Allan Jury of the World Food Programme talks about the Roadmap to End Global Hunger

Millions of lives depend daily on the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the largest food aid organization in the world. Just look at the conflict in Yemen for an example of how crucial WFP is. Fighting in the northern part of the country (Sa'ada) has displaced tens of thousands of people in recent years. This conflict has escalated in recent weeks, causing more people to be displaced and in need of humanitarian aid. WFP recently airlifted food from its Dubai hub to help those suffering from the fighting.

But the Yemen situation also points to a tragic aspect of WFP's work, funding shortages. In Yemen, because WFP could not collect enough donations, it had to cut back on rations in July for those impacted by the conflict. The suspension of school feeding programs for children throughout Yemen is another victim of the funding shortfall.

In fact, globally WFP is facing funding shortages for many of its operations, at the worst possible time with the number of hungry growing.

U.S. leadership is needed to rally the world in the struggle to defeat hunger. There is legislation in Congress titled the Roadmap to End Global Hunger (H.R. 2817) that would craft the U.S. response to the crisis. Allan Jury, director of WFP US relations, recently discussed the Roadmap to End Global Hunger legislation.

More than 1 billion people now suffer from chronic hunger worldwide. How important is it for the U.S. Congress to act on the Roadmap to End Global Hunger legislation?

The world has made great strides against hunger and poverty in recent decades: starting in the 1960s, the percentage of chronically hungry people declined from 37 percent of the world's population to about 13 percent today. Tragically, the twin catastrophes of the global food and financial crises are starting to reverse these hard-won gains, producing an unprecedented rise in absolute numbers of the hungry.

Much of the progress the world has made is due in no small part to US foreign assistance and the generosity of American citizens. The Roadmap builds on this legacy of US leadership in helping the world's hungry poor to construct a broad framework of legislative actions that encompasses the spectrum of anti-hunger efforts - from food and interventions to agricultural programs that help small-scale farmers. The Roadmap legislation has bipartisan sponsorship from two of the leading Congressional voices in the fight against hunger - Rep. James McGovern and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. The legislation is based on a report authored by six of the leading U.S. international humanitarian organizations which has been endorsed by more than 30 aid agencies.

We believe that this vision of invigorated US global leadership on hunger is vital not only for moral and humanitarian reasons, but for social, economic and political security in the longer term.

How would the Roadmap legislation change the way the international community works with the United States Government on fighting global hunger?

The legislation would require a comprehensive US strategy to fighting hunger that would increase investments in four areas - emergency food assistance, food safety nets, nutrition and agricultural development.

Increased investments in all four of these areas is essential to making a significant impact in reducing hunger. The roadmap highlights the need to broaden the range of activities supported by the US Government to support hunger reduction to complement essential existing food aid and agricultural development programs. More use of cash for emergency responses such as local and regional purchase and food vouchers; expansion of national food safety nets; focused interventions on prenatal and children under 2 nutritional needs, and innovative technical assistance programs to increase agricultural development are supported by the roadmap.

The Roadmap would also establish a US government coordination structure that would support effective implementation of a comprehensive US strategy on international hunger reduction. This would provide the policy, institutional, and program framework to secure the US role as the global leader in building an international coalition to fight hunger.

When Herbert Hoover served as a food ambassador after World War II, he helped coordinate a global response to fighting hunger. The Roadmap calls for a Cabinet-level official to coordinate US hunger response. Would that be a positive step, in your view?

It's not up to WFP to advise the US government on how to administer its foreign aid programs. However, it would clearly be useful to have a mechanism to ensure that all strands of US food security policy implementation work together in a coordinated way.

The recent G-8 summit called for an investment of 20 billion over three years toward agriculture development and other food security measures to combat world hunger. How does this dovetail with the aims of the Roadmap?

Admirably. We welcome the high-profile commitments to establishing food security at a time when the absolute number of the hungry has reached historic highs. At the very moment when WFP is needed most, global food supplies are at a 20-year low (Only 6.3 million tons of food aid was delivered in 2008 compared to 13.2 million tons in 1990). WFP has long urged the industrialized world to reverse the shameful decline in long-term agricultural development assistance. However, even if food productivity is doubled in developing countries, the real challenge will remain the ability of poor people to access food. We really do need a comprehensive approach to food security - like the one advocated by the Roadmap - that addresses short-term and long-term measures to ensure food security, as well as protects the most vulnerable people in the interim.

Food and nutrition programs are among the most cost-effective development interventions - raising the economic growth potential of developing countries. We simply can't afford to let another generation go hungry.

The G-8 statement on food security also mentioned the importance of "school feeding and mother-and-child nutrition programs." How important are these programs for any strategy to fight hunger and can the Roadmap legislation advance them?

The Roadmap enshrines the concept that the only effective way to conquer hunger is through a comprehensive and coordinated approach to food security policy. As Congressional co-sponsor Jo Ann Emerson has rightly said: "We must construct a complete response to hunger."

School feeding and mother-and-child nutrition programs are absolutely vital, especially in the wake of the food and financial crises that have been catastrophic for the poorest. To cite just one example, WFP - in an unusual step - kept open its school feeding programs during the school holidays in Haiti, which has been hit hard not only by a series of natural disasters and sky-high food prices, but rocked by civil unrest that brought down its government in 2008. Keeping school feeding going not only ensured that children were assured at least one meal a day, but also provided one of the only sources of social stability during a time of upheaval and uncertainty.

What role can American citizens play to ensure the Congress passes the Roadmap to End Global Hunger?

Go to the website of the Friends of the World Food Program, to learn more about how you can make your voice heard on the Roadmap to End Global Hunger.