Posted April 2001
People should be not only the intended beneficiaries, but also the actors, of development. This principle is at the core of the mission of the Society for International Development (SID), an international network of individuals, local and national NGOs, and research institutes, concerned with development that is participatory, pluralistic and sustainable.
With headquarters in Rome, Italy, SID acts as a global catalyst for civil society, a bridge between diverse constituencies in the search for social justice and a knowledge broker on innovative development initiatives, concepts and practices. Through its programmes SID aims to provide a shared understanding of how actions in different localities and different political spaces can complement each other and converge into a broad process of social transformation.
At the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996, 186 governments agreed to, "in collaboration with civil society, formulate and launch national Food for All Campaigns to mobilize all stakeholders at all levels of society and their resources in each country, in support of the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action"; "actively encourage a greater role for, and alliances with, civil society organizations in addressing food security"; and "strive to mobilize public and private resources to support community food security initiatives".
But what is happening in reality? This issue was explored across the regions within the framework of the recent SID initiative, 'Sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security: Local Innovations against Hunger', which was undertaken between June 1998 and December 2000 in partnership with civil society organizations and the World Food Programme (WFP).
The first phase of the initiative focused on 11 action research exercises on local innovations against hunger and the impact of food aid. This was followed by a series of 32 sub-national and national workshops in 27 different countries in Africa, South Asia, Middle-East and Latin America. The workshops, held between October 1999 and December 2000, attracted the participation of a wide variety of NGOs, community-based and peoples organizations and aimed to explore the issues surrounding community empowerment in the search for food security. Please visit the October 2000 News and Highlights section of this site for a detailed description of these events.
SID has recently launched a synthesis report reflecting the principle views and recommendations arising from these workshops. The report, entitled 'From Aid to Community Empowerment: Food Security as a Political Project - Report from the Food Security & Sustainable Livelihoods Programme' provides a summary of the factors surrounding food insecurity and highlights the importance of people's - especially women's - collective role in overcoming it. This is followed by an analysis of the structure of possible national strategies for food security, along with a collection of stakeholders' views on the limits of current international solidarity and the ambiguity of global advocacy.
The overall message from the report is both optimistic and pessimistic: while local innovations in many parts of the world are helping to transform the context of people's lives for the better, there is still inadequate political will at the country level and inadequate solidarity at the international level in the quest for food security.
More details on the SID initiative - including the report and individual country reports - and other programmes can be accessed on the recently re-designed SID Website. The site aims to support the various activities of the SID network (including chapters, institutional members or individuals) and to create an interactive forum for information sharing and exchange on innovative development experiences, practices and policies.
For further information on SID please contact Elena Mancusi-Materi, Food Security and Sustainable Livelihoods Programme Coordinator, at elenam@sidint.org.
The 2020 Vision Initiative of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is a world where every person has access to sufficient food to sustain a healthy and productive life, where malnutrition is absent, and where food originates from efficient, effective, and low-cost food systems that are compatible with sustainable use of natural resources.
This year the 2020 Vision will convene a major international conference: Sustainable Food Security For All By 2020: From Dialogue To Action (September 4-6, 2001, Bonn, Germany), to take stock of the current food situation, consider the issues most likely to affect future food security, and discuss priority actions that can have the greatest impact on improving food security. To sign up for further information on the conference, including the briefings and publications being prepared for the event, visit the conference website.