Results

Conference Summary by Marc Cohen

Conference Summary (PDF, 363 kB)
Interim Resume (PDF, 109 kB)

Comments and Amendments by Participants

Bob Bell Ulrike Bickel Edward Clay Jochen Donner Susanne Jaspars Klaus Pilgram Getachew Tesfaye WFP

Bob Bell
CARE International

"CARE requests that some information that reflects the monetization discussions be included in the Marc Cohen’s summary report. While there was not agreement on monetization given the USG strong support for it, CARE still believes that this debate needs to be reflected in the report. For better or worse, it is an issue that still must be addressed and come to terms with.

CARE requests that Marc, others check their notes on this discussion in the plenary and during the monetization open space discussion. CARE believes possible areas in the report where a summary could be included are Principles of FAC Reform, A Problem Focus or WTO and Food Aid."

Ulrike Bickel
Misereor

"What is missing from the discussions in the summary are 2 important points. Please include them in the slides and in the official summary since they were broadly debated (you are most welcome to shorten it while maintaining the essence!):

• p. 8 Improving food aid effectiveness: question/ step out of monetization and tying food aid, in order not to disturb local markets.
• p. 13 Emergency food aid/ Right to food: based on RtF guidelines (food safety, foodaid to be culturally acceptable) and the precautionary principle of the Cartagenta Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity, States MUST have the right to informed choices regarding genetically modified foodaid. There must always be an option between GM and GM-free foodaid from the very beginning. GM foodaid has to be mandatorily labelled, and in case a starving country accepts it on an informed basis, it has to be milled in order to destroy its germinationi capacity, as SADC recommends."

Edward Clay
Overseas Development Institute (ODI)

"This session provided an opportunity for expression of a wide range of views on controversial issues such as tying and untying, the future of monetisation and the WTO negotiations. The divergent positions and practices of European and other donors were recognised without any attempt at consensus. Nevertheless, in the session and afterwards there much support was expressed for the principle of proportionality proposed by Edward Clay in his contribution and background paper for the meeting. What exists at present is a complex but ineffective set of special arrangements that are administration intensive. These arrangements are inherited from the past when food aid played a more important role in aid and trade. Food aid was only 3.4% of ODA in 2005 and 2.8% of global cereal imports in 2004, and institutional arrangements are needed that reflect these new realities. M. Mbaye Ndiaye drew attention to the position on these issues of the African and Least Developed Country Groups in their "Joint Response" paper circulated in the course of the 2006 WTO discussions". This important one page paper setting out developing country views on monetisations, the role of different parties in emergencies and so forth is by the way included as Box 1 in the background document which you have posted on the conference web-site ODI: The Post Hong Kong Challenge

Second ,turning to the distinction between "food assistance" interventions and food aid as a form of resource transfer is important, Marc mentioned that I had been drawing attention to this distinction for around 10 years! I’m pleased that many contributors recognised this distinction which helps to eliminate many confusions in the food aid debate. However, in pointing to that distinction, for example in the 1997 policy review and in the Clay and Stokke 2000 volume, we also strongly put the view that the need for food assistance interventions, especially food transfers that involve food distribution to final beneficiaries is shrinking in most developing countries. Some of the factors are - market integration and urbanisation and the declining role of public interventions in food markets. Also financial systems are more complete and accessible to poorer households. So there is more scope for and greater need to emphasise financially based interventions such as cash transfers, micro-credit and risk transfer mechanisms. There are in most countries now more effective and efficient forms of intervention to address poverty and nutritional problems.

Thirdly, there is a further more fundamental reason for moving to financially based transfers, that of agency and empowerment – giving to poor and vulnerable people and communities more opportunities to choose for themselves how to make use of these transfers. Targeted food transfers usually give little scope for agency. This is an important issue in a humanitarian crisis. Agency is certainly of enormous importance in considering appropriate forms of social protection and ways of supporting nutritional improvement in the context of development and poverty reduction."

Jochen Donner
Welthungerhilfe

• "at page 4 of power point:
  add to "Make commitment level meaningful " and create compliance and recourse mechanisms
• page 6:
  What about a non-western location in the medium term perspective (such as in India, China, Brazil or SA)?
• page 8:
  add to "engage beneficiaries in planning and management" including reporting and evaluation
• page 10:
  second bullet replace neutrality by impartiality (in conflict situations)
• page 15, under research:
  effective modes democratic participation in the food aid cycle especially on national and local level"

Susanne Jaspars
consultant

"The conclusions do not reflect clearly enough that cash contributions under the FAC should include both cash for local purchase and direct cash transfers to beneficiaries. I think there was broad consensus on this by conference participants. I think it was also generally acknowledged that ultimately this meant that the FAC would become linked to the broader humanitarian aid architecture or food security architecture, or possibly both. There was no concensus on whether the FAC should become part of a Humanitarian Aid Convention or a Food Security Convention, but the conference report needs to reflect that both these possibilities came up frequently during the conference.

