New FAO Goodwill Ambassadors

17 September 2009, Rome –  FAO is to honour five new high profile personalities as Goodwill Ambassadors, the agency announced today.

The First Lady of the Dominican Republic, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, French fashion designer Pierre Cardin, American athlete Carl Lewis, Indonesian singer and songwriter Anggun and Colombian singer/songwriter Fanny Lu will be awarded the title on World Food Day (16 October) in Rome.

Mme Cedeño de Fernández is being presented with the title of Extraordinary Ambassador in recognition of the numerous social development projects in food and agriculture she has undertaken in her own country and in particular those benefiting women.

Fashion legend Cardin, one of the world’s top stylists for both women and men, has initiated a large number of humanitarian projects and public campaigns notably for the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

American runner Carl Lewis, winner of nine Olympic gold medals, was nominated Century Sportsman by the International Olympic Committee. Indonesian singer and songwriter Anggun, one of the first Asian artists to have broken on to the international music scene with her hit album “Snow on the Sahara” has campaigned for a wide range of social and environmental causes.

Colombian singer and songwriter Fanny Lu whose has topped music charts in Latin America for the past three years and has been active in promoting World Food Day and the FAO TeleFood campaign to fund micro-projects around the globe.

2009 World Food Day theme

This year’s World Food Day theme, “achieving food security in times of crisis”, highlights the critical plight of 1.02 billion people who are currently malnourished and the increasingly critical need in the current depressed economic climate to assist the hungry.

Both short and long term initiatives are needed providing emergency assistance to the worst affected households and in the longer term, substantially increased investment in agriculture.

Investing in rural areas would:

• improve agricultural productivity and enhance livelihoods and food security in poor rural communities;
• develop and conserve natural resources;
• expand and improve rural infrastructure and broaden market access;
• strengthen capacity for knowledge generation and dissemination;
• ensure access to food for the most needy through safety nets and other direct assistance.

World Food Week 

In addition to the annual World Day Observance on 16 October, FAO will host a series of events between 12 and 16 October including a High-level Expert Forum on "How to Feed the World in 2050" and the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) – 35th Session. For the full calendar of events visit: http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/worldfoodday-eventscal/en/