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IDS director joins prestigious global panel to tackle hunger and malnutrition
21 July 2010
Professor Lawrence Haddad, Director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), has been appointed to the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the UN's Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the foremost international and intergovernmental platform working to ensure food security and nutrition for all.
Professor Haddad will be the only UK representative on the 15-member panel. He was nominated for the role by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Food Programme.
Prof Haddad commented: 'The world's tolerance of current levels of food insecurity and under-nutrition is a disgrace. Reducing hunger and malnutrition is no mystery. As Brazil, Vietnam and Ghana have shown us, where there is political commitment supported by a strong civil society change happens. This is very much in line with the ethos of IDS staff, students and partners.
'If the HLPE can help raise the political profile of hunger and malnutrition, then I am proud to be a member of it.'
The CFS was reformed last year in an attempt to broaden participation and make it more effective. The UN states its aims as:
- To coordinate a global approach to food security
- To promote policy convergence
- To support and advise countries and regions
- To coordinate at national and regional levels
- To promote accountability and share best practices
- To develop a global strategic framework for food security and nutrition
The HLPE steering group manages project teams acting on a project-specific basis, first to analyse the causes of the current state of food security and nutrition; and, second, to identify emerging issues and help the CFS member countries prioritise future actions.
