Several recent events have highlighted the ongoing fight to alleviate hunger and secure food supplies around the world.

First celebrated in 1981, the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the UN designated Oct. 16 as World Food Day (WFD) in hopes to increase public awareness, promote international participation and strengthen the fight against global hunger.

This year’s theme, “Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis,” focused on reminding the international community that not only are we facing economic hardships, but almost one-sixth of the world’s population suffer from hunger.

In conjunction with WFD, the recipient of The World Food Prize is honored at the annual Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium held in Des Moines, Iowa. The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing an individual’s contributions to improve the “quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.”

This year’s recipient is Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia (pictured above) for his developments in drought-tolerant crops and the control of the deadly weed Striga in sub-Saharan Africa. As part of the World Food Prize events, a Global Youth Institute is held for selected high school students, who later have an opportunity to apply for international food research internships.

A recent meeting co-hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brought together over 130 countries and various stakeholders to discuss hunger in the world. Together, Ki-Moon and Clinton introduced their proposal, “Partnering for Food Security: Moving Forward,” aimed to assist countries with paralleling their efforts.

“Revitalizing global agriculture will not be easy. In fact, it is one of the most ambitious and comprehensive diplomacy and development efforts our country has ever undertaken. But it can be done. It is worth doing,” Clinton wrote in an op-ed article released by the U. S. Department of State on WFD. View a video and learn more about the issues and proposal on the State Department Web site.

For a listing of organizations offering opportunities for citizen diplomats to get involved in international development initiatives and the fight to eliminate world hunger, please visit our Web site.