David Beckmann Delivers Prestigious Lecture in Rome
Bread for the World President David Beckmann delivered the prestigious McDougall Lecture to the biannual meeting of the governments that belong to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in November 2005. The lecture is named after the Australian who first proposed the establishment of FAO.
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David Beckmann gives McDougall Memorial Lecture
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Former McDougall lecturers include Arnold Toynbee, the philosopher; Julius Nyerere, president of Tanzania; John D. Rockefeller of the Rockefeller Foundation; Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India; and Boutros-Boutros Gali, Secretary General of the United Nations. This is the first time a leader of a nongovernmental organization has been awarded the honor.
The audience included ministers of agriculture and other representatives from nearly all the governments of the world, U.N. agencies, and networks of civil society. Beckmann talked about building the political will needed to end hunger. He told them about how Bread for the World members move the U.S. government to take actions for hungry people, talked more generally about how to build political will, and then made some recommendations to the officials gathered in Rome about steps they can take to strengthen political commitment. Beckmann urged them to help move the Doha trade negotiations forward and to strengthen the International Alliance Against Hunger.
When the Director General of FAO introduced David Beckmann, he said that Beckmann had been invited in recognition of Bread for the World's achievements and of his role in launching the Alliance to End Hunger.
