How will thirst for biofuels affect global hunger?

More and more governments and aid agencies are giving regular cash payments to families who live on the edge of survival, saying it's cheaper to avert a crisis than to provide relief after it happens, and less bureaucracy means more of the aid goes right to the people who need it.

Cash transfers have become a popular way of providing social protection in low-income African countries, but what are the impacts of these on older carers?

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has called on governments to draw up national laws obliging them to take action when there is a threat of famine or food insecurity.

UNICEF has provided a set of policy recommendations to be prioritised in Uganda's National Development Plan (NDP) and appealed to the Government to fulfil its legal and moral obligations toward the country's youngest citizens.

Without increased public investment, the poverty rate, estimated at 40 percent this year, will grow to 44.2 percent by 2014.

Latin American ministers will discuss social protection measures in the face of the world financial crisis at a summit of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), the Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday.

In the past, Dlamini said the government was paying 500 rands (about K250,000) as elders' grants every three months. "But it is no longer doing so," he laments.

High food prices and continued market volatility will increasingly make the UN World Food Programme (WFP) tap non-traditional donors like China and the corporate world for funds, as it warned that it would run out of cash by March 2009 to feed millions in hunger hotspots across the globe.

Holding governments to account for children's wellbeing...

At the end of September, The Cape Argus and the Daily Sun ran a story entitled "Teenage mothers abuse state child grant".  The article chronicles the experiences of counsellors in Cape Town's Gugulethu township, and states that the Child Support Grant (CSG) is popularly known as "womb fee".  

Global problems require bold solutions and the Currency Transaction Tax (CTT) is one such idea. It proposes a small levy on foreign exchange transactions and uses the money raised to finance development projects for the global public good.

African social security leaders from 35 countries have called for increased political priority to be given to social security. The call was made during the recently concluded first Regional Social Security Forum for Africa, held at Kigali Serena hotel.

Which aspect of gender inequalities should be considered priority in the design of public policies that seek to reduce gender inequalities and poverty?

An evaluation report for the country's cash transfer pilot programme has expressed doubt over the project receiving possible donor support to cover the whole country.

Almost a third of Namibian households are now classified as poor, with 13 per cent labelled as severely poor, according to the latest review of poverty and inequality in the country.

Prime Minister Bernard Makuza, has called on African's to improve social security coverage if sustainable development is to be achieved.

After having reached record highs, the price of the main food products and oil decreased markedly as from the second half of 2008. This drop is the result of increased world supplies (perspectives of good harvests, less export restrictions,...). The season was also marked by the crisis on the financial markets, which helped increase changes in price and speed their drop.

New evidence confirms that social security programmes are one of the most effective and sustainable ways of lifting people out of poverty. African social security systems are playing a vital role in the development of their societies...

The respect Malawi's elderly once enjoyed in society is being soured by the twin pressures of poverty and HIV/AIDS and the government is introducing social grants to alleviate the burden they carry.

The global financial crisis has shown that economies that are "decoupled" from global markets may survive the crisis better than those that are not. This had led many developing nations to question the economic models imposed on them by donor countries.

Because cash transfer programmes affect children's time allocation, some impact on child labour is always expected. But it is not as evident as the impact associated with school attendance.

The Namibia Economic Policy and Research Unit's comments on the BIG assessment report have ruffled the feathers of the Basic Income Grant Secretariat.

Social policies around the world are shifting to account-based systems, but many of these systems assume that persons have relationships with financial institutions, thereby leaving out millions of low- and no-income people.

Should both Zain and MTN go ahead with their plans for the service, a big percentage of Uganda's mobile phone users will be able to send and receive money via their handsets.

The biofuels industry will have a greater benefit for Southern Africa if it is used as a tool for social development rather than as a means to replace the region's dependency on crude oil...

The main purpose of the AU's Experts Meeting was to discuss and improve on the Draft Social Policy Framework for Africa (SPF) and the Study on Social Protection to be submitted for adoption to the AU Ministers in charge of Social Development.

The Ghanaian government, backed by the World Bank, is expanding a cash handout programme to help families hit hardest by global food price hikes. But some local development experts question whether the approach has lasting benefits.

The road to Malawi's food security is a study in determination and sacrifice at the highest level of government.

Poor countries could grow more potatoes to supplement or even replace grains that are most often shipped in from far away and are subject to severe market gyrations.

Food security experts say international donors' response to the world's food crisis has been inadequate when compared to interventions to contain the global financial meltdown.

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has pledged to embark on a "green belt" programme to enable the country, in the long run, to say goodbye to hunger and international food aid.

Cash transfers are increasingly being used, instead of in-kind transfers such as food aid, in response to droughts and other emergencies. As well as allowing poor people to make their own choices about how to improve their situation, cash transfers can bring widespread benefits to the regional economy.

The elderly in Malawi can no longer necessarily depend on the economic support of their children or their communities. This paper argues that cash transfer schemes, amongst other initiatives aimed at the elderly, can prove to be of great benefit.

