August 31, 2016, Santo Domingo - The Dominican economist and former Congresswoman, Guadalupe Valdez, was designated today by FAO as Special Ambassador Zero Hunger for Latin America and the Caribbean, due to her contributions to the fulfilment of the right to food throughout the region.

The Zero Hunger Challenge is a global initiative launched by the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, which aims to promote the support of all sectors to eradicate hunger worldwide.

"The commitment I have undertaken to fight to eradicate hunger and malnutrition is a non-negotiable ethical commitment, not only to my country but to all peoples of the world," said Guadalupe while receiving the appointment.

The Zero Hunger Challenge has five main objectives: ensure that all food systems are sustainable; increase by 100% the productivity and income of small farmers; zero food waste and post-harvest losses; for all people to have access to adequate food, throughout the year; zero stunting in children under two years or age.

The FAO Special Ambassador was congresswoman for the Dominican Republic during the period 2010-2016, and coordinated the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, a voluntary association of lawmakers created in 2009 to build appropriate legislative frameworks for the eradication of hunger in the region.

Guadalupe also headed the Parliamentary Front of the House of Representatives of the Dominican Republic, where she promoted important initiatives for the eradication of hunger, such as the national Law on Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Security of the Dominican Republic.

According to FAO, throughout her life and career, Guadalupe Valdez has made key contributions to food security in the region, creating spaces for dialogue in civil society and working to transform food security in a strategic issue and a priority for the regions’s legislative agenda.

"The dream of our generation –to reach zero hunger- is a strong call from the FAO that I take on with the firm conviction that it is possible and necessary to achieve, if we work together," said the new FAO ambassador.

A life marked by social commitment

Guadalupe Valdez San Pedro was born in Mexico, Federal District, on the 22^nd of September 1957. She is the daughter of Lucia San Pedro, from Mexico, and Nicolas Quírico Valdez, a Dominican national who was exiled by his union and political activism against the dictatorship that ruled in the Dominican Republic at the time.

After the fall of the regime, five and a half year old Guadalupe visited the Dominican Republic for for the first time in 1963.

Her father’s exile and his commitment to union’s and political activism defined her character from a very early age, defining her early interest in social struggles, which continued throughout Guadalupe’s life, who became part of Popular Socialist Party at sixteen.

Her interest in family farming and the rural sector was sparked while studying economy at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. One of her teachers encouraged her to collaborate with the rural community in the municipality of Padre Las Casas, affected by the passage of Hurricane David in 1979. She travelled there every weekend for over ten years, teaching farmers' organizations and developing her thesis as economist on peanut production in this southern region of the Dominican Republic.

Since then, she has supported the demands of Dominican peasants, working on problems related to land tenure, access to water, fair trade and lack of access to markets for local products.

"They need comprehensive policies to ensure that men and women can leave poverty and social exclusion," she explains.

Guadalupe Valdez has been married for 35 years with Onofre Rojas, who she met during college in a political rally. They have a 31-year-old son, Ricardo, who is finishing his medical studies, and a daughter, Laura, a 28 years-old journalist, both of whom she considers her greatest inspirations and closest advisers.

She earned a master's degree in higher education and a second one in senior public management, always working on social themes, either as a consultant in international organizations and in academic institutions.

Later, she began working in the public sector, as Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education. In 2010 she was appointed as National Congresswoman, position she held until August 16 this year.

Making hunger illegal: the work of parliamentary fronts against hunger

As a congresswoman, she became part of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger for Latin America and the Caribbean, where she acted twice as coordinator.

She also directed the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger of the Congress of the Dominican Republic, where she stood out for her ability to create spaces to advance in the fight against poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

Working in Congress, Guadalupe Valdez spearheaded important legislative initiatives, such as the national Law of Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Security, which was recently been enacted.

For Guadalupe, placing the fight against hunger on the legislative and executive agenda is key to get the necessary resources and budgets, and is one of the greatest contributions of the Parliamentary Fronts against Hunger.

Thanks to the work of these Fronts –that number 21 throughout the region- 8 countries already have laws guaranteeing food security. In other countries like Mexico, the right to food has been incorporated as a constitutional right.

After serving in Congress, Guadalupe is still committed with organizations and institutions to create specific public policies and actions to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in the shortest possible time.

"Being FAO’s Special Ambassador I can contribute to make zero hunger a reality both in the Dominican Republic and in all Latin America and the Caribbean," she said.

Other Zero Hunger ambassadors

Guadalupe Valdez joins the Zero Hunger Special Ambassador for Europe: the Italian chef and writer Carlo Petrini, and president of the Slow Food movement.

In their capacity as Special Ambassadors for Zero Hunger, Petrini and Valdez will help ensure a better understanding of FAO’s vision of a world free of hunger and malnutrition, where food and agriculture contribute to improve livelihoods, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable populations.