The world has made historic progress against hunger, poverty, and disease over the last several decades. I see this as God moving in our history. It is the great exodus of our time.
But the global economic crisis has provoked a major setback for hungry and poor people in the United States and around the world. Poor people in developing countries have been especially hard-hit by high grain prices. There are now 925 million undernourished people in the world.
Yet we have exceptional opportunities to change U.S. laws and structures in ways that would moderate the crisis for poor people and set the stage for reductions in hunger and poverty when the economy recovers.
Congress has taken a series of actions that have helped poor people in this country. These include the crisis-response bills developed by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, health care reform, and new rules to curb the exploitation of low-income people by financial institutions. Bread for the World’s members and churches are campaigning to strengthen nutrition programs for children and maintain tax credits for the working poor.
Bread for the World and Bread for the World Institute are also supporting needed changes in response to increased hunger and poverty worldwide. I am grateful that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have launched a well-designed U.S. initiative to strengthen agriculture in poor countries. They are also using the influence of the U.S. government to get many other governments, including poor-country governments, to help raise the productivity of poor farmers.
I am especially excited about a new opportunity to make rapid progress against child malnutrition. Recent studies from around the world have given us new knowledge about the types of nutrition programs that have the biggest impact. Based on this knowledge, the major international agencies and many civil society organizations have agreed on a common strategy to scale up nutrition. As an American, I am proud that Secretary Clinton recently launched a “1000 Days” call to action, forcefully calling on other political leaders around the world to seize this opportunity to reduce child malnutrition.
Bread for the World members have also campaigned, with remarkable success, to achieve reforms that will make U.S. foreign assistance more effective in reducing poverty. Bread for the World’s grassroots network, working in coalition with many other groups, built support for foreign aid reform among Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The administration incorporated reform ideas in its hunger and health initiatives, and President Obama has issued a directive on development policy to the entire U.S. government. For the first time since President John F. Kennedy, the U.S. government has a comprehensive strategy to support economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries.
Bread for the World’s 2011 Offering of Letters will encourage both parties in Congress and the President to work together to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance. We will also continue to work for the funding needed to tackle hunger, health problems, and child malnutrition in poor countries.
Despite widespread pessimism about the political process, we have clear opportunities to achieve change for hungry and poor people through the political process. To seize these opportunities, people of faith and conscience need to become more active, communicating with their members of Congress and mobilizing others in church and community. God is calling us—right now—to change the politics of hunger.
Rev. David Beckmann
President, Bread for the World and Bread for the World Institute
2010 World Food Prize Laureate
