Monthly meeting tomorrow, October 27

First, a quick reminder that our monthly meeting is tomorrow, October 27 at 6:30 pm at Borderlands Cafe (870 Valencia St, SF). We're planning a Film Screening and Hunger Banquet for November, so please stop by if you'd like to get involved!

Also, this video does a great job explaining the problems with the broken food system and solutions underway to change it. It's an animated story describing many points of Oxfam's GROW campaign.

Finally, take online action here to urge Congress to fully fund poverty-focused development assistance in the FY12 International Affairs Budget.

Free Film Screening and Oxfam Hunger Banquet

We're hosting a free screening of Africa's Last Famine along with an Oxfam Hunger Banquet in November. RSVP now and join us!

What: Free Film Screening and Oxfam Hunger Banquet
Date: Sunday, November 13, 2011
Time: 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Where: David Brower Center, Tamalpais Room
2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
RSVP: sanfrancisco@oxfamactioncorps.org


Screening of Africa’s Last Famine, a co-production of Oxfam America and LinkTV:
Sadly, World Food Day 2011 was marked by one of the worst famines in recent history. But, with the right planning and a few new ideas, it could be the last. This 22 minute film features recent stories from the Horn of Africa and beyond, and including solutions being implemented around the world to prove that hunger isn't inevitable.

Oxfam America Hunger Banquet:
Guests randomly draw tickets when they arrive that assign them to different income levels, based on the latest statistics about the number of people living in poverty. While not all guests leave with full stomachs, many will gain a new perspective on the root causes of hunger and poverty—and will feel motivated to do something to help.

Why?
Everyone on earth has the same basic needs; it is only our circumstances— where we live and the culture into which we are born—that differ. Some are born into relative prosperity and security, while millions, through no choice of their own, are born into poverty.

We are all tied to a global food system that is broken. Yet there is a strong and growing movement of individuals and organizations working to repair and improve the system. In a world facing the challenges of the current famine in East Africa, constrained land and water, and an erratic climate, one of the best ways to combat global food insecurity is to invest in farmers and remove the barriers that limit their productivity. Please join us to learn more about the issues, the solutions, and how you can help!

Food donations from:

World Food Prize, final post

Today was my final day at the World Food Prize. Though the other Oxfam Action Corps organizers and staff are staying until tomorrow to attend tonight's Oxfam Hunger Banquet and tomorrow's Des Moines farmers' market, I'm heading back to San Francisco.

This Morning we heard the laureate keynote address by the former President of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. An energetic and charismatic speaker, President Lula described government programs he instituted to address poverty and hunger, including the Zero Hunger programs. With the goal of eradicating hunger by 2015 in Brazil, several complementary programs addressing food security, health, education, and gender equality were combined to improve social inclusion of the poor. President Lula is serious about ending hunger, saying that "fighting hunger is government responsibility" and that "hunger is the worst weapon of mass destruction in the world". His plans are a combination of social inclusion and economic development, and he highlighted the benefit to all of Brazil's society by bringing more people to their domestic market and improving their economy. Though I cringe to think that the developing countries will make similar mistakes as us by relying on consumerism, it's true that as the poor are lifted out of poverty, they become consumers and strengthen the economy. At least President Lula mentioned the benefit of responsible consumerism and also voiced his support to regulate the international financial system, urging the G20 to make such a political decision. His speech ended with his experience putting forth policies to help the poor. He remarked how all his social inclusion programs were considered government spending, but giving to big business and the rich was considered investment. He considers the money he used for programs for the poor to be government investment, disliking the negative differentiation as spending.

Following President Lula's address, we went to Marshalltown Community College were we learned about their Entrepreurial and Diversified Ag program. We had a delicious vegetarian lunch made with local vegetables, fruits, and herbs, and our guest farmers - Silas Samson Biru from Ethiopia and Nelly Velandia from Colombia - shared their stories with Marshalltown students and educators. During lunch, I sat at a table with several others, including a Marshalltown freshman student in the program. He explained how he grew up on a nearby farm of about 1000 acres, which he said was medium-sized as some of his neighbors had farms of 5000 acres. An Oxfam America staff member originally from Uganda was also at our table and commented on food and agriculture in Uganda. He discussed how the average size farm in Uganda is probably around 2 acres, with only 10% of farms at least 10 acres in size and about 50% of farms at least 5 acres. What a shock to hear the difference in size of farms in Iowa compared to Uganda! And to realize that most farmers in Uganda, similar to much of the developing world, have so little land to grow enough food to feed their families with a little extra to sell. Once again we were reminded of why it's so important to invest in small-scale farmers in developing countries, so that farmers like Silas and Nelly have resources available (such as land, water, seeds), build resilience in their farming, and have access to markets with a fair price for their crops.

With so many aspects of agriculture and food discussed at this year's World Food Prize, there is much for me to digest (pun intended!) as I return to the Bay Area and share my experiences with our local Action Corps. Join us in the GROW campaign and add your name to the online petition telling Congress you oppose cuts to poverty-focused development assistance.

Please feel free to email us if you'd like to join us in our support of farmers around the world to enable changes to our food system to ensure everyone has enough to eat.

World Food Prize, continued

Today was another full day of learning and sharing at the World Food Prize in Des Moines. Conversations about food and agriculture continued, as many players involved in food production and food-related policies were included on today's schedule.

