2010 Reports

An Evaluation of Progress Toward the Millennium Development Goal One Hunger Target: A country‐level, food and nutrition security perspective

Fanzo, Jessica C.; Pronyk, Paul

One of the targets of the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is to reduce the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by half between 1990 and 2015, with hunger measured as the proportion of the population who are undernourished and the prevalence of children under five who are underweight. Many countries remain far from reaching this target, and much of the progress made has been eroded by the recent global food price and economic crises. As we enter the final five years to achieve the MDGs, we look upon one of the greatest challenges of our time with one billion people hungry, 129 million and 195 million children underweight and stunted respectively and more than 2 billion people deficient in micronutrients. In light of these global trends, this report charts progress on the hunger component of the MDG 1 commitment, by reviewing country programs and policies and drawing attention to key lessons and future directions for the coming period. Case studies of programs and interventions within countries were reviewed, where the implementation and operational systems required to support reductions in hunger and undernutrition have the potential to shed light on what success and scale might look like. A number of types of programs were profiled, including prevention‐ and treatment‐based initiatives, food production interventions, multi‐sectoral programs, and safety net and food assistance approaches. The report examined both small‐scale community based programs as well as efforts to move interventions to national scale. The strongest lesson emerging from both community‐based and national efforts is that making rapid gains in reducing hunger and undernutrition is possible. There is little debate about the technical and scientific evidence underpinning interventions. We know what works. The challenge is integrating the delivery of these interventions within locally owned, locally appropriate systems that facilitate high levels of cost-effective coverage on a sustained basis, with substantive and prioritized financial commitment at the 2 national and international levels. Many of the case studies presented have found innovative ways to overcome historical barriers to implementation – from household‐level delivery systems, to subsidies for small holder farmers, to linking efforts to reduce hunger with wider efforts to empower women or create work and business opportunities. Evidence from the case studies also suggest that increasing economic growth alone, while necessary and important, is unlikely to be sufficient to address hunger and undernutrition. Food and nutrition security is complex, and requires efforts across a spectrum that includes enhancing food production while simultaneously increasing access and utilization with substantive political commitment to address the most vulnerable populations with an equitable, basic human rights lens approach (11). Finally, addressing hunger and undernutrition are inextricably linked to wider progress towards other MDG targets. They are both cause and consequence of gains in health, income, education, gender equality and the environment. A comprehensive approach to addressing hunger and nutrition will therefore require working on multiple fronts. While there may be no magic bullet or single recipe for success, the case studies highlighted in this report help us to understand what success might look like as we together define a future direction for 2015.