Feeding hunger and insecurity

5. The global response to high food prices: what is being done?development agenda. As attention swelled aroundfood prices, the United Nations launched the HighLevel Task Force and later the Rome Summit, resultingin a Comprehensive Framework for Actionand a proposed Global Partnership on Agricultureand Food Security. The CFA represents an effortto coordinate and focus the response to high andvolatile global food prices in the short, mediumand long-term. Whether the new Global Partnershipwill endorse the holistic approach presentedin the CFA remains to be seen; there is a worrythat policy debate and implementation will continueto be controlled by global agencies ratherthan national and local needs. Can a new GlobalPartnership really deliver concrete results? ActionAgainst Hunger remains sceptical, but open.The World Food Programme has been the mostproficient of the UN agencies during this period,raising substantial funds to support its operationsin early 2008. Despite this, WFP’s budget grewby only a small proportion in real terms – a resultechoed later, after pledges made in Romefailed to translate into actual funding. Internationalfood prices may be falling now, but domesticallythey remain high: the food crisis is not over.Even in areas where malnutrition rates had notincreased dramatically, as they did in Ethiopia,Action Against Hunger research showed consistentdecreases in dietary diversity and total foodconsumption among poor households affected byhigher food costs. This will have long-term implicationsfor food security and poverty. The internationalcommunity must remain vigilant and continueto prioritise malnutrition and food security.The next section explores what can be done toeradicate hunger.50ACF International NetworkFeeding Hunger and Insecurity