Organizingfor actionA guide for establishing and developing National Alliances Against Hunger and Malnutrition

Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition

Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition

Secretariat:FAO Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00153 Rome, Italy +39 06 570 55093 aahm@fao.org www.theaahm.org

Organizingfor actionA guide for establishing and developing National Alliances Against Hunger and Malnutrition

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

Global partnership against hunger....................page 8

Alliance Statement of Principles........................page 9

The role of National Alliances..............................page 9

1>>> 2>>>GETTING STARTEDInitiating a National Alliance..................................page 12

Planning the initial meeting..................................page 15

1. Who to invite?

2. Building the invitation list

3. Choosing the venueand sending out invitations

4. Setting first meeting agenda

5. Roundtable concept

Start-up phase.....................page 19

1. Mapping the food security situation of the country

2. Determining organizational structure

3. Registering the National Alliance

3>>>CREATING REGIONAL ALLIANCESCFS and rationale for Regional Alliances.............................page 28

Initial contact.....................page 29

4>>>TAKING ACTIONDevelop consensus on goals and objectives...................page 24

Partnerships......................page 25

Twinning.............................page 26

This guide has been developed to support fledgling National Alliances in their start-upactivities as well as established National Alliances that are moving their agendasforward. This is in no way intended to be prescriptive. It is meant to provide guidance and assistance through a series of suggested activities and actions, and practicalexamples of best practices.

1ABOUT

THE ALLIANCE

The Alliance Against Hunger and Malnu-trition (AAHM) was created as the Inter-national Alliance Against Hunger (IAAH)on the recommendation of the WorldFood Summit in 2003 by FAO and threeother Rome-based agencies – IFAD,WFP and Bioversity International. Aglobal partnership, the Alliance bringstogether local, national and internation-al institutions experts and advocateswith the aim of promoting national andregional-level policy dialogue in the fightagainst hunger. Since its inception, theAlliance has facilitated establishment ofNational and Regional Alliances through-out the world.While the Alliance Secretariat works atthe global level to promote national-levelpolicy dialogue, the National Allianceswork within their countries to bring to-gether civil society, the private sectorand governments to build political will, allaimed at reducing hunger and malnutri-tion. The name of the Alliance waschanged from IAAH to the AllianceAgainst Hunger and Malnutrition in 2010,at the request of the National Alliances,so that it would recognize their work inimproving nutrition as well as in fightinghunger.

Globalpartnership

against hunger

1. ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

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The Alliance’s main focus is to bringtogether existing organizations with acommon goal and give them the oppor-tunity to speak with a unified voice,build political will and advocate for pol-icy support in the fight against hungerand malnutrition. National Alliancesoffer new ways of combining expertiseand infrastructure at national and inter-national levels – ranging from highestlevels of government to grassrootsorganizations to the individual benefici-aries themselves – building on whatalready exists, rather than creating anew entity.

Alliance Statement

of Principles

By providing the forum for governmentand civil society to work together, Natio-nal Alliances can contribute significantlyto achieving the goals of the Alliance.However, first the National Alliancesmust build their capacities in advocacy,accountability, resource mobilizationand coordination of programmes.

The role of

NationalAlliances

9

ALLIANCE PRINCIPLES

The Alliance Against Hunger and Mal-nutrition is a voluntary associationwhose members share a common com-mitment to the rapid eradication ofglobal hunger and malnutrition. Itscore work is building partnerships be-tween civil society and governmentin order to adapt and set strategies,policies and programmes that:• Facilitate dialogue on the most effectivemeasures to reduce hunger and malnutrition• Contribute to meeting the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) and the targetof the World Food Summit by strengtheningnational, regional and global commitmentand action to end hunger and malnutrition• Promote mutually supportive actioninvolving governments and other stake-holders in the fight against hunger and mal-nutrition • Engage and empower grassroots organ-izations and individual beneficiaries as fullpartners in National Alliances, to partici-pate in finding and implementing solutionsthat will make a real difference to theirlives and the lives of generations to come

The principles of the Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition are designed to support the growth of a dynamic voluntary organization.

1. ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

10

2GETTINGSTARTED

The impetus to form a National Alliancecan come from a local non-governmentalorganization (NGO), from an internation-al Alliance partner or from the nationalgovernment itself. The Alliance Secretari-at can provide administrative support inthis initial stage, often through local rep-resentation of international partners.Once formed, the National Alliances or-ganize themselves according to theirown situations. However, there are cer-tain general objectives that should berecognized and included in planning, inorder to ensure that each National Al-liance will be able to function at the high-est possible level within its country, butalso that its objectives and activities willbe on par with other National Alliances:• Define goals and set up annual

work plan;• Examine resource mobilization

avenues; • Set up communication strategy,

including development of advocacy campaigns;

• Ensure the regular sharing of information among all National Alliances;

(Note: the Taking Action section below hasmore detailed information on achieving these National Alliances report to the Alliance Sec-retariat annually about progress towardachieving this goals). These reports include:• Review of objectives and expected out

comes with report on major activities and events held in support of those objectives;

• Explanation of ongoing challenges; • Request for support, as needed goals.

Initiating a

NationalAlliance

2. GETTING STARTED

12

The examples of Brazil and IrelandThe mandate of the National Food and Nutritional Security Council (CONSEA) of Brazilis quite similar to the mandate of the Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition. CON-SEA, composed of government and civil society organizations, coordinates national“right to food” efforts. Recognizing the potential for collaboration, Brazil joined theAlliance but determined that its National Alliance would keep the recognized nameCONSEA. Thus, no new entities were created, the Alliance Against Hunger and Mal-nutrition benefits from having a National Alliance in Brazil, and Brazil benefits fromCONSEA’s association with the Alliance.It is a similar story in Ireland. The Freedom from Hunger Council of Ireland (Gorta),an Irish NGO working in international development with particular emphasis on foodand water security, became the National Alliance of Ireland in 2003, but maintainedthe name Gorta, which is the Irish word for “extreme hunger”. Gorta has continuous-ly supported the Alliance, both as the National Alliance of Ireland and in supportingthe establishment of a Regional Alliance in East Africa.

The examples of Japan and IndonesiaIn September 2009, the Japanese Government led the establishment of the JapaneseNational Alliance Against Hunger (JNAAH) with the aim of creating strong links andcooperation with the evolving network of National Alliances, especially by “twin-ning” with established Alliances in developing countries. A JNAAH representative vis-ited the Alliances of Ghana and Burkina Faso in September 2010, to explore possi-bilities of strengthening partnerships through supporting field projects of the Alliancemembers. In Burkina Faso, the support materialized through projects that had posi-tive impact on the nutrition, health and livelihoods of women in the project areas.The National Alliance of Indonesia was proposed by the government and establishedafter a meeting with the National Farmers’ Network. With the agreement of the Net-work and further support from the private sector, the National Alliance of Indonesiais working with other National Alliances in the region, including the dynamic Nation-al Alliance of the Philippines (ANGOC), to establish the Asian Alliance Against Hungerand Malnutrition.

GOVERNMENT-LED INITIATIVES

ALIGNING WITH EXISTING NETWORKS

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2. GETTING STARTED

The examples of USA and Burkina FasoThe NGO Bread for the World led efforts to establish a National Alliance in the USA.With a focus on advocacy and recognizing the potential power of a National Alliancein lobbying the government to increase development aid, Bread for the World broughttogether a host of interfaith organizations as well as other groups and individualsinvolved in the fight against hunger and poverty such as food banks, private founda-tions and charitable organizations.In Burkina Faso, Caritas, with support of FAO, used its broad national presence toidentify potential grassroots partners and bring existing projects under the NationalAlliance umbrella. Caritas initially invited its partner organizations, including the Tele-food Club of Ouagadougou University, and then expanded to all interested groupsincluding farmers’ and women’s organizations.

CIVIL SOCIETY-LED INITIATIVES

The example of Benin, Burkina Faso and MaliThe National Alliances of Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali received a grant to organ-ize capacity-building workshops in communications and resource mobilizationthrough an IFAD-funded project and with the support of FAO. The Alliances devel-oped a joint communication strategy and, from that, expanded to form the Subre-gional Alliance against Hunger in West Africa (RAFAO).

INTER-AGENCY COLLABORATION

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No matter who leads the initiative to form a National Alliance, the invitation to attend the first meeting should giveparticipants the idea that they are beinginvited to join a group of committed,action-oriented professionals whobelieve that by working together,they will become a stronger presencein the national debate. Thus, the initialmeeting should include a guest list that represents a broad cross-sectionof organizations.