If increased consumer spending can stimulate economic growth in developed economies, why shouldn't it in poorer ones where the marginal propensity to spend is very high? Basic Income Grants and other Social Transfer are direct way of increasing consumer spending.

The international trend toward investing in social protection in poor countries has reached sub-Saharan Africa, taking on a new urgency as HIV and AIDS interact with other drivers of poverty to simultaneously destabilize livelihoods systems and family and community safety nets.

This article, with contributions by RHVP, discusses social transfers as a major element of social protection (in English and French).

Swaziland's failure to take advantage of the opportunity to export unlimited quantities of beef to the lucrative European Union (EU) market is being attributed to poor animal husbandry, high livestock mortality rates, and cultural practices that deter farmers from selling their cattle.

A new institute to look into the impact of mobile banking and payment systems in the developing world is being set up at the US-based University of California Irvine's School of Social Sciences.

Through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), African leaders believe that the agricultural sector is the perfect vehicle to reach Africa's goal of becoming self reliant and fully productive.

The global financial crisis could hamper efforts to alleviate hunger in Africa, the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa says.

Zimbabwe faces yet another disastrous agricultural year: with hardly a month to go before the planting season starts, many farmers have not received the fertiliser and seeds they need. Agricultural inputs are hard to find on shop shelves in rural areas, and farmers in many parts of the country are yet to prepare the land for the coming farming season.

Cash transfers are increasingly popular with governments, donors, and non-governmental organisations as a way to support vulnerable groups.

Through an expansive cross-country study, a new IPC publication analyses the gap between strong political commitment and slow progress towards meeting the MDGs.

At the annual National Food Policy Conference in Washington, a panel of experts discussing the roots of Africa's chronic food insecurity urged major new investments in agricultural development.

The number of grandparents worldwide caring for grandchildren orphaned by AIDS has doubled during the past 10 years, with half of the globe's 15 million AIDS orphans being cared for by a grandparent, according to new research.

Older people across Africa joined together on 1 October 2008, the UN International Day of Older People, under the banner of Age Demands Action - a global campaign calling for recognition and support of older people's vital contribution to society.

This study examines the impact of biofuel production on the enjoyment of the human right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger.

The speed and impact of the current global food crisis threatens to destroy years of economic progress, with food prices rising by 50% in the year to May 2008.

Three international experts share perspectives on the global food crisis, pointing to the pitfalls of misguided policies and the opportunities for preventing future crises.

This paper examines the challenges of vulnerability from hunger in an African context. It makes the case for an improved food security classification and response system.

When missing aid targets means condemning thousands to death, hunger and disease, failure is not an option

In forging new development strategies, in alignment with its vision and goals, government of Lesotho is challenging its development partners to be bold and emphatic in order for the country to achieve desirable results.

While scaling-up aid is urgently needed, macroeconomic policies must also be accommodative.

Developing countries also announced commitments to mobilize domestic programmes aimed at achieving the universally agreed anti-poverty goals by the target date of 2015.

The food crisis has concentrated the donor community's minds on the need for overseas development aid for African agriculture. This is welcome, but what sort of policies are being proposed and what impact will they have for the African farmer?

Nkhambule is one of tens of thousands of migrant workers in the SADC who are being doubly punished by a lack of social security portability in the region.

Changes to the world economy have helped trigger the greatest food crisis for 30 years - so how much more needs to be done?

Zimbabwe's fledgling unity government cannot agree on much, but when it comes to the land issue President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) share common ground - any return to the pre-2000 pattern of land ownership is non-negotiable.

This piece describes the data and methods that national and international decisionmakers need to understand the effects of a global food crisis on a country and to alleviate risks and exploit opportunities.

The embrace of micronutrients represents a radical change for food aid. "For the last 40 years, there has been very little effort to figure out what works...

Aid agency CARE International has found that the number of people living on the edge of emergency has rocketed to 220 million - almost twice as many as in 2006.

This meeting will be held on Thursday 16 October to discuss the consequences of seasonality on hunger and malnutrition as well as the impacts of shocks, like the recent and ongoing food price crisis.

Mantseuoa Rantho has been feeding her family on credit. "We call it living on skoloto [credit] in Sesotho," she says. She now owes her neighbours in Ha Tsiu, a village tucked away in Lesotho's Thaba Putsoa Mountains, 100km east of the capital, Maseru, three bowls of maize-meal.

Climate change poses a universal threat to development and people's livelihoods, all over the world, and the new booklet from DFID, Degrees of separation, shows just how close the links are between climate change and poverty.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, warns in a new report that the gains made in reducing extreme poverty are under threat from the rise in global food and fuel prices and global economic slowdown.

The Malawian government has responded to the current food shortage and hunger situation in the country by donating over 5 000 metric tonnes of maize.

Equitable and sustainable structural transformation of African economies is a prerequisite for improving livelihoods across the continent but most sub-Saharan African countries remain highly dependent on a narrow range of mineral and agricultural commodities...

