International conference on food assistance, hosted by GPPi and Cornell University

The Global Public Policy Institute and Cornell University held from 8-9 July 2010 the fourth Transatlantic Dialogue on Humanitarian Action, this one on humanitarian food assistance.

With global food insecurity on the rise, efficient food assistance is urgently needed. The current food crisis in Niger, for example, shows that both adequate funding and donor coordination are vital to help those subjected to food insecurity. Policymakers should continue to explore venues for greater donor coordination and build on the momentum created by recent high-level government discussions on the role of the Food Aid Convention in the international aid architecture.

Titled "Uniting on Food Assistance: Promoting Evidence-Based Transatlantic Dialogue and Convergence," the conference brought together professionals from all the relevant sectors – governments, non-governmental organizations, inter-governmental organizations, business and universities. Participants debated pressing issues around humanitarian food assistance and the renegotiation of the Food Aid Convention.

The conference was part of a new research and dialogue project by GPPi and the Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University. Launched in April 2010, the Uniting on Food Assistance project seeks to create an evidence-based dialogue on best practices in food aid and food assistance in order to assist transatlantic partners in identifying points of prospective agreement and to inform the upcoming Food Aid Convention renegotiations.

The project has two components: (1) applied research, with an initial meta-study and three empirical case studies, and (2) transatlantic dialogue, which brings together key policymakers and relevant experts in two high-level conferences. The 8-9 July conference was the first of these two.

Participants and speakers at the conference included, among others: Markus Löning, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid; Catherine Bertini, former Executive Director, World Food Programme; Jean-Jacques Graisse, former Deputy Executive Director, World Food Programme; Etsuo Kitahara, Executive Director, International Grains Council; Jan-Artur Sienczewski, Head of Unit, Food Aid, European Commission DG ECHO; Dale Skoric, Chief, Policy and Technical Division, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, USAID; and Leslie Norton, Chair of the Food Aid Committee.

At the conference, GPPi presented a research framework to the researchers, policymakers, humanitarian practitioners and other stakeholders gathered in Berlin. GPPi will now use the input to refine key research questions.

A second conference – the fifth Transatlantic Dialogue on Humanitarian Action – will bring stakeholders together in Washington, D.C., in March 2011 to develop and refine recommendations. These recommendations will be presented to the European Commission and the United States Government in 2011 to inform their positions regarding Food Aid and Food Assistance for the Food Aid Convention renegotiation process and the wider E.U.-U.S. Summit.

For more information please contact Alexander Gaus