Planning the initial meeting

It is important to have as complete a listas possible before scheduling the firstmeeting in order to avoid the possibility ofomitting a potentially important contribu-tor. This may require conducting an initialsearch to identify and enlist all individuals,organizations, government ministries andprogrammes already involved in fightinghunger and malnutrition, as well as thosewhose work can impact poverty andhunger, such as health care organiza-tions. This can include:

1. Who to invite?

• Community-based organizations • Local and national branches

of international NGOs • Local representation of UN agencies • Representatives of government

ministries • Local farmers’ organizations • Food producers and agribusinesses • University and research institutions • Religious groups • Social service organizations • Private sector organizations.

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The international development organiza-tions that work with local and nationalpartners have lists, or access to lists, oforganizations and individuals who areworking on hunger and malnutrition inthe country. These names can serve asa starting point for an invitation list. Oncethey are identified and contacted, theywill be able to provide references to oth-er organizations or individuals. It isessential to seek out local and grass-roots organizations, especially thoseinvolving women, farmers, youth andindigenous people. Representatives ofthe media who cover social issues alsocan be invited to join. Above all, it isimportant to invite those who:

• Are truly involved in the hunger malnutrition issues of the country;

• Share the basic principles and aims of the Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition;

• Have something to contribute to the Alliance in terms of expertise and resources.

2. Building

the invitation list

2. GETTING STARTED

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3. Choosing the venue

and sending out invitations

The venue for National Alliance meet-ings should be easily accessible andthe invitation should include informa-tion such as time and location. Howev-er, it should also include information tointroduce the Alliance Against Hungerand Malnutrition and a summary of thefindings about the country’s hungerand poverty situation.It could also include a list of the other indi-viduals, organizations and governmentrepresentatives who have been invitedand the proposed agenda. In the case ofthe agenda, the participants could alsobe asked if they have any suggestions oftheir own to add to the agenda.

4. Setting first

meeting agenda

Agendas for initial meetings should bedistributed to participants in advance.Agenda structures vary but they shouldgive an idea of both short and long-term goals of the National Alliance andthe types of decisions that will need tobe made at the meeting.

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5. Roundtable

concept

The “roundtable” structure sets up a si-tuation in which all participants areequals in efforts to decide on their Al-liance’s future direction. Top-down struc-tures and pre-determined leadershipshould be avoided. Alliances must berun democratically. It is important that participants in the firstmeeting decide immediately about fol-low-up meetings, how often they will beheld, if the venue will be rotated. Theyalso should appoint someone to takeresponsibility for tasks such as bookingthe meeting location and sending outreminders of the next meeting.

2. GETTING STARTED

1. Explain goals and principles of the Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutritionand the envisioned role of a National Alliance

2. Introduce each participant 3. Choose a name for the National Alliance 4. Determine prerequisites for membership 5. Set date, location and agenda for next meeting

SAMPLE AGENDA

Adapted from first meeting of Dominican Republic National Alliance

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Once the initial meeting has beenheld and participants haverecognized the importance of joining together in a NationalAlliance, the start-up phase willrequire some fact-finding and administrative activities to ensure that the new Alliancebuilds a strong foundation on which it can grow.

Start-up phase

Before a National Alliance can begin chart-ing its course, members must first havean understanding of the hunger and po-verty situation in their country. It is im-portant to gather sound statistical infor-mation as well as anecdotal informationthat will raise awareness of need andgive a realistic basis for setting goals.There are both local sources and interna-tional sources for finding this information.

1. Mapping

the food securitysituation

of the country

International sources.International UN or NGO organizations are agreat source of statistical information. In fact,governments often base their strategies onstatistics compiled by UN organizations, suchas the FAO, WFP, IFAD, UNICEF or WorldBank country profiles and hunger maps.

Local sources.National food security policies and nationalpoverty reduction strategies contain wellresearched background information on thehunger and poverty situation in the country.Public information or policy officers of relatedgovernment ministries can provide access todocuments that contain helpful information.

Researchers or faculty of local academic insti-tutions can provide background informationand statistics or can provide guidance onwhere such information can be found. Manystatistics will usually be available on govern-ment and national research centre websites.

