World leadership endorse Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty

Presidents of multilateral banks, members of UN agencies, international authorities and Brazilian ministers accompanied, praised and endorsed by acclamation the documents establishing the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, during an event on Wednesday, July 24, in Rio de Janeiro, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The creation of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty is an ambitious project that represents Brazil's commitment to the goal of eradicating hunger and poverty once and for all. However, the project does not belong to Brazil alone, but to all of us. Through the Alliance, we will seek to strengthen global partnerships, mobilize resources and share knowledge and successful experiences in the fight against hunger and poverty’’
Mauro Vieira, Brazilian Foreign Minister 

The initiative, based on the value of food security, is the main proposal of the Brazilian presidency at the head of the G20 to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. It aims to mobilize resources and knowledge internationally to implement public policies and social technologies proven to be effective in eradicating hunger and poverty worldwide.

>> Read the full text of President Lula's speech

World Bank President Ajay Banga met with Lula earlier this morning. He expressed support for the initiative and thanked the Brazilian president for raising the issue. "Poverty and hunger are directly linked. We have to work hard against them. The World Bank is determined to help and we welcome this Alliance for laying the foundation for this work," he emphasized.

According to Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Ilan Goldfajn, this was a historic day for bringing the fight against hunger and poverty to the center of the global agenda. Redistributive and growth promotion initiatives are some of the tools development banks could use more in the battle against inequality, he said.

Goldfajn cited the example of the reallocation of SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) to multilateral development banks. "I am also speaking here on behalf of President Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank. I want to announce that we plan to use this innovative financial instrument to support the Global Alliance. The potential is great. For every dollar raised, we can lend up to USD 7 or USD 8 in the long term," he explained. These loans can be directed towards social programs, school meal programs, maternal and child nutrition," Goldfajn explained.

COMBATING HUNGER – Released on Wednesday (24), ahead of the pre-launch of the Global Alliance, the 2024 edition of the United Nations Report on the State of World Food Insecurity (SOFI 2024) painted a challenging global picture, with an increase of 152 million people going hungry since 2019 and 9% of the world's population (733 million people) undernourished. Brazil was one of the exceptions in the map drawn by the UN, according to FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu.

"President Lula's leadership and Brazil's vision have been crucial in lowering hunger levels. If South America continues on this path, it will be able to take hunger off the map by 2030. We have many people affected by reducing hunger, which can lead us to develop the world at its fullest potential. So, with the necessary actions in all regions, we must guarantee and address global food security. Brazil is doing more with less," said the FAO Director-General.

In absolute numbers, 14.7 million people in the country stopped experiencing hunger from 2022 to 2023. Severe food insecurity, which affected 17.2 million Brazilians in 2022, dropped to 2.5 million. Percentage-wise, this decline was from 8% to 1.2% of the population. These figures align with the global alliance’s core goals.

“The creation of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty is an ambitious project that represents Brazil's commitment to the goal of eradicating hunger and poverty once and for all. However, the project does not belong to Brazil alone, but to all of us. Through the Alliance, we will seek to strengthen global partnerships, mobilize resources and share knowledge and successful experiences in the fight against hunger and poverty’’, said the Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.

RESOURCES – During the meeting, Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad emphasized the need to mobilize resources for fighting hunger and poverty globally. "We need to seek innovative financing instruments for development, public-private partnerships and support the reform of multilateral development banks," he said. "Another way to mobilize resources is to ensure the super-rich pay their fair share. Globally, the super-rich often exploit loopholes to evade taxes, making tax systems at the top of the pyramid regressive rather than progressive," Haddad said. He has been advocating Brazil's proposal for international taxation of the super-rich at the G20 since early last year.

ERADICATION - Wellington Dias, the Brazilian Minister of Social Development and Assistance, Family and the Fight Against Hunger, said that even in the midst of so many global crises, the world possesses all the financial resources, food production and knowledge necessary to eradicate inequality. "This is a fully achievable goal. We just need to build the political will, consistently mobilize these resources and direct them to those who need them most," he emphasized. "Brazil is committed to the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty until 2030. However, the 2023 results from the FAO enable President Lula to confidently convey to Brazil that it is possible, for the second time during his presidency, to remove Brazil from the hunger map by 2026," he concluded.

GLOBAL ALLIANCE - The formalization of the Alliance's constitutive documents in Rio de Janeiro opens a window for interested countries to join the initiative before its official launch later this year at the G20 Summit in Belem. The guiding principles will be:

a. Voluntary and open participation
b. A focus on demand, putting the needs of the implementing national governments first
c. A focus on practical actions and lessons on how to implement them
d. Light and effective governance, using partnerships and avoiding duplication of efforts
e. Promoting the effectiveness of development cooperation
f. Flexible operation in networks

The Task Force drew up the constitutional documents, which are:

1. Terms of reference and governance of the Alliance
2. Inclusion criteria for the public policy pool
3. A template for declarations of commitment that each potential member will need to draft and endorse individually in order to join the Alliance
4. The foundational document of the Global Alliance, tying all the elements together, included in the joint political declaration entitled "United against Hunger and Poverty".