Study Guide

Hunger is often a result of natural causes. But sometimes it is also a result of the misguided policies of both donor and developing countries. Misguided policies worsened the impact of the most recent surge in global hunger. Beginning in the 1980s, donor countries and institutions cut development aid for agriculture programs. Donor countries encouraged developing country governments to reduce their own spending on agriculture, arguing there was greater potential for economic growth by investing in other sectors of the economy. The prevailing view was that economic growth would increase incomes, which would increase purchasing power. But since such a large share of the world’s poor people lives in rural areas and earns a living from agriculture, the neglect of the agriculture sector left millions of people in hunger and poverty and vulnerable to the surge in global food prices.

The causes of hunger are not always readily apparent. We can see how wars or natural disasters like floods and earthquakes cause great suffering. It is harder to recognize a problem like an underperforming agriculture sector, which in the long run may cause greater suffering because it is constant, year in and year out. An important theme in this year’s Hunger Report is the need for long-term development strategies, such as investments to boost agricultural productivity among small-scale farmers or improvements in maternal and child nutrition. Feed the Future is one of the initiatives that will invest in agricultural production and food security.

Country-led development is an important theme in the 2011 Hunger Report. Who sets the priorities for development assistance is a significant factor in how sustainable any progress is likely to be. Since the turn of the 21st century, donors and developing countries have been trying to create better partnerships using aid packages that support the recipient country’s development priorities. However, many donors continue to prefer “project” aid organized around individual donor priorities to “program” aid, which makes it possible for multiple donors to coordinate to achieve the developing country’s own priorities.

The Millennium Development Goals address a set of challenges that stem directly from hunger and poverty (see Box in Session 1). Development assistance that reduces hunger and poverty will support progress on multiple goals. This session offers opportunities to reflect on why it is important to think comprehensively about development, and how U.S. development assistance can help developing countries implement strategies to tackle interrelated issues, such as improving nutrition, supporting rural agriculture and the needs of small-scale farmers, strengthening safety nets, and reducing gender inequality.

Effective development requires many different participants cooperating and collaborating toward a goal. Country plans created with civil society involvement and participation, like the compacts funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (see pages 65-67), can be a strong framework to bring donors, country governments, businesses, nongovernment organizations and the rest of civil society together on a comprehensive strategy to achieve common goals. Development is not the responsibility of governments alone. It is not the responsibility of donors alone. It is not the responsibility of nongovernment organizations alone. It is not the responsibility of civil society alone nor of church relief and development agencies alone. Effective development requires all of these actors working together to achieve the same end.

Development often has to compete for resources and attention with other U.S. policy objectives. In foreign policy, there is far more focus on defense than on diplomacy and development assistance. Other government policies may also limit the effectiveness of development assistance. For example, trade tariffs, agricultural subsidies, and some environmental policies can work at cross purposes with U.S. development assistance.