Freedom from Hunger Campaign

MAC/WFY

Page-77

0230_553559_12_cha08

The 1960s began with an entirely new approach in the quest for world food
security on the initiative of a new FAO director-general, the first, and so far the
only one, from the Asia region. Binay Ranjan Sen, popularly known as B. R. Sen,
had been India's Director-General of Food during wartime (194346), his primary
task being to ensure equitable distribution of scarce food supplies for one-sixth of
the world's population. He wrote: `All my life I had been in the midst of hunger
and poverty in all its stark reality' (Sen, 1982, p. 137). He had followed closely the
discussions at the Hot Springs, Quebec and Copenhagen conferences and had seen
that while they had opened a new chapter in international solidarity, they had
also shown that the major powers were not prepared to establish some form of
world food security arrangement under the control of a multilateral organization.
A different strategy was therefore required that would be more acceptable to them
but would also keep the goal of eliminating hunger alive.

The idea of mounting a world campaign against hunger was on Sen's mind when

he became FAO's director-general in 1956. At the summer session of ECOSOC in
1957, he sketched out the main objectives of a `Freedom from Hunger Campaign'
(FFHC), which were: to attract worldwide attention to the problem; to secure the
participation and co-operation of all concerned; to achieve a degree of enthusiasm
and anticipation, which would result in more effective national and international
action; and, in the process, establish a higher level of mutually profitable world
trade to help raise the prosperity of both developed and developing countries.
He reasoned that the problems of poverty, hunger and malnutrition were so vast
in scale, and so serious in character, that a sustained campaign conducted over a
number of years was necessary. He told ECOSOC that the main aim was to heighten
awareness in the world and thus improve the foundations for effective and accel-
erated action, which would hopefully continue for the future. Three months later,
he spoke at the FAO Council, when his ideas had clarified further. The campaign
would be of an informational and promotional character. The expectation was
that a climate of public opinion would be created that would force governments
to intensify action programmes both at the national and international levels. The
campaign would culminate in a `World Food Congress' that would sum up its
main lessons and conclusions. He suggested 1963 as the date for the meeting,
which coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the Hot Springs conference
that had given birth to FAO.

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Useful links	Freedom from Hunger Campaign MAC/WFY Page-77 0230_553559_12_cha08 8 Freedom from Hunger Campaign The 1960s began with an entirely new approach in the quest for world food security on the initiative of a new FAO director-general, the first, and so far the only one, from the Asia region. Binay Ranjan Sen, popularly known as B. R. Sen, had been India's Director-General of Food during wartime (194346), his primary task being to ensure equitable distribution of scarce food supplies for one-sixth of the world's population. He wrote: `All my life I had been in the midst of hunger and poverty in all its stark reality' (Sen, 1982, p. 137). He had followed closely the discussions at the Hot Springs, Quebec and Copenhagen conferences and had seen that while they had opened a new chapter in international solidarity, they had also shown that the major powers were not prepared to establish some form of world food security arrangement under the control of a multilateral organization. A different strategy was therefore required that would be more acceptable to them but would also keep the goal of eliminating hunger alive. The idea of mounting a world campaign against hunger was on Sen's mind when he became FAO's director-general in 1956. At the summer session of ECOSOC in 1957, he sketched out the main objectives of a `Freedom from Hunger Campaign' (FFHC), which were: to attract worldwide attention to the problem; to secure the participation and co-operation of all concerned; to achieve a degree of enthusiasm and anticipation, which would result in more effective national and international action; and, in the process, establish a higher level of mutually profitable world trade to help raise the prosperity of both developed and developing countries. He reasoned that the problems of poverty, hunger and malnutrition were so vast in scale, and so serious in character, that a sustained campaign conducted over a number of years was necessary. He told ECOSOC that the main aim was to heighten awareness in the world and thus improve the foundations for effective and accel- erated action, which would hopefully continue for the future. Three months later, he spoke at the FAO Council, when his ideas had clarified further. The campaign would be of an informational and promotional character. The expectation was that a climate of public opinion would be created that would force governments to intensify action programmes both at the national and international levels. The campaign would culminate in a `World Food Congress' that would sum up its main lessons and conclusions. He suggested 1963 as the date for the meeting, which coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the Hot Springs conference that had given birth to FAO. 77 back to top Next page
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