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• Eight Caribbean governors sign a political agreement on food security, publicly declaring their commitment to the first MDG to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
• IDB donates $1 million to The Caribbean without Hunger Programme (Caribe sin Hambre).

Bogotá – Eight department governors from Colombia's Caribbean region agreed to promote the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger as an integral part of its regional public policy agenda at the Knowledge Fair: Caribbean Commitment against Hunger held in Cartagena, Colombia. IDB also announced it would donate $1 million to the Caribbean without Hunger Programme.

“We have joined together with important institutions in organizing this fair both as an opportunity for reflection and analysis, and as an initiative to help those that develop public policy in the Caribbean region find solutions and determine concrete actions for ensuring food security for the inhabitants of this region,” stated Barbara Pesce-Monteiro, Country Director of UNDP Colombia, at the inauguration of the event.

The fair was an opportunity for regional authorities to address the structural limitations—such as low productivity or insufficient public investment—that turn food and nutritional insecurity into a chronic problem, she says.

It also sought to promote the adoption of territorial policies aimed at fulfilling the MDGs through academic and knowledge-sharing activities and through cooperation and political agreements.

At the fair, governors confirmed their support for the first MDG by signing a Regional Declaration of Commitment to Food and Nutritional Security, which is based on the United Nations Development Assistant Framework (UNDAF) 2008-2012.

The declaration will act as an important tool in the implementation of public policies. This includes incorporating the MDG into development and government plans; reducing the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age; decreasing child mortality; achieving and maintaining an immunization coverage of above 95%; establishing continuous antenatal care and institutional attention for childbirth; and increasing access to water and sanitation services (or alternative solutions), especially in rural areas where these services are most lacking. 

In order to comply with the commitments assumed in the declaration, the governors will continue to work together with the accompaniment of the agencies of the United Nations System in Colombia and will establish a mechanism to follow-up on the progress made on this issue.

This commitment was further bolstered when the IDB announced its decision to contribute one million dollars to the Caribbean without Hunger Programme, which will have the support of the United Nations System in Colombia.

The selection of Cartagena as the venue for the two-day fair was not coincidental. The Caribbean region suffers the most chronic malnutrition in Colombia at a rate of 14%. The five continental departments of the Colombian Caribbean have infant mortality rates higher than the national average. Additionally, it is the region with the highest food insecurity (52%) in the country. 

The declaration and monetary commitment addresses a serious and sensitive issue, outlines an editorial in the principal regional newspaper, El Heraldo, 9th December.

“To speak of malnutrition is simply to speak of poverty and, more concretely, of its most dramatic and painful manifestation, hunger,” the editorial says.

The paper points out the statistics are also dramatic.

“Over the past few years, the Caribbean region became the region with the highest percentage of inhabitants displaying the highest levels of malnutrition, higher even than the Pacific Coast,” it says. So, the problem can no longer be ignored.

About the Knowledge Fair

The Knowledge Fair: Caribbean Commitment against Hunger (The Feria de Conocimiento: Compromiso Caribe contra el Hambre) is a UNDP strategy that works in alliance with the United Nations System.  Its aim is to make food security a core goal within political, strategic, and media agendas in Colombia’s Caribbean region.

The UNDP Colombia initiative receives the support of partners, such as Acción Social of the Presidency of the Republic, the United Nations System, the Bank of the Republic, and the Caribbean Observatory. 

This year the event attracted authorities from the Colombian Caribbean region, an area with very high levels of malnutrition and inequality. National experts from other regions of the country also convened at the event. Officials from the following programs, organizations and offices came to the event among others: Bogotá Bien Alimentada (Bogotá Well Nourished) from the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá; Maná (from the Governorship of Medellin); the Red de Seguridad Alimentaria y Programa Juntos (Food Security Network and Together Program) from the Presidency of the Republic; the Éxito Foundation, Plan International, the Montemariana Foundation, WFP, FAO, and Action against Hunger.

For more information, please see Presentaciones Compromiso Caribe.