In 2005, Tony Hall returned to Ethiopia, representing the United States as Ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

During my early years in Congress, I had a life-changing experience that shaped the rest of my years as a public servant. In 1984, I traveled to Ethiopia to witness firsthand the devastating famine that killed more than 1 million people and left millions more destitute. I had seen poverty as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand, but I had never seen anything like this. I saw thousands of starving people and many dying children. Thinking that I was a doctor, mothers would shove their babies into my arms asking me to save them. Sadly, many of those children were already dead and others died in my arms—a horrifying experience that I will never forget.

This was primarily a natural disaster—famine caused by drought. The cycle of drought, famine, hunger, and starvation had been repeated in Ethiopia for centuries. But there were human causes too—poor farming practices, deforestation, government repression and corruption, civil war … and a wealthy world that had taken too long to understand the scope of the disaster and much too long to respond to the need.

While we haven’t seen a famine on the same scale since 1984, the food price crisis in 2008 reawakened the world to the ever present danger of hunger and starvation. World leaders committed themselves to finding long-term solutions that would help people in hungry countries feed themselves.

Feed the Future is the U.S. government’s response to the need to increase agricultural production, reduce hunger, and improve maternal and child nutrition. It is the most ambitious and comprehensive plan on global hunger that the United States has ever undertaken. But there are two important areas that need to be addressed if Feed the Future is to succeed.

Investing in Civil Society

One of the pillars of Feed the Future is that countries will consult with their own civil society organizations (CSOs) in creating and implementing their plans. Engagement with and input from these organizations is critical in order for a country-led process to be effective. CSOs such as farmers’ organizations are often in the best position to know what kind of agricultural investments are most important and useful. CSOs are also well positioned to monitor these investments and ensure that the money is being spent appropriately.

By making consultation with CSOs one of its pillars, Feed the Future opens the door for civil society to be engaged in this process. But opening a door does not necessarily mean that someone will walk through it. There are four ways to help ensure that civil society is fully engaged with Feed the Future:

First, establish a clear structure and system for engaging civil society at the country level. CSOs need an accurate understanding of the Feed the Future process and information on how they can be engaged. Civil society needs to be invited in, empowered to open the door themselves, and encouraged to keep coming back to visit.

Second, provide capacity-building support for CSOs to engage with Feed the Future—especially for groups that represent key stakeholders such as farmers, women, indigenous peoples, or traditionally underserved populations.

Third, civil society consultation should be used as a measurement of success for Feed the Future programs. Broad-based, consistent, meaningful engagement with civil society is an excellent way to measure good governance.

Fourth, governments should make regular public reports on the progress of the country’s Feed the Future investment plan.· These reports should be available in a variety of formats and languages so that a diverse cross-section of civil society can access them.

The Alliance to End Hunger is working with national alliances against hunger in Feed the Future countries to help them engage in the consultation process in their countries. The Ghana Alliance Against Hunger will work with the Ministry of Agriculture to help monitor and evaluate Ghana’s Feed the Future investments. In Honduras, the head of the new Honduras Alliance Against Hunger was part of the team that developed the Feed the Future plan for the country.· The Honduras alliance was able to bring the voices of civil society and the faith-based community to the table. In Nepal, the head of the hunger alliance participates in the food security working group that is providing input from civil society to the Feed the Future plan.

It’s important to realize that the process of consulting civil society takes time and effort. In our rush to produce positive results, it is tempting to shortchange this process.· But if Feed the Future is to have the kind of transformative impact it is designed to have, we must ensure that the voices of the people—especially those of women farmers—are adequately represented in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the plans and programs.

A market in Accra, Ghana, offering a bounty of locally grown foods.

Political Will

When I was in Ethiopia in 1984, I thought about how easy it is, as a politician, to flit from one hot-button issue to another. It’s a great way to appeal to voters and keep yourself in the spotlight—but you rarely accomplish anything. Doing something real, something important requires that you carry its banner, even when it is unpopular.

In tough economic times, giving money to help people in other countries can be seen by voters and politicians as a luxury item we can’t afford. The combination of high unemployment and high deficits will make support in Congress for Feed the Future hard to come by. It will require strong political will and sustained commitment from the Obama administration and its allies in Congress to see it through.

Now is the time to spend our money wisely and to invest in programs like Feed the Future that will strengthen the ability of hungry people to feed themselves. Until more people in vulnerable countries have the ability to feed themselves, the world will be unable to prevent the kind of food price crisis we had in 2008. If we don’t act, we will only perpetuate the cycle of crisis and response that helps people at their greatest hour of need, but doesn’t help them become self-sufficient.

With so many Americans hurting financially, it is tempting to focus only on ourselves and the many challenges we face. But we could not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, even if we tried. We are too interconnected, too dependent on one another.

I remember the first time I met Mother Teresa.· She took my left hand in hers and said, “I want you to always remember something.” Then she used her other hand to fold each of my outstretched fingers, one by one, into my palm. With each finger she said a word: “For…the…least…of…these. I want you to always think of this.· For the least of these.”

Tony Hall is Executive Director of the Alliance to End Hunger. From 2002–2005, he was United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. Earlier he represented the Third District of Ohio in the U.S. Congress. During his twenty-four years in Congress, he was chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger and the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Hunger.