37th CFS Plenary Session, 17-22 October 2011, Rome
The CFS is the United Nations' forum for reviewing policies concerning world food. It is the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition.
Please visit our About section.
16 September 2011 – Health and nutrition rates have deteriorated for famine-wracked Somalis displaced within their own country but improved for those who have fled to Ethiopia, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.
6 September 2011 – United Nations agencies are mobilizing to assist at some 20,000 people who have fled the fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile state and arrived in neighbouring Ethiopia.
An assessment team from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) found that the refugees arriving in the Assosa region of western Ethiopia appear in good physical condition but need food, water and shelter.
So far, some 2,500 refugees who were willing to be relocated have been moved into an existing refugee camp at Sherkole that was first opened in 1997 in response to the North-South Sudanese civil war.
November 15, 2010 - The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved on November 12, 2010 the second and final review of Ethiopia’s economic performance under the 14-month arrangement under the high-access component of the Exogenous Shocks Facility (ESF). The approval will enable Ethiopia to draw SDR 40.11 million (about US$ 62.67 million), bringing total disbursements to the total available under the arrangement (SDR 153.755 million; about US$ 240.24 million).
WASHINGTON, October 15, 2010—Across Africa, many countries are off-track on the nutrition and health targets embedded within the Millennium Development Goals. Yet there is hope for 2015, as countries such as Ethiopia—where nearly half of all children were reported to be malnourished in 2005—forge ahead with community-based nutrition programs that help alleviate poverty, improve health, and ultimately boost the economy.
Ethiopia’s critical National Nutrition Programme (NNP) was launched in 2009 to combat daunting losses on two key fronts. As in other parts of Africa, malnutrition contributes to over half of Ethiopia’s child mortality; and the World Bank estimates that the country loses 10 percent of its GDP to malnutrition.
WASHINGTON, September 30, 2010 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved funding of US$150 million (US$108.4 million as credit and the remaining US$41.6 million as grant) to the Government of Ethiopia to support increased agricultural productivity, enhanced market access for key crop and livestock products, and improved food security.
Using funds from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries – and in collaboration with other donors, the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) will initially target 83 high-potential woredas (districts) with increased participation of farmers, particularly women and youth, in defining the support they need to raise productivity and access markets.
16 July 2010 – United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes today allocated some $41 million in emergency funding to boost humanitarian operations in nine countries where people are suffering the effects of hunger, malnutrition, disease, and conflict.
The money from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will help cover funding gaps in key humanitarian projects in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Yemen, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Central African Republic (CAR), Djibouti, Eritrea, Republic of Congo and Nepal.
Humanitarian actors in Chad and the DRC received the largest individual portions of some $8 million apiece.
24 June 2010 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today began a scheme to boost about 70,000 smallholder farmers in Ethiopia by buying the food they produce to use in the agency’s operations in the Horn of Africa country.
Through the Purchase for Progress initiative, which is financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WFP plans to buy an estimated 126,000 tons of food from local farmers over the next five years.
Mohamed Diab, the country director for WFP in Ethiopia, said the initiative should benefit both the agency and the farmers, whose incomes and know-how will rise as they become more familiar with the agricultural marketplace.
April 21, 2010 -- Tewabech Mamo gazed at the lush barley field in front of her home in the Ethiopian highlands. Mist rose from a nearby stand of thriving eucalyptus trees she planted after receiving title to more than a hectare of farmland. Today, she displays her name and photo in the green booklet affirming her land rights.
"It's as precious as a child ? like my own son," the 52-year-old mother of four sons and two daughters says of her land certificate.
She got it after divorcing her husband and receiving half the family land.
"I'm happy, I'm proud. This certificate made me equal with the men. No one is trying to mistreat me. I have this and now I'm a proud citizen."
Press Release No:2010/328/AFR
WASHINGTON, March 30, 2010 - The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit of US$80 million in support of the Water Supply and Sanitation project in Ethiopia.
The additional financing is provided for the ongoing Water Supply and Sanitation Project (WSSP), which has been implemented since November 2004. The objective of the original project, which remains unchanged, is increased access to sustainable water supply and sanitation services, for rural and urban users, through improved capacity of stakeholders in the sector.
Press Release No. 10/108
March 24, 2010 -- An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Paul Mathieu visited Addis Ababa March 12-24 to conduct discussions on the 2010 Article IV consultation and the first review under the program supported by the Exogenous Shocks Facility. The mission met with His Excellency Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Minister of Finance and Economic Development Sufian Ahmed, and Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia Teklewold Atnafu, as well representatives of the private sector, labor unions, and civil society.
At the conclusion of the mission, Mr. Mathieu issued the following statement:
The spike in food prices of last year (2008) underscored what experts have been telling us for many years: the world's food systems are in crisis