One of the day's earliest sessions was a report of the 2011 Global Hunger Index by the International Food Policy Research Institute. This report is based on the most recent data about hunger and malnutrition and makes recommendations for ways to address food security. The full report is available online, with much information relevant to Oxfam's GROW campaign.

There were also several panel discussions focused on the inclusion of women and girls in agriculture development. Mary Rono, a dairy farmer from the Kendu region of Kenya, spoke about her experiences as co-founder and chairperson of the Koitogos Dairy Cooperative Society. She described social and cultural barriers she faced in her community and home while establishing her group, which gained status as a coop earlier this year. The coop is now very successful with 350 members, including 33% women and 15% youth. By pooling their milk for sale at a nearby processor, the farmers have secured a good price and steady income. They also have training sessions to learn about better practices to raise and tend their animals. Mary's story is very inspirational, with her determined personality apparent to ensure the livelihood of her family and community.

The Secretary's Roundtable and African Presidential Leadership Roundtable were also held today. It was very interesting to learn about the agricultural development goals and practices of several African countries. On the positive side it seems some of the African countries represented in the sessions are working to improve and maintain small-scale farming. For example Tanzania is using rice seeds from their own research efforts, with rice yields more than twice as much for small-scale farmers compared to large farms. Also, Mozambique has 1000 demonstration plots that are used to educate farmers on improve methods. However, it was surprising, to me, to learn about the use of subsidies for seed and fertilizer in Ghana and Tanzania without well-formed exit strategies. Due to the limited budgets of the governments in these countries, the Ministers of Agriculture from both recognize the likely non-sustainability of subsidy programs. One can only hope their farmers will have long-term security if government subsidies are reduced or eliminated in the future.

Once again a common message was to realize and embrace that different solutions are required to ensure food security in different areas. Though it seems that many see the importance of taking geographical and some social differences into consideration for food and agriculture development, it's not clear whether developed countries have fully realized that there should be more than a one-way exchange of ideas and programs. A two-way exchange between developed countries and developing countries is needed to realize long-term and sustainable success for implementation of agriculture development strategies. We in the developed world are faced with many problems in our own food system (e.g. obesity and nutrition, environmental impact, loss of family farms), and a more holistic approach is needed in developing countries to avoid facing the same problems we face today.

World Food Prize

It's been a busy day at the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa. Oxfam Action Corps volunteers from Des Moines, Chicago, Columbus, New York City, and San Francisco are here along with Oxfam America staff and special guest farmers from Colombia and Ethiopia.

The day was filled with talks and panel discussions from many sectors of agriculture and food, including governmental, nonprofit, private business, and academic. Nearly every talk I attended expressed a need to increase food production to feed a growing population of 9 billion people by 2050, though, not surprisingly, the approaches described varied from high tech products and methods to development assistance programs for farmers in developing countries.

Two descriptions of the food system that resonated with me were from Howard G. Buffett from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Judy Beals from Oxfam America. Mr. Buffett said, "Different farmers need different solutions," which he has witnessed on his own research farms here in the Midwest and in South Africa. He shared four stories of projects, all that were unsuccessful but proved to be great lessons in the importance of local and geographic-specific considerations for determining technology feasibility environmentally, economically, and socially. Echoing a similar view, Judy Beals explained how we are faced with the need to reform the food system, which is a complex problem and "there is no silver bullet and no magic seeds".

We were also very fortunate to have two female farmers from developing countries come to share their experiences at an Oxfam-sponsored panel. Nelly Velandia, a farmer from Colombia, and Silas Samson Biru, an Ethiopian farmer, spoke about their work with farmer-led initiatives in their countries. Nelly is a leader for the Farmers' Markets Program in Bogota, which aims to promote the small farm economy and bring fresh food produced by small farmers directly to the consumer at fair prices. Silas participates in a risk-management program: Horn of Africa Risk Transfer for Adaptation (HARITA). Both women have worked hard as leaders in their communities, facing difficulties as they break cultural norms for women and convince local government to include them in decision-making. Their stories in inspiring, not only for their successes, but also for their perseverance to continually improve their programs.

Tomorrow will be another day full of information at the World Food Prize. Stay tuned for more updates.

Oxfam at Treasure Island Music Festival

Join the Oxfam Action Corps at the Treasure Island Music Festival this Saturday and Sunday. Will will have free CDs and online downloads to give away along with great information and material for our GROW campaign. Most importantly, stop by to sign our petition telling congress NOT to cut life saving aid! It will be a great weekend, see you there!

www.treasureislandfestival.com

Oxfam at the Slow Money National Conference

The San Francisco Bay Area Oxfam Action Corps will be attending the 3rd annual Slow Money National Gathering in San Francisco. We will be sharing GROW campaign materials and sharing news on our upcoming events across the Bay Area. Nick (me) will be attending so look for me wearing an Oxfam shirt and say hi.

www.slowmoney.org/national-gathering/

Are you ready for World Food Day?

A few updates for World Food Day (Sunday, October 16):

1) During your Sunday dinner on World Food Day, have a conversation about where your food comes from and how we can change the food system so everyone has enough to eat. There are placemats, recipe cards, and a discussion guide for you to download and print on this webpage.

2) If you host or attend a Sunday Dinner, post your photos or videos from the event to Oxfam America's Photobook and be automatically entered to win a locally-made prize from one of Oxfam's regions! The random drawing will be held in early December.

3) Thank you to Buddhist Global Relief for partnering with Oxfam for World Food Day!