While we await the publication to today's schedule, I thought I would provide this little insight into what Mme. Secretary will be doing today at UNGA. Manhattan is is gridlock alert. Security is high and we like it that way when our girl is in town!
Office of the SpokespersonWashington, DCSeptember 16, 2011
On September 19, 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will host a panel discussion, “Women and Agriculture: A Conversation on Improving Global Food Security,” at the InterContinental Barclay Hotel at approximately 1:00 p.m.
The event will be open to credentialed members of the media and will be streamed live on www.state.gov.
Occurring on the margins of the UN General Assembly, “Women and Agriculture: A Conversation on Improving Global Food Security” will feature leaders from civil society, the private sector and government who will discuss the role of women in promoting transformative agricultural development and food security. Secretary Clinton will be joined by Rajiv Shah, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; Jose Graziano da Silva, Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and former Brazilian Extraordinary Minister of Food Security and Fight Against Hunger; Kathy Spahn, President and CEO of Helen Keller International; and Reema Nanavaty, Director of the Economic and Rural Development for the Self-employed Women’s Association (SEWA) of India. The discussion will be moderated by New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof.
At the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy in July 2009, President Obama pledged to invest $3.5 billion over three years in agricultural development and improved global food security, which leveraged another $18.5 billion in pledges from the international donor community in the wake of the 2007-2008 food price crisis. The current famine and food crisis in the Horn of Africa reinforces the need for long-term investment in agricultural development.
In the United States, President Obama’s pledge became Feed the Future, the U.S. global hunger and food security initiative, which prioritizes investments in women as critical drivers of agriculture-led economic growth in developing countries. Women make up the majority of smallholder farmers in many developing countries, yet often lack the resources needed to maximize their productivity. Secretary Clinton and the panel will highlight the need to develop the potential of women farmers and the evidence of the returns on these investments.
