of our various faiths. We commit ourselves to building the will of our people and of our elected leaders to work for a time when families will no longer awaken with children malnourished. The Creator has given us the earth's abundance and blessed us with strength and knowledge. With God's grace may we 'wipe away every tear' and fashion a world in which children and families will hunger no more."
The congregation in attendance also articulated its commitment: "I commit myself in the presence of my brothers and sisters, before these children, and in the presence of the Holy One for a world in which hunger is no more. As individuals and as leaders of faith communities and organizations we will continue and expand ministries of feeding, gleaning and organizing to end hunger in our cities and towns. More than that, we will bring others in our synagogues and churches, our mosques, temples and communities into a movement that works to end hunger, poverty and disease in our world."
Writing this article is one way in which I am working to fulfill the commitment I made in Washington, D.C., on June 6.
Some of the goals and commitments articulated above by dozens of organizations and states around the world may sound idealistic or even utopian. But if they are taken as calls to action, and if the individuals, families, service organizations, religious institutions, businesses, civic organizations, governments, and international organizations involved will fulfill their own distinct and definite responsibilities, the potential for seriously reducing poverty and hunger is great. In fact, many leaders are making new efforts to fulfill such responsibilities.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with President Bush on National Hunger Awareness Day (June 7) to discuss aid for Africa in anticipation of the upcoming G-8 Summit in Scotland in July. Blair pushed for doubling aid from rich nations, which the U.S. government declined to match. British leadership in this area, despite reduced U.S. support, is still encouraging.
On June 11, the finance ministers of the G-8 industrialized nations agreed to write off more than $40 billion of debt owed by the poorest nations. Eighteen countries, many in sub-Saharan Africa, will benefit from the agreement to cancel the debt owed to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the African Development Bank. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow called it "an achievement of historic proportions."
Former Senator John Edwards (D-NC), now the director of the Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was this year's recipient of Call to Renewal's Joseph Award, which honors individuals who faithfully use their position of influence to benefit those in poverty. Mary Nelson, president of Bethel New Life, received the annual Amos Award for a person who comes from a humble background to serve God and community.
One hundred thirty emerging leaders (college students and young adults under age 30) attended the One Table, Many Voices conference. It is a wonderful sign of hope and encouragement that young people are an integral part of this movement.
Twenty-four countries eligible for assistance under the Millennium Challenge Account were honored at a reception at the French Embassy as part of the One Table, Many Voices conference. New compacts with Cape Verde and Nicaragua were also announced.
Actions to Take
No matter where in the world you live, there are numerous ways to take action and show support for this worldwide movement to end hunger and poverty:
1. Sign the Micah Call: ". . . what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).
"This is a moment in history of unique potential, when the stated intentions of world leaders echo something of the mind of the Biblical prophets and the teachings of Jesus concerning the poor, and when we have the means to dramatically reduce poverty.
"We commit ourselves, as followers of Jesus, to work together for the holistic transformation of our communities, to pursue justice, be passionate about kindness and to walk humbly with God.
"We call on international and national decision-makers of both rich and poor nations, to fulfill their public promise to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and so halve absolute global poverty by 2015.
"We call on Christians everywhere to be agents of hope for and with the poor, and to work with others to hold our national and global leaders accountable in securing a more just and merciful world."
2. Pray and worship The Micah Season of Prayer is from Sept. 11 to Oct. 16, 2005, in anticipation of the U.N. Millennium +5 Summit,, September 14-16 in New York. Watch for worship and prayer resources at Micah Callenge.
3. Add your signature to The One Declaration and wear a white armband.
4. Write your U.S. Representative to encourage him or her to sign the Millennium Development Goals Resolution (H. Con. Res. 172). The resolution does the following:
- Urges President Bush to use this year's G-8 and U.N. summits to increase development assistance and debt relief and to forge trade policies that will help Africa and other poor parts of the world reduce hunger, poverty and disease. In this spirit, the resolution:
- Reaffirms President Bush's support for the U.N. Millennium Declaration and supports a sustained U.S. commitment to work with other countries to advance the policy reforms, leadership, and resources necessary to reach the goals to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.
- Urges the President and his administration to use every opportunity, including the July G-8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, and the U.N. Millennium Summit in New York in September, to provide leadership and put forth the necessary U.S. share of resources to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
- Expresses profound gratitude for the compassion and generosity of the American people and their steadfast desire to promote global security and prosperity while striving to eliminate extreme poverty and human suffering.
5. Also encourage your U.S. Senators and Representatives to co-sponsor the Hunger-Free Communities Act, S. 1120 and H.R. 2717. The Bread for the World Make Hunger History campaign can assist you in your effort to mobilize your faith community in this effort.
As you pray, sign, affirm, and write, also consider how the position of responsibility you hold in your place of work, nonprofit or civic organization, church, school, or government may be exercised in new ways to help that organization do more to contribute to the alleviation of poverty and hunger whether close to home or on the other side of the world.
—Terry Woodnorth is a Center Associate, Bread for the World member, and a deacon at Valley Christian Reformed Church, Binghamton, NY.
