Catholic Relief Servicesand the Global Food Crisis

Reuters photo of a protest in Dakar, Senegal, April 26, 2008

Overview

• Who we are and what we do

• The global food crisis and CRS– Initial response– The forming of a strategy– How this changed our approach

• Final thoughts

What We Do• Emergency Response• Integral Human Development

– Peacebuilding– Agriculture/markets/water– Health/hygiene/sanitation/water– Education (basic, especially girls)– Microfinance/Small enterprise– HIV & AIDS

• Advocacy – With USG,– With local governments,– With multilaterals (UN, WB) & other

governments

What We Do

Agriculture14%

Education8%

Emergency31%

Small Enterprise2%

Health8%

HIV & AIDS23%

Peace & Justice4%

Welfare4%

Support Services6%

CRS Operating Expenses FY 2007:

Where We Do It• Overseas, in 101

countries• Regions:

– Africa (42)– Asia (20)– Latin America & Caribbean

(19)– E. Europe & Middle East

(20)

• Primarily rural focus, now expanding to urban areas

How We Do It

Private Donor, Foundation, Corporate

Contributions 29%

Donated Agricultural & Other Commodities

and Ocean Freight 21%

Cash Grants from USG 41%

All other support 9%

CRS Operating Revenues FY 2007:

CRS’ First ResponseGetting Input from the field

• Over 30 country programs responded

• We estimated that millions were affected (Over 3 million people in Haiti and Afghanistan alone).

• 14 countries have responded with an estimated funding need. This partial response totals over $20 million.

CRS’ First ResponseGetting Input from the field

• Food is available, however priced too highly for most and getting higher. Those most visibly affected in urban areas, however for many countries this vs. rural impact breakdown is still not yet known.

• CRS partner MoC in Ethiopia are seeing an increase in the people coming for help, but there is not enough food to give out; for many countries government food stocks are being depleted rapidly, or are non-existent.

What is CRS doing?

• Hired a Food crisis advisor in East Africa

• Looking into urban and rural programming

• Began a 15 country Rice Initiative to boost production in countries that are major importers

• Working on finding ways to improve Local and Regional Procurement of food in collaboration with WFP P4P

• Strengthen value chains in agriculture programming

• Seeking to strengthen market information services

• Advocating for increased food and cash in FY 09 and greater flexibility in how funds can be used

CRS’ First ResponseGetting Input from the field

• CRS’ immediate responses were urban feeding programs (Haiti and Ethiopia) and

• agro-enterprise activities: funds committed by country programs for immediate response ranged from $50,000 to $800,000 USD, over $1.3 million in total; seed fairs, food vouchers, cash for work.

Our Response So Far

• CRS obligated over $2.3 million dollars in private funds of our own in 2008 in response to the crisis, and acquired over $5.5 million more from other sources.

• We funded projects beginning in June 2008, in 25 countries, of which 16 were in Africa, 2 in Europe, 3 in Asia, and four in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Africa Asia Europe Latin America

Benin Afghanistan Kosovo Ecuador

Burkina Faso Indonesia Moldova Guatemala

Chad Sri Lanka Haiti

Eritrea Nicaragua

Ethiopia

The Gambia

Ghana

Kenya

Liberia

Madagascar

Malawi

Niger

Senegal

Sudan

Swaziland

Tanzania

CRS Strategy

• Short-term programs to protect the poor and vulnerable

• Medium-term social protection instruments

• Longer-term: Boosting production and rural/urban incomes

Protect the Poor

Immediate: • Safety Nets

– Unconditional for most vulnerable

– Vouchers/cash for work – disaster risk reduction projects for able bodied

CRS’ Immediate Feeding

• Private funds to Missionaries of Charity urban centers in Ethiopia

• Soup kitchen in Moldova

• Food baskets to vulnerable in Jakarta

Protect the Poor

Medium and Longer Term: • Agro-Enterprise• Post-Harvest Storage/Loss Reduction• Adding local value – Food Transformation for Peri

Urban and Urban Livelihoods Options• Credit for Farmers • Ag market information systems• Ag market infrastructure

Protect the Poor

Longer-Term:

• Learn from programs that work

• Scale them up to create national impact

• Collaborate to integrate and institutionalize

Protect the Poor

• Vouchers/Fairs for Ag production – staple crops:– Fertilizers, Seeds

Seed Fair - Burundi

Rice Farming - Burundi

Countries Served by FFP Development Programs

Bangladesh (2009) Burkina Faso Chad

Ethiopia Guatemala Haiti

Liberia (2009) Madagascar (2008) Malawi (2009)

Mauritania Mozambique Niger (2011)

Sierra Leone Uganda (2011) Zambia

Mali Burundi DR Congo

GIEWS Countries by Vulnerability

Exceptional Shortfall in Aggregate Food Production/Supplies

Widespread Lack of Access Severe Localized Food Insecurity

Lesotho Eritrea CAR

Somalia DPRK Congo

Swaziland Myanmar Cote d’Ivoire

Zimbabwe Ghana

Iraq Guinea

Moldova Guinea-Bissau

Kenya

Sudan

Bolivia

Ecuador

Nicaragua

and NOT covered by FFP development programs

The Roadmap to End Hunger

• CRS, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, CARE, Congressional Hunger Center, Bread for the World, Alliance to End Hunger, Friends of the World Food Program, Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa

• The Mission: To come up with a reasonable “gold standard” on how to fight hunger in a comprehensive way.

A Comprehensive Strategy

• Food Aid• Social Safety Nets• Nutrition initiatives• Agriculture programs• Government to government policy -TA• Diplomatic strategies (State and USTR)• Leadership and coordination from the White

House

Questions?