Save the Children

A huge gap in funding for aid projects aimed at preventing the deepening food crisis in the Sahel is threatening to leave millions of people hungry in the coming months, a coalition of aid agencies has warned today.

Delegates at this week’s “High-Level Meeting on Food Security for All” have agreed to prioritize hunger and food insecurity as part of the international community’s response to the global food crisis.

The G8 made the commitment in July 2008 to address the food crisis through the creation of a "Global Partnership”, which is now known as the "Global Partnership on Agriculture and Food Security” (GPAFS), which would take forward the Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA).

One of the key objectives of the Madrid Conference is to officially launch a consultative and inclusive process which will lead to the creation of the Partnership.

As key stakeholders, we make the following recommendations which we see as critical to an effective GPAFS:

Aid agencies today warned the enormous humanitarian response in Darfur will soon be paralysed unless African and global leaders at the AU Summit take urgent action to end rising violence against civilians and aid workers. They said African Heads of States and new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will fail the people of Darfur if they do not take concrete steps to herald the start of a new chapter in the region and ensure an immediate ceasefire is both agreed and adhered to.