19 May 2015, Milan – FAO joined the inaugural day for Caritas at the Expo Milan 2015. Rolf Hackbart, Deputy Director of the Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development, represented FAO and advocated the fight to end hunger together with Caritas.

The event focused on family and small-scale farming. “We need to change the way we relate to land. Family farming is so important to do this,” said Hackbart.

Hackbart encouraged the strengthening of rural livelihoods in terms of education, training, health and access to natural resources. “This is why we need to change the current system, geared to producing commodities rather than food to feed people,” said Hackbart, who also highlighted the need to take into account indigenous peoples’ valuable knowledge.

Caritas leaders said that we can end hunger by 2025 if we support family and small scale farming. FAO’s involvement makes part of its efforts to end hunger, in which partnering and joining efforts together with all relevant stakeholders is crucial.

The implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security is one good example of a key area in which collaboration is fundamental to deliver results and increase impact. The Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development is channeling the efforts of the organization to collaborate with relevant Non-State actors such as Caritas.

Caritas Day

The international NGO presented in Milan its campaign ‘One Human Family, Food for All’, which had been launched together with Pope Francis’ support in December 2013. “We are One Human Family united by hunger,” said newly elected Caritas Internationalis president, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

More than 150 Caritas leaders from around the world attended Caritas Day at the Expo, bringing examples of their work in advocacy and capacity building.

Representatives from six continents spoke about challenges farmers face, such as “land grabbing, high loan rates, or privatised seeds”. The implementation of the Right to Food was also addressed in the debate.

Photo: www.gazzetta.it