Helen Clark Am at special session of #WFP Board in Rome, focusing on need 4 integrated #humanitarian & #development response 2 #Sahel #foodcrisis.
On way 2 #Rome 2 meet with @ValerieAmos @JosetteSheeran@KGeorgievaEU @knwanze @grazianodasilva @nancylindborg on hunger crisis in #Sahel.
Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder turned philanthropist, has broken a taboo in the development community by publicly accusing UN agencies of allowing infighting and inefficiency to undermine the battle against hunger.
The comments by Mr Gates, the largest donor to food security from the private sector, echoes the thinking of many government officials and hunger activists. But few senior donors have publicly denounced the problems of the UN system.
The UN has three agencies devoted to food security with a combined annual budget of roughly $4.5bn: the Food and Agriculture Organisation, founded in 1945; the World Food Programme, created in 1961, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, founded in 1977. Although the three are based in Rome, they act largely as independent entities with little interaction.
Mr Gates, who has donated roughly $2bn to food security in the past decade and plans to give another $2bn in the next five years, told an audience of the three agencies in Rome that the current system was “outdated and inefficient”.
To read FULL ARTICLE go to Financial Times clik here
