UK invests £70 million and joins Hunger Alliance

Nation announces strong support to combat food shortages and boost livelihoods for communities across the planet

The United Kingdom announced membership in the Global Alliance and investment of £70 million, equivalent to approximately R$531.45 million, to combat global food insecurity over the next 18 months. The measure aims to support vulnerable families to resist crises, promote sustainable growth in the agricultural sector and improve social protection for those most in need. The announcement of membership was confirmed by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, during the G20 Leaders’ Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, between 18 and 19 November.

“With the climate emergency making it increasingly difficult for the world’s most vulnerable families to have enough to eat, it is time for a new approach,” said Development Minister Anneliese Dodds. “The UK’s partnership with Brazil, our participation in the Alliance and this investment package demonstrate our unwavering commitment to fighting global hunger. Only in true partnership with the Global South can we move closer to a stable, hunger-free world and poverty”, he added.

The announcement includes up to £50 million for the new Resilience and Adaptation Fund, which will use climate finance to ensure food-insecure households in countries such as Ethiopia, Chad and Bangladesh can withstand shocks and extreme weather events.

The investment package builds on more than £30 million of funding announced last four months. Lord Collins, Minister for Africa, announced £25 million for AgDevCo Ventures in September to scale up early-stage African agricultural businesses and increase Africa’s resilience to climate change, during the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali.

By driving economic development abroad, the UK will continue to benefit people at home by creating trade opportunities, stabilizing global food prices and ultimately diversifying supply options for the UK’s food security.

The UK’s new £70 million support package includes:

• Up to £50 million for the new Resilience and Adaptation Fund, which will use climate finance to ensure food-insecure households in countries such as Ethiopia, Chad and Bangladesh can withstand shocks and extreme weather events.
• Additionally, an increase of £25.5 million will be invested through the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusinesses (CASA) program to help small agribusinesses in Africa and Asia grow, whilst increasing the income of family farmers and supporting the sector agriculture to adapt to climate change.
• A new £3 million contribution to the World Bank’s Rapid Social Response Fund Fragility Window to expand the coverage of cash transfer programs, enabling vulnerable people to have their basic needs met and weather crises.
• A new joint UN Initiative on Preventing Child Malnutrition (JUNIPr), developed in partnership with UNICEF, WFP and WHO, to strengthen the evidence base on what works best to prevent child malnutrition in food insecure settings .
• Up to £500,000 to sponsor development expertise and analytical work for the Alliance Support Mechanism.

The more than £30 million of UK funding previously pledged includes:

• A £25 million investment in AgDevCo Ventures to scale up early-stage African agribusinesses and increase Africa’s resilience to climate change – announced at the Africa Food Systems Forum in September.
• £7 million of the aforementioned increase in the CASA program was announced at the World Bank Annual Meetings in October.

Council of Champions

The country will also join the Council of Champions, part of the Global Alliance’s governance structure. The Council is comprised of a diverse group of senior representatives drawn from Alliance members. Its main focus is to encourage the active participation of countries, institutions and organizations, as well as helping to remove obstacles and facilitate the establishment of concrete partnerships oriented towards action and policy implementation at the national level.

The UK is a founding member of the Alliance, which has attracted more than 80 countries, each committed to accelerating action against global food insecurity. Members will share knowledge and work together to mobilize the financial resources needed to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty.

Last year, around 750 million people faced hunger around the world, and levels of emergency food insecurity reached the highest level in the last five years, worsened by climate change, conflict and economic tensions.

With information from the UK Government and MDS