A new study, published by REPSSI, HelpaAge International, WorldVision and the Swiss Agency for Development, focuses on social protection by means of pensions for older people and older caregivers.

What happens to a nation whose people depend on the largesse of international donor agencies for their existence, once support is withdrawn?

Experts say many of the right conditions are in place across West Africa to make cash distributions work in the current global food price crisis.

Aid agencies attending an international meeting on the effectiveness of aid say donors have not made enough progress addressing long-time problems in aid.

Branchless banking has great potential to extend the distribution of financial services to poor people who are not reached by traditional bank branch networks; it lowers the cost of delivery, including costs both to banks of building and maintaining a delivery channel and to customers of accessing services (e.g., travel or queuing times).

High food prices, especially maize prices, could mean a larger proportion of the population in southern Africa will face food shortages during the hunger season; between October and March, 2009, a study has revealed.

Trained and assisted by Spanish agriculture experts, around 100 peasant farmers and their families have become international exporters of melons to supermarkets in Spain and Britain in a commercial tie-up with a private Spanish farm company.

THERE are more poor people in the developing world than previously estimated, a new study released by the World Bank has shown. However, the bank notes that poverty rates have been on the downward trend.

Economists of all persuasions agree now that growth is the key to lifting people out of poverty - a view reinforced by a major World Bank report in May on growth and development.

Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are an increasingly popular tool for poverty alleviation. This paper draws on lessons learned in Mexico.

These testimonies are a powerful reminder of the human indignities that lie at the heart of poverty and why effective approaches to poverty reduction matter. The stories bring to life the reality of poverty and its daily oppressions.

Despite the abject poverty, women in the slum have taken in foster kids, most of who lost their parents to AIDS related diseases.

Ordinary Malawians, cheered by the prospect of cheaper food, have welcomed government's ban on the private trading of maize, but food security experts and businesses have expressed concern.

The South African state awards unconditional means-tested cash transfers to the caregivers of some eight million poor children. Amidst increasing demands on the state for social assistance, the question has been asked: should the Child Support Grant (CSG) be made conditional on education or health related behaviour to enhance its effectiveness?

Africa cannot afford the GM ban. Its cities, fed by imports, need global prices to be low. Without cheap food the children of the urban poor will be malnourished. Africa's farmers, broadly self-sufficient, need higher productivity.

Erratic weather and a prolonged dry spell caused Swaziland to record its lowest ever maize harvest in April 2007; although the 2008 harvest was double the size, it is still not enough, and a lack of funds to meet the zooming price of inputs means people might have to go hungry again next year.

The provision of safety nets, especially social pensions and cash grants for citizens is not only a rights issue, it also makes economic sense.

As fertiliser and petrol prices zoom and threaten food production in Zambia, farmers are being urged to adopt conservation farming.

The World Bank's new deal on Global Food Policy embraces short, medium and long-term responses, including safety nets and conditional cash transfers.

Cash transfer programmes are emerging as indispensable component of poverty reduction strategies. This collection of articles discusses lessons learnt from conditional and social cash transfer programmes implemented in Africa and Latin America.

With the energy and food crises inflating the cost of subsidies across the developing world, governments are being forced down a route that the World Bank and development economists have urged for years: cushioning poor families by targeted cash payments delinked from the cost of hydrocarbons and carbohydrates.

Five policy measures could help people living in chronic poverty escape the poverty trap, says the second international Chronic Poverty Report 2008-2009.

Social protection is emerging as a policy option among governments and donors in Southern Africa, as poverty and unemployment persist despite economic growth in the region.

The oil-rich seed of a poisonous shrub that thrives in arid climates with poor soil lies at the heart of plans by Kenya to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels without threatening food security.

This paper questions how prevention and response mechanisms could be improved to help decision-makers better address the underlying causes of vulnerability and hunger.

The 2005/2006 fertiliser subsidy programme is widely cited as the most significant policy achievement of the Malawian government since the advent of a democratic political dispensation over a decade ago. This is especially in view of the fact that the programme was implemented against the advice of a whole gamut of technical experts and development partners.

Despite government assurances of a food surplus, Malawi's traders are betting that maize prices will rise later in the year and are holding on to stocks, artificially pushing up the price at the tills for consumers.

Wahenga.net is advocating a major change in how we view the poor.

Use of neglected and underutilised species (NUS) can play an important role in improving food security, conserving biodiversity and generating income and employment.

The discourse of celebrity activism for Africa has served to contribute to the marginalisation of Africans, framing them as passive actors in shaping their own futures, and marginalises more radical means of addressing problems of Africa. As a result, Bono and Geldof are complicit in sustaining African dependency on the West.

The food crisis reflects a breakdown in our global food system that threatens to worsen poverty, hunger, climate change, and insecurity. Global institutions and governments are responding, yet their answers are vastly inadequate.

Hard-pressed to find efficient ways of delivering aid, humanitarian agencies are turning to new technologies. One such innovation involves mobile phones to send cash.