The world has the resources and know-how to eliminate hunger and poverty. It is, therefore, totally unacceptable that one child dies from hunger related causes every six seconds (WFP, 2009); 925 million of people suffer of chronic hunger (FAO, 2010), and 1.4 billion people still live in extreme poverty (IFAD, 2010).
More and Better has been established in 2003 to join and sustain the fight to eradicate hunger and poverty. It is an International network embracing social movements, civil society (CSO), non governmental organizations (NGO) and a core of national unified campaigns from all over the world. It is complementary to other campaigns and networks committed to end hunger and poverty and linked to the purposes of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition (AAHM) and the 1st Millennium Development Goal (MDG). More and Better also recognises and cooperates with the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), a global network of NGOs/CSOs concerned with food sovereignty issues and programs.
The causes of hunger and poverty are complex and manifold. This is why each member of the network focuses on those that it sees as the most important and determines, accordingly, its own goals and priorities. The members of the network all, however, are concerned by the decline of support to agriculture and rural development and have agreed to join their efforts to improve the quantity and quality of support.
Those are the two main purposes that bind the More and Better members and friends in a common global cause.
Our shared goals
Under the banner More and Better, the network will lobby the decision makers in order to achieve vital changes in national and international policies geared towards:
– a substantial decrease in the number of hungry and undernourished people and those living in poverty;
– a major increase in support for agriculture, rural development and food in developing countries;
significant improvements in the quality of support for agriculture, rural development and food.
Why focus on agriculture and rural development?
The majority of the undernourished people live in poverty in rural areas of developing countries, often in droughtprone and marginalized areas. The majority are farmers or others whose livelihoods are closely linked to the land. To eradicate hunger and poverty, aid must be targeted to these people and focus on agriculture and rural development which creates livelihoods that are truly sustainable for generations to come. The causes of hunger and poverty are complex and manifold. Food production and rural development in developing countries are impacted by global, national and local policies, economies and power structures; trade rules and trading practices, ownership of land and land reforms, the quality and quantity of agricultural research, possibilities and terms for credit, tax policies etc. More and Better recognizes that increasing the quantity and quality of aid for agriculture and rural development addresses one component of global hunger.
Both more and better support needed!
Agriculture is low on the priority list both for most governments in developing countries and in the official development aid (ODA) from the industrialized countries. Only 7-8 out of the 56 African countries have reached the target they agreed on in 2003 to spend at least 10% of the national budgets for agriculture. The share of the ODA going to agriculture went down from about 25% of the total ODA in the mid 1980’ies to about 5% from the end of the century. After the food crisis in 2007-2008 more money has been allocated to agriculture, but the amount is still very low compared with the needs. More support for agriculture and rural development is still needed!
Unfortunately a lot of the support for agriculture is going to unsustainable agriculture and programs which are not benefitting the majority of small scale food producers and their families. It is therefore important to focus not only on the amount of support, but also on the content. Support for high inputs unsustainable agriculture and industrial farming, fishing and meat production must be changed into support for sustainable, small scale agriculture, pastoralism, artisanal fisheries and rural development which benefit the local people.
More and Better is concerned about the quality of the support governments in developing countries are giving to agriculture and rural development, as well as the aid that is delivered to developing countries by the rich countries. We will evaluate the aid and support, find out what is good and bad, promote good examples and influence governments, organisations and agencies to increase the quality of different kind of support.
What More and Better does
The members of the network in developing countries play the major role in defining what better support is from their point of view. They also work to increase the level and quality of support provided by their own governments and donors for agriculture and rural development.
Members in developed countries lobby their own governments for a more and better support to agriculture and rural development in developing countries, basing their actions on the overall goals of the network and those policies that, at the national level, best address these goals.
At the international level, the network approaches the different institutions on key issues of common concerns to the national campaigns, facilitate cooperation and the exchanging of experiences and viewpoints.
Related documents
Brochure More and Better 2011 | Download – 792.1KB
More and Better Secretariat
c/o Terra Nuova
Via Gran Bretagna, 18 – 00196 Rome, Italy
Tel: + 39 06 80 70 847 Fax +39 06 80 66 2557
[email protected] | www.moreandbetter.org