Online sources. The Internet is a greatsource of information, but a random Internetsearch by country name and with the words“hunger statistics” has the potential of locat-ing tens of thousands of sites. Sites of UNorganizations are reliable and should providethe kind of statistics that will help present arealistic account of a country’s hunger andpoverty situation.

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Although the initial meetings will be host-ed by an organizer or organizing commit-tee, once participants commit to the taskof building and supporting a NationalAlliance, it is necessary to decide uponthe appropriate organizational structure.This will vary from country to country,according to specific situations.

National Alliances should set up organi-zational structures that will ensure repre-sentation of all members in the decision-making process. In some cases, theremay be existing organizations or net-works that can be expanded and adapt-ed to form the National Alliance. In oth-ers, it may be necessary to forgesomething new. The decision has to bebased on local practicalities.However, all Alliances require someform of secretariat or executive com-mittee to handle administrative duties,support members and have authorityfor procedures such as fundraisingand communication.

2. Determining

organizational structure

FAO • http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/inventory.asp?lang=en (country profile)FAO • http://www.fao.org/es/ess/faostat/foodsecurity/FSMap/map14.htm

(figures on specific issues with disaggregated data)FAO • http://www.fivims.org/index.jspx?lang=en

(information and mapping systems on food insecurity and vulnerability)FAO • http://faolex.fao.org/faolex/index.htm (legislative databasecollection

of national laws and regulations on food, agriculture and renewable natural resources)

WFP • http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/hunger_map/map/hungermap_popup/ map_popup.html (country profile)

IFAD • http://www.ifad.org/operations/projects/regions/country.htm (field operations)

UNDP • http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/ (country profile and statistics)

ONLINE SOURCES OF NATIONAL HUNGER STATISTICS, COUNTRY PROFILES

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Example of Nepal NationalAllianceIn 1999, the Nepal Alliance was formed with the initiative of organizations such asActionAid Nepal, the South AsiaWatch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), Pro Public and Green EnergyMission. Since the Nepal Allianceis a member-driven initiative for collective research and advocacy, its work is financed by its Secretariat as well as its members.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

In addition, considering that one of thebasic aims of the Alliance AgainstHunger and Malnutrition is to fosterdialogue and joint action between gov-ernment and civil society, the structureof the National Alliances should alwaysprovide for the participation by both thepublic and private sectors. With this inmind, there are three organizationaloptions that would be consistent withthe Alliance aims:

• Government initiative with public sector leadership and private sector participation

• Joint government-civil society initiative with shared leadership and

• Civil society-led initiative with government participation

In addition, as there will be so many dif-ferent types of organizations represent-ed in the Alliance, the Alliance shouldensure that each type of organization isrepresented in the leadership structure.

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3. Registering

the National Alliance

2. GETTING STARTED

Official status might allow the NationalAlliance to receive and disburse funds,organize events, obtain official recogni-tion for public statements and to repre-sent its membership.However, when taking the steps forlegal recognition, it is important to avoidthe appearance of seemingly creating anew structure that could be perceivedas a competitor of similar initiatives. In fact, this is an indication of why it isoften preferable to turn an existing or-ganization into a National Alliance byenlarging or adapting its mandate tomatch the AAHM mandate. Whether theAlliance is a new entity or building on anestablished entity it can be legally recog-nized by law or in a formal procedure ofregistration as an official association.

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3TAKINGACTION

One of the major decisions that must bemade by a new National Alliance is thedefinition of its goals and objectives.There are examples abound throughoutthe Alliance of the types of goals thatNational Alliances have set. For exam-ple, Cameroon, Benin and Sierra Leonehave chosen to pursue educational andcapacity-building activities in theirefforts to overcome hunger and malnu-trition in their countries. Nepal, the USAand Brazil elected to work towardstrengthening and empowering nationalorganizations that have established foodsecurity goals, while RAFAO and thePhilippines have spread their messagesthrough workshops and training. Theseare the decisions that must be madeaccording to the national context inwhich each National Alliances are work-ing, and also must consider the leveland type of expertise of the NationalAlliance members.

