Students
travel to Rome for unique food security class
Guided
by former World Food Programme director Catherine Bertini, students meet with
an array of significant international experts in food security and policy.
This
Friday, December 11, 25 Maxwell School graduate students in international
relations, public administration, and public diplomacy will hold the final
session in a one-of-a-kind, short-term class titled Food Security and Policy.
They will reflect on a Thanksgiving-break class trip to Rome, Italy, where they
spent five days learning from experts in the field of hunger alleviation. The
class, led by Catherine Bertini, professor of public administration and
international affairs, included sessions with policy makers and implementers from
three United Nations agencies that work to combat hunger on a global scale.
The course
allowed students to meet and learn from experts at the World Food Program
(WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and
the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on topics ranging
from the logistics of food aid distribution to the role of gender and climate
change in the forming of policies. Speakers such as Stefano Porretti, director
of emergency preparedness and support response for the WFP; Adolfo Brizzi, director
of IFAD’s Policy and Technical Advisory Division; and Anna Lartey, director of
FAO’s Nutrition Division, were just a few of the experts who shared their
experiences tackling food security in an ever-changing global context.
Bertini is
the former executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme and recipient of
the 2003 World Food Prize. She is also a distinguished fellow of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Global Agriculture
and Food Initiative.
Throughout the week-long stay in Rome, Bertini acted as guide and mentor to the
class. “Professor Bertini is highly esteemed at the UN agencies in Rome,” says
MPA/IR student Ana Monzon. “We owe the great honor of having been able to
engage in dialogue with these leading practitioners to Professor Bertini and
her inspiring legacy at the World Food Program.”
"I could not
have predicted the level of sincerity and dedication that each speaker showed
towards their work,” says MPA student Eric Horvath. “Whether talking about
facility management, supply chains, promotional materials, or nutrition for
malnourished children, all of our speakers possessed a passion and expertise I
have rarely seen in my life.”
The trip
culminated in a personal visit by Ertharin Cousin, the current executive director
of the WFP, whose message was one of hope. The group was able to discuss with Cousin
the WFP’s new initiative, the Zero Hunger Challenge, which was launched in 2012 by UN Secretary
General Ban-Ki Moon with the aim of achieving a hunger-free world by the year
2030.
Students in
the class describe the week in Rome as an eye-opening experience. “For me, the
biggest takeaway was how we can see so much tangible change that these
organizations have made in the world,” notes MPA student Anna Swanson. “Numbers
speak volumes, and due in large part to the work of these organizations the
number of hungry people in the world has decreased from 1 billion to 795
million people over the course of five years.” 12/08/15