The debate on monetization is not reflected at all in the summary and conclusions. Many conference participants expressed strong views that monetization should be phased out because it is an inefficient use of food aid and potentially trade distorting."

Klaus Pilgram
GTZ

"Thanks for the report - and the opportunity to comment! Actually, I'm missing the topic HIV/AIDS which I once raised during a panel discussion - but as my suggestion was not taken up I can not blame the rapporteur for having it left out, that's clear. But I may ask the question, why this topic was left out in all the presentations and discussions as it has so direct relation to food security and, thus, as well to food aid - in particular so if the proposal to think in terms of 'food assistance' rather than 'food aid' will gain momentum.

When the right-to-food-issue was discussed I brought forward the question how this human right is related to HIV/AIDS-mainstreaming (is there a right to health?) - certainly there are answers, but the moderator qualified my intervention as "a comment" and went on with other issues. A healthy body is the best way resisting both negative HIV/AIDS impacts and treatment effects, hence, is probably leading to a prolonged life. A higher emphasis on nutritional advice offered to women and particularly to mothers caring for babies and children could yield beneficial results rather immediately. The tragedy, however, lies in the fact that poor people fighting for daily survival usually don’t manage to have a remarkably good health status.

WFP and many other institutions engaged in food security have a policy on how to deal with HIV/AIDS - so why not talk about it??

• Is it still, even within donor-dominated rounds like the conference, a non-topic better not to mention? In my view one should break such a taboo to the benefit of those suffering.
• Is it simply to akward to mainstream - and business as usual is much easier? Come on that must not be true!
• Many people also think HIV/AIDS-mainstreaming is a costly excercise - which is not the case - and a discussion could help to overcome wrong prejudices.
• Many also think why specially care for HIV/AIDS-infected people - costs per person fighting other diseases (e.g. malaria) are lower - something to argue about!
• Or do people believe the fight is anyhow lost and we better give up, but don't tell anybody - this view shouldn't be tolerated as one, as we all together, could do something - really, for sure!

So, as this opportunity was missed there are many more to come - and with your help we will manage better next time! Simply: remember HIV/AIDS-mainstreaming!!"

Getachew Tesfaye
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA) Ethiopia

"While waiting for the final touch from Dr. Marc Cohen, I would like to reflect, just as a reminder, on the following minor issues.

• Need based area targeting both at donor (i.e. identifying the commodity along with the benefiiary country) and receipient country level.
• Household targeting and, in some severe cases, individual targeting.
• Composition of food aid (cereals, pulses, oil, salt, sugar, supplementary food, etc.) in order to ensure sufficients calory intake.
• Commitment of both donors and recepints (Governments included) to meet their respectives obligations.
• Provision of food aid in a "package", including coverage of operational costs in order to expedite operations.
• Considering support for the establishment/strengthening of prepardness modalities like Early Warning System, Emergency Food Security Reserve Stock, National Disaster Response Fund, Strategic Relief Fleet that can be mobilized as and when required, etc.
• Ensureing that food aid is provided in sufficient quantity and in time based on needs on the ground, established through assessments conducted in collaboration with concerned partners.
• Recoginizing the fact that countries like Ethiopia have already developed "recepient fatigue", and therefore, working more towards increased support for initiatives that would ensure food security is crucial. The fact that increasing number of developing countries are more than prepared to be less of a burdon to the tax payers in the developed world needs to be appreciated and given due support for the realization.
• Where there are recognized needs, multi-annual resource allocation with workable implementation and monitoring mechanisms is worth considering.

May I suggest, that we add a point, under Emergency Food Aid, saying 'Value existing local cultures/habits/norms and propose improvement to those that hinder humanitarian operations'.

Under Right to Food Guidelines, third bullet point, 'Do no harm (e.g. don't undermine...,provide only what is and when appropriate)', shall we add the underlined?"

WFP

• "Slide 4:
  first bullet: 'North-to-South transfer' -> the para. should be changed to capture the fact that some new FAC members are likely to be from the south; it could thus read: 'Maintain Convention as tangible commitment to transfer resources from donor to recipient countries.'
• Slide 5:
  'Base food aid on sound needs assessment' add: '..., including market analysis' (to emphasise this point)
• Slide 7:
  last bullet: 'Food or cash' should be changed to 'Food and cash, as appropriate, based on sound needs assessment' -> the dichotomy between food and cash should be avoided.
  We also suggest to add 'market analysis' here, as well: 'Food and cash, as appropriate, based on sound needs assessments, including market analysis'
• Slide 8:
  Added under 'enhance assessment tools' should be: 'increase market analysis capacities'
• Slide 15:
  'Implications of broadening FAC to include not just in-kind food aid but also cash, vouchers' (slide 4) should be added to the list of issues that require further research.

Generally, we think that the discussion on improving the quality of food aid (nutrition etc.) should also be picked up."

www.foodaid2007.de/en/results/summary
06.02.2012, 17:02