Groups urge new administration to increase help for the world's poor

December 1, 2008
© The Reporter (Gannett News Service)

WASHINGTON — As a volunteer, retired dairy farmer Damon Szymanski of Pulaski has worked with fellow farmers in developing nations in Africa and Latin America who want to be self reliant.

Szymanski's efforts with farmers to grow feed for their herds and to use methane gas to power their operations are the kind of outreach experts say is needed to reduce world poverty. A report released last week by Bread for the World Institute calls for the United States to use more of its foreign aid to help farmers in developing countries.

Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services, said poor people in some countries have been hit hard by a tripling in food prices.

He said "the collective failure to invest in agricultural production and the absence of safety nets" are factors behind the growing ranks of the hungry.

Foreign aid from the United States and other developed nations should provide the poor with opportunities to build skills that can improve their economic lives, he said.

Hackett was part of a panel that discussed Bread for the World Institute's latest report on international poverty, "Hunger 2009 Global Development Charting a New Course." The report calls for revamping the current foreign assistance network, especially international development programs, which are overseen by 12 departments and various agencies.

The report also notes that "increasing agricultural production in developing countries now would improve food security in developing countries and lead to higher profits for farmers."

Szymanski, who was not part of the briefing or the report, said he is convinced that aiding farmers yields tangible results.

"Any country that can produce most of its own food or much of its own food doesn't have to rely on imports," the 78-year-old Szymanski said. "The money that's saved goes into the country."

The panel said the report could serve as a potential guide for President-elect Barack Obama.

Obama faces major challenges in dealing with the global economic downturn in the United States, but the panel of international development experts says he must also focus on its effects on developing nations.

"When people are too poor, instability breeds all sorts of problems," said Peter McPherson, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. McPherson is a former head of the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Reagan administration.

David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World Institute, said the worldwide meltdown "has driven 100 million more people into extreme poverty."

Beckmann, McPherson, Hackett and top representatives from the institute, International Center for Research on Women and The World Bank said programs should be consolidated.

The Bread for the World Institute report also calls for U.S. foreign policymakers to include reduction of global poverty and investments in global development projects, such as roads for rural farmers to get to market, among their specific goals.

The United States spends about 1 percent of the federal budget on foreign aid and about half of that money on programs to aid anti-poverty efforts, Beckmann said.

While that's more money than other developed countries spend on international development, Beckmann said it is a smaller share of the national budget than other countries devote to such programs.

He thinks the U.S. public will back continued foreign aid if people believe the money is being spent wisely.

"Even now in this crisis, the great majority of voters want to do more if they are convinced there are effective programs that are going to help get kids into schools or help farmers get their crops to market and feed their own children," Beckmann said, referring to an Election Day poll by the Alliance to End Hunger.