Developconsensus

on goalsand

objectives

The key advantage of forming a National Alliances is the strength of spe-aking with a common voice to advocate for change. This strength can beapplied in many ways, such as:• Raising awareness of national hunger and malnutrition situations

through the media;• Building political will to eradicate hunger and malnutrition; • Lobbying the government for increased funding of hunger

and malnutrition reduction programmes; • Setting up fora for debate and exchange of information; • Mobilizing resources to finance the Alliance activities.

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3. TAKING ACTION

Once National Alliances are estab-lished, it is important that they contin-ue their outreach activities, lookingfor ways to develop partnerships out-side the Alliance and bring moreorganizations under the Allianceumbrella. In addition, there is the pos-sibility of coordinating activities withother international organizations,such as NGOs and UN agencies.

Partnerships

The example of USA and GhanaThe twinning of the USA and Ghana began as an effort for resource mobilization forthe start-up of the Ghana National Alliance. The USA financed a Ghanaian delega-tion to travel to the USA and Rome. In the USA, they met with the USA NationalAlliance, members of the Millennium Project Hunger task force and others. In Rome,they met with representatives of IFAD, FAO, WFP and Bioversity International. Thesecontacts were crucial for positioning the National Alliance within Ghana’s develop-ment community and for strengthening their Alliance's operational capacity. As fol-low-up, periodic visits have continued between the two countries.

The example of Brazil and HaitiIn 2006, under an exchange protocol signed by the Ministries of Agriculture of Braziland Haiti, Haitian ministers visited Brazil and attended a seminar on small-scale farm-ing, and Brazilian ministers visited Haiti and agreed to support a rural developmentproject proposed by civil society and supported by the Haitian Ministry of Agricul-ture. Later, a Brazilian government and civil society delegation visited Haiti toexplore logistical arrangements for a pilot project in which Brazilian agronomists willwork with Haitian colleagues to increase agricultural output. The increased produc-tion will be purchased by the local school feeding program.

TWINNING

25

The Alliance twinning programme isset up for matching two NationalAlliances that have the potential to sup-port each other. In this way, moredeveloped countries can give adviceand financial support to less developedcountries and, at the same time, theylearn about each other’s needs andgoals and can expand into other areasfor building partnerships.

Resource mobilization avenues can include:

• Fundraising campaigns; • UN agencies and their

donors’ activities; implemented under World Bank poverty reduction strategies;

• organization of special events;

• activities financed by private sector or cooperation agencies;

• twinning/bilateral/multilateral support.

Twinning

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3. TAKING ACTION

4CREATING REGIONAL

ALLIANCES

In June 2010, the Alliance organized itsfirst International Consultation, “TheWay Forward”, which brought represen-tatives of the National Alliances togetherin Rome for their first ever in-personmeeting. At that time, two RegionalAlliances already existed - the RegionalAlliance for Hunger Free Latin Americaand Caribbean (HFLAC) and the Subre-gional Alliance Against Hunger in WestAfrica (RAFAO). Since this consulta-tion, many of our National Alliances wereinspired to forge partnerships with otherNational Alliances in their region, result-ing in a number of new RegionalAlliances Against Hunger and Malnutri-tion. These Regional Alliances are sup-ported by global mechanisms such as:the Committee on World Food Security(CFS), Right to Food (RtF), Scaling upNutrition (SUN) and the High Level TaskForce (HLTF).

The reform undertaken by the CFS in2009 to make it more inclusive hasbrought it into closer contact with theAlliance whose National Alliances arewell positioned to provide the CFSaccess to the grassroots as well asNGO, CSOs, private sector and otherorganizations that comprise its mem-berships.

CFS and

rationale for

RegionalAlliances

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4. CREATING REGIONAL ALLIANCES

It is usually the case that one NationalAlliance will approach the Secretariatwith the idea of establishing a Region-al Alliance. The Secretariat can providesupport first by contacting the leader-ship of the other National Alliances inthe region that might be interested andthen by facilitating a meeting to bringthe appropriate Alliances together fordiscussions. From this point, the esta-blishment of a Regional Alliance wouldfollow the same steps as establishing aNational Alliance.

Initial contact

29

This guide has been developedto support fledgling NationalAlliances in their start-up activities as well as establishedNational Alliances that aremoving their agendas forward.

Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition

Secretariat:FAO Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00153 Rome, Italy +39 06 570 55093 aahm@fao.org www.theaahm.org

Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition