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02 August 2011
Foreign Policy publishes GPPi op-ed on reforming the Food Aid Convention
On 29 July 2011, GPPi Research Associate Alexander Gaus and Associate Director Julia Steets published a commentary titled Against the Grain on the website of Foreign Policy magazine. The piece is about how to improve the Food Aid Convention, a global treaty to ensure a minimum level of food assistance from the world’s top donors.
The current humanitarian crisis in East Africa makes it clear that food assistance will continue to be an important life-saving tool. However, Gaus and Steets argue that the Food Aid Convention is outdated and ill-equipped to deal with today's realities.
Right now, the convention allows signatories to fulfill their commitments primarily through providing bulk commodities such as wheat and rice. Meanwhile, it provides few incentives for donors to support more innovative and effective practices like highly nutritious products or direct cash and voucher programs, which can work well when local markets still exist. Because these new food assistance approaches are not yet "eligible" to meet the signatories' commitments, donors are in effect discouraged from providing them more often. Gaus and Steets suggest that a revised convention should provide increased incentives for cash and voucher programs and the provision of more nutritious food aid. It should also acknowledge the importance of preparing the ground for long-term solutions early on in a crisis and include rehabilitation and recovery programs related to livestock and agriculture. This is an essential step to make food aid less necessary in the future.
With the EU and the US as the main signatories of the convention, the op-ed gives recommendations for both parties on how to address the most contentious issues. Gaus and Steets argue that both sides must work together and show leadership when they meet over the next few months to renegotiate the convention.
To read the article Against the Grain, click here.
For further information, please contact Alexander Gaus.