Global Food for Thought

Video: Could climate change lead to more wars?

Retired Navy Rear Admiral David Titley, who is a professor of meteorology at Penn State University, joins Consider This host Antonio Mora to discuss how climate change could increase global instability and conflicts.

Food Wastage Footprint Video from Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization says 30 percent of global food production is lost or wasted along the value chain every year. This amounts to USD $750 billion worth of food every year. Watch the FAO’s video about food wastage reduction methods. 

Photo of the Week

One Acre Fund farmer Elias Ndinduyubwo of Kagabiro, Rwanda, shows off maize he has harvested with his family.

Photo by Hailey Tucker, courtesy of the One Acre Fund blog. One Acre Fund supplies smallholder farmers with the tools and financing they need to grow their way out of hunger and poverty. Working with farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania, One Acre Fund provides a complete market bundle of seeds, fertilizer, training, and market support on credit—and delivers these services within walking distance of the 180,000 farmers they serve.

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This Week's Edition of the Global Food for Thought News Brief

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Photo Credit: Reuters/Ajay Verma

Video: Zero poverty. Think again

A new paper (PDF) by the Overseas Development Institute reviews what is known about the impacts of climate change on eight development goal areas, and shows that it is essential for climate change to be addressed in order not to compromise development efforts.

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World Bank to Finance 19 Centers of Excellence in Africa

Last week, the World Bank approved US$150 million to finance 19 university-based Centers of Excellence in seven countries in West and Central Africa. The centers will receive funding for advanced specialized studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related disciplines, as well as in agriculture and health. The centers are:

• Center for Agricultural Development and Sustainable Environment at Federal University of Agriculture, Nigeria;
• Center for training Planet Breeders, Seed Scientists and Technologies at University of Ghana, Ghana;
• Center for the Poultry Sciences at University of Lome, Togo;
• Center for Dryland Agriculture at Bayero University, Nigeria;
• Center for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at Redeemers University, Nigeria;
• Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens at University of Ghana, Ghana;
• Center for Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology at Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria;
• Center for Phytomedicine Research and Development at University of Jos, Nigeria;
• Center for Reproductive Health and Innovation at University of Benin, Nigeria;
• Center for Maternal and Infant Health at University Cheikh Anita Diop, Senegal;
• Center for Materials at African University of Science and Technology, Nigeria;
• Center for Applied Mathematics at University d'Abomey, Benin;
• Center for Information and Communication Technologies at University de Yaounde, Cameroon;
• Center for Water, Energy, and Environment Science and Technologies at Institute International d'Ingenierie de l'Eau et de l'Environment;
• Center for Oil Field Chemicals at University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria;
• Center for Water and Environmental Sanitation at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana;
• Center for Science, Technology, and Knowledge at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; and
• Center for Mathematics, Informatics, and ICT at University of Gaston Berger, Senegal

The 2014 QDDR: Driving a Smarter, More Effective Approach to Development and Diplomacy

By Dr. Rajiv Shah
Dr. Raj Shah is the Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development. This was originally posted on U.S. Department of State Official Blog.

Four years ago, the first-ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) offered a sweeping assessment of how the U.S. State Department and USAID could become more efficient, accountable, and effective in a changing world.

The QDDR provided the strategic foundation to answer President Obama’s call to transform USAID into a modern development enterprise. With its guidance, we implemented a suite of ambitious reforms that have changed the way USAID does business.

Since 2010, our regional bureaus have reduced program areas by more than a third -- focusing our work where we have the greatest impact. We hired more than 1,100 new staff. Today, all our major programs are independently evaluated, and those evaluations are available right now on an iPhone app -- an unprecedented level of transparency.

Last month, we launched the U.S. Global Development Lab, which first began as a recommendation of the 2010 QDDR. A historic investment in science and technology, it will generate, test, and scale breakthrough solutions to complex development challenges, while also attracting private sector investment to improve the sustainability of our efforts.

Just four years since the first QDDR, these reforms have been the underpinning of a new model of development that harnesses the power of business and science to bend the curve of progress. But while the first QDDR laid a strong foundation, we know a lot of work remains to advance this progress and answer President Obama’s call -- made now in two State of the Union addresses -- to join the world in ending extreme poverty over the next two decades.

This goal is ambitious, but it is also within reach: in the last two decades alone, human ingenuity and entrepreneurship have reduced child mortality rates by 47 percent, and poverty rates by 52 percent. The new QDDR will enable us to take advantage of this unique moment in history -- one where new tools, technologies, and partnerships are redefining what’s possible.

Photo of the Week

One Acre Fund group leader Pauline Keya demonstrates how much chlorine to add to water to make it safe for drinking. One Acre Fund provides our farmers in Kenya each with enough chlorine to provide safe drinking water for one year. Photo by Kelvin Owino. Photo courtesy of the One Acre Fund blog.

Get The Chicago Council’s FREE Global Food for Thought News Brief delivered to your inbox weekly! Sign up here.

This Week's Edition of the Global Food for Thought News Brief

Please click here to view this week's Global Food for Thought News Brief. If you have not signed up to receive Global Food for Thought by email, please do so by clicking here.

Photo Credit: Riccardo Gangale

Photo of the Week

Martin Ugiraneza, of Rwamiko, Rwanda, was able to purchase a cow after his 2013 harvests. Just a month ago, his cow calved. Now he can use the cow's milk for his family and as a source of income.

Photo by Evariste Bagambiki, courtesy of the One Acre Fund blog. One Acre Fund supplies smallholder farmers with the tools and financing they need to grow their way out of hunger and poverty. Working with farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, One Acre Fund provides a complete market bundle of seeds, fertilizer, training and market support on credit – and delivers these services within walking distance of the 180,000 farmers they serve.

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