On Friday, August 6, the 10th Class of Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows shared insights and recommendations in a virtual briefing entitled “Next-Generation Perspectives in Global Food Security.” These presentations, delivered a few weeks before the fellows concluded their two-year fellowship placements, reflect the diversity of experiences and expertise within the cohort. Topics ranged from adapting monitoring and evaluation practices for social distancing to supporting local and regional food systems and decolonizing advocacy.
“Nothing good happens, nothing changes for the better unless like-minded people come together and demand change,” said Rep. James P. McGovern, in pre-recorded introductory remarks. “Your work, your contributions are going to help us find a way to deal with global hunger, to change the current trend.”
View Presentation Playlist
“You’re the future of global food and nutrition security,” said Tom Pesek, Senior Liaison Officer of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, in closing remarks. “And I won’t call you future leaders, as leading isn’t something you’ll be doing at some undefined point in the future: you’re clearly already leading now, and will continue doing do well in to the future.”
“Now more than ever,” Pesek continued, “we desperately need your ideas, your problem-solving skills, your passion your dedication, your innovation your technical expertise, as well as your recommendations for how to make international development and humanitarian interventions more efficient, more effective, and more inclusive and just.”
View Individual Presentations
- Mobilizing Local Voices for Risk Communication and Program Success by Amit Smotrich
- Nutrition-Sensitive Aquaculture in Bangladesh: Success with Policies, Challenges with Implementation by Jacqueline Shieh
- The Importance of Strategic Monitoring in Stunting Prevention by Ally Vertti
- Mind the Gap: Nutrition for Adolescents by Tiphaine Monroe
- Cultivating Nontraditional Allies: The Potential Social Role of Food Vendors in the Anti-Hunger Movement by Marisa Nowicki
- Pick Up the Phone: Adapting M&E for Social Distance by Isis Blanco Vera and Michael Wang
- Should We Really Go Back to Normal? Innovations to Improve Acute Malnutrition Treatment by Maria Wrabel
- Advocating for Local and Regional Food Systems by Navya Nadimpalli
- Land Rights, Forests, and Migration in Côte d’Ivoire by Dan Myers
- Agroforestry: Facilitating Food Security and Climate Change Mitigation by Rhiley Allbee
- Measuring Market Health and Resilience for Food Security by Jini Kades
- Localizing Nutrition and Food Security Programs by Sara Higgins
- Decolonizing Advocacy by Bryan Pride
The 14 members of the 10th Class of Leland Fellows have been learning together and working at placements since their fellowships began September 2019. With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, over half of the fellows were repatriated from their field placements. In this blog post, four of those fellows reflect on that experience.
“It’s our mission at the Hunger Center to recruit, select, and support young people who are passionate about food security and nutrition,” said Emily Byers, Senior Director of the Leland Fellowship, “and passionate about putting principles of justice into action. In these presentations, we’ve seen that passion, coupled with professional rigor, and commitment to actionable steps, no matter how small, to eliminate the injustice of hunger.”
“I hope we all leave this room room more hopeful and inspired than we came into it. I know I will be.”
The briefing was co-sponsored by Action Against Hunger, FAO, Helen Keller International, InterAction, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, SDG 2 Advocacy Hub, World Cocoa Foundation, and the World Food Program USA.
