Third
United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries
Statement by A. N. Ngongi,
Brussels, 15 May 2001
Distinguished Delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the World Food Programme, I
am pleased to participate in the work of this Conference. It gives us all an extraordinary opportunity
to put into action integrated and long-term measures to improve the lives of
one out of 10 of the world's people - those living in LDCs, most of whom are
unable to meet even their basic nutritional needs.
The United Nations community recently
affirmed, at the Millennium Summit, to achieve the goal of halving poverty by
2015. Why is this necessary now, at the
beginning of the third millennium?
Just a few decades ago, it was thought
that by Year 2000 we would have reached a point where all inhabitants of this
earth would have sufficient means to lead productive lives. In order to attain that goal, in 1970, the
United Nations adopted the official development assistance (ODA) target of 0.7
percent of developed countries' GNP.
However, that target has never been met; on the contrary, the reality is
eluding us rapidly. The share of ODA
given by the OECD members as percentage of their GNPs has continued to hover at
a low level. On average, only 0.2 to
0.3 percent of GNP is directed to ODA, and of this, least developed countries
have been receiving only about 20 percent.
The more countries fall in the category of LDC, the further their
indivual shares will dwindle. Prospects
for a reversal of the decline appear dim, given competing claims for resources,
many of which arise from situations of crisis or conflict.
In the meantime, the number of LDCs has
increased from 31 countries in 1981 when the First LDC Conference was held, to
44 in 1990 at the time of the Second LDC Conference, and to 49 in 2001. And the current number of 49 does not
include the CIS countries, many of which are equally poor. This, in my view, is a sad testimony of
insufficient attention, resources and inadequate strategies to tackle the
underlying causes of poverty.
In the 49 least developed countries, life
expectancy spans only five decades, during which, most people lead a very
difficult life, struggling to meet their basic needs and care for their
families. Hunger and malnutrition often
result in high infant mortality rates, stunting, susceptibility to infection
and diseases, and of course, the general lack of energy to learn and work. Added to this is the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
which is ravaging the most
productive segments of populations in developing world.
Ninety-five percent of the 36 million people living with HIV/AIDS are in
developing countries, and it is projected that there will be some 40 million
orphans by 2010 – a significant share of them in LDCs. This situation will further increase
poverty, hunger and malnutrition in these affected countries.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) can also
play an important role in reducing poverty, both in terms of providing capital
and in terms of transferring technical skills.
FDI flows to developing countries have recently risen, but LDCs received
less than one percent of all FDI flows to developing countries. The major obstacle has been the lack of an
attractive environment for that investment, and that is where our focus must
now lie.
The key to
breaking the cycle of poverty and malnutrition lies in focusing on the
development of human assets, allowing
people to take advantage of development opportunities. A malnourished or illiterate child is
already on the path to becoming an unproductive adult. Women who are poor, malnourished and overburdened
can hardly be expected to improve their lives or find ways to improve the lives
of their families. We must start to
address the problems of poverty by first focusing on the most disadvantaged
people at the most vulnerable times of their lives - in particular, young
children, adolescent girls and pregnant and nursing mothers. We can do this in
a number of ways.
First, more
attention needs to be paid to improving the nutritional status of adolescent
girls and to decreasing the percentage of children with low birthweight that
results in high mortality, as well as impairment of children’s physical and
mental development.
Second, by
encouraging the enrolment and retention of girls in school, their future
chances for productive lives are increased.
They will be better able to engage in gainful employment, and to adopt
good nutrition and health practices.
They will marry later and have fewer children, and are better prepared
to care for them.
Third, in addition
to basic education, we should create and encourage an environment in which a
healthy entrepreneurial spirit can be nurtured. The current mass education culture seems to attach a superior
notion to general deskwork and job security.
The energies of the young should be directed to acquiring technical
skills that are in demand in the job market of today. Above all, we ought to think of ways to allow young people to be
more risk-taking. New and creative
ideas that can become a profitable small-scale business with a modest amount of
seed money should be encouraged. The
cost of financing such schemes would be significantly lower than traditional
investment programmes. Small and
innovative insurance programmes coupled with small-scale credit facilities
could go a long way to stimulate and nurture the spirit of originality,
independence and risk-taking in today’s and future generations of young people.
Fourth, but
perhaps the most fundamental for many LDCs -- we need to work together to stop
conflict and build peace. Too many
human and material resources are being expended on arms and too many lives are
being lost. Damage to infrastructure is
in billions of dollars. Often the major
part of the population, women and children are marginal to the origins of
conflicts, but are the most seriously affected by them. It is worth mentioning that most countries
that ended wars in the last decade have shown considerable social and economic
improvements. Peace is a prerequisite
to growth and development.
WFP is fully
committed to supporting this development process in developing countries,
especially in LDCs. Last year, WFP
assisted 83 million of the world's poorest people, 41 millon of whom were in
LDCs. WFP has a policy of allocating at
least half of its development resources to LDCs, and at least 90 percent to
low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs).
In 2000, WFP provided more than 3.5 million tons of food assistance, out
of which 1.9 million tons were for beneficiaries in LDCs. Of these, nearly $ 135 million worth (or 41
% of total in monetary value) of our commodities were procured in developing
countries. $ 56 million worth (or 17 %
of total of total in monetary value) of commodities were purchased in
LDCs. Through local or regional
purchases of food aid, WFP also contributes to stimulating local economy and
building local capacities.
WFP has a dual
mandate in both humanitarian and development assistance. A total of 61 million people were assisted
in 2000 under humanitarian operations - whose food security was threatened by
poverty, natural disasters and/or conflict.
Of this, seven million were victims of wars and civil unrest. Many people in LDCs have become or remained
displaced. Three million refugees and
18 million internally displaced people (including 7 million assisted predominantly
in a camp situation) received WFP’s life-saving food assistance.
Our assistance is
given not only during times of emergency, but is also focused on creating an
environment to encourage development and preparing people to take advantage of
development opportunities. Based on
this concept, 22 million people were assisted through development
activities. WFP’s investments are
designed to be sustainable and to meet people's long-term needs while reducing
their vulnerability.
No investment is
more sustainable than investment in human resources. WFP does this through school feeding that enables poor and hungry
children, especially girls, get an education; through Mother and Child Health
programmes that provide nutrition for mothers and children, thus fostering
proper child development and reducing infant mortality; through adult literacy
enhancement programmes for poor people, especially women, to increase their
access to information and chances of employment leading to better lives for
them and their families.
In the last two
years that we have been implementing our "Enabling Development"
policy, our focus has shifted away from creating large-scale physical assets,
to developing human capacity.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Hunger is the first obstacle to ending poverty. Hungry people cannot invest in themselves nor participate in development activities. Food security is the key to ensuring that people lead productive lives, and can take advantage of development opportunities - for themselves and their families. By committing to increased development resources, including food assistance, we can address the root causes of poverty affecting so many of our fellow inhabitants of this earth.
Thank you.