FAO DDG Beth Bechdol and Director Rein Paulsen in Washington, DC, emphasize the central role of agriculture in addressing the global food crisis
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Washington, DC –Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Beth Bechdol, and Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER), Rein Paulsen, were in Washington, DC on February 13 and 14.During their visit, they held high-level meetings with key stakeholders from the United States government. Historically, the U.S. government has been the largest donor Member to FAO. In 2022, a record setting year for resource mobilization, US contributions to FAO tripled compared with previous years, reflecting not only the dire global food security crisis but also the strength of our partnership.
DDG Bechdol held high-level discussions at the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Organization Affairs withAssistant Secretary Michele Sison; at the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance with Deputy Assistant to the Administrator Marcia Wong; and at USAID Bureau for Resilience and Humanitarian Affairs with Senior Deputy Assistant to the Administrator Maura Barry Boyle. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service,Bechdol met with the recently appointed Under Secretary, Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, Alexis Taylor. Additionally, on Capitol Hill, she met withprofessional staff from Senator Lindsey Graham’s office on issues related to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. Across meetings with these critical stakeholders, DDGBechdol brought a message of deep appreciation for the strong support from the U.S. government in the ongoing fight for food and nutrition insecurity. She highlighted that tackling the recalcitrant issue of food insecurity, particularly among vulnerable populations, will require a transformational approach, one which harnesses science and innovation to build efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems.
In discussions that touched on wide-ranging issues like climate change, water scarcity, soil mapping, animal health, and gender equality, there was clear agreement that agriculture is an important part of, if not central to, the solution. The normative work, standard setting and market systems information that FAO produces brings critical information and data for policy makers in the context of conflict, climate change, and economic downturns driving increasing levels of acute food insecurity.
Arriving directly from a weeklong mission in Afghanistan, OER Director Rein Paulsen joined meetings with the USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs regional offices, with senior professionalstaff members from the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee and the office of Senator Joni Ernst, as well as a private roundtable discussion at the Center for Strategic International Studies.
Director Paulsen focusedon the role of scaled-up and time-sensitive emergency responses to humanitarian crises in hunger hotspots, with a particular focus on the deepening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the impact of the 24 December 2022 decree by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities banning women from working in humanitarian non-governmental organizations, which now poses significant challenges to humanitarian partners and vulnerable communities throughout the country. FAO is engaging at all levels to reverse and/or minimize the 24 December 2022 decree’s impact on humanitarian operations, in alignment with the IASC agreed approaches.
While brief, this mission allowed DDG Bechdol and Director Paulsen to solidify our relationships across key U.S. government agency partners, to provide updates on urgent matters of food insecurity, and to discuss future collaborations based on our common goals to end food and nutrition insecurity.
Note on Afghanistan: In 2022, FAO Afghanistan became the country with the largest emergency and resilience programme worldwide, mobilizing USD 395 million. With a delivery of USD 246 million, FAO assisted approximately 6 million people with emergency livelihood assistance. The decision by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to ban women from working in humanitarian non-governmental organizations
FAO’s ongoing programmes should reach 5.9 million people in the next five months, through different packages based on Afghanistan’s seasonal calendar and livelihoods zones. The impact of the new decree on FAO’s ongoing emergency livelihood support operations will likely differ for each intervention and depends on factors linked to: a) seasonality; b) targeting criteria; and c) impact on partners’ delivery capacity and access.
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