Yesterdays Nutrition summit has been hailed as a breakthrough in the fight against undernutrition. These photos show some of the elements that contributed to that success.
Paul Polmore, CEO of UNILEVER, who provided backing and the venue for the event. He has been one of the strongest Private Sector figures supporting international development. UNILEVER made a raft of pledges, for example the commitment to reach 2.5 million people through hand-washing programmes by 2015
Bill Gates and Joyce Banda.
The Gates Foundation announced $500m for nutrition-specfic programmes, of which $100m is new money compared to 2010 spending.
Host government
In the morning David Cameron described how proud he was of the IF campaign. Then Justine Greening, UK Secretary of State for International Development announced funding totalling £650m ($1 billion) between 2013 and 2020. She said “The commitments secured today will transform the life chances of millions of children and pregnant women by ensuring the get the right nutrition at the right time”.
All-parliamentary Support
In the UK the scaling up of international aid has been achieved through cross-party support. David Cameron’s support for the nutrition summit has been matched by active championing by the Labour party and Liberal Democrats.
Here, Ivan Lewis MP, shadow minister for International Development, joins me to show his support for a big UK contribution.
Grassroots pressure to demand action from our leaders
The mobilisation of thousands of people in the IF campaign showed UK leaders that an end to hunger and ill-health is a cause of key importance to British people. The IF campaign brought together activists from RESULTS, Tearfund, Save the Children and scores of other NGOs and civil society organisations.
In other countries around the world RESULTS, Global Health Advocates, 1000 Days and many other organisations also arranged campaigning activities around the world in the build-up to the summit.
Angelique Kidjo and Steve declare – job well done, for today. But the job starts now to ensure that the pledges made are delivered.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Blog owner
All photos copywrite Steve Lewis/RESULTS
June 2013