One of the targets of the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is to reduce the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by half between 1990 and 2015, with hunger measured as the proportion of the population who are undernourished and the prevalence of children under five who are underweight. Many countries remain far from reaching this target, and much of the progress made has been eroded by the recent global food price and economic crises. As we enter the final five years to achieve the MDGs, we look upon one of the greatest challenges of our time with one billion people hungry, 129 million and 195 million children underweight and stunted respectively and more than 2 billion people deficient in micronutrients.

The Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS) Initiative promotes better understanding of the characteristics and causes of food insecurity and vulnerability and contributes to improved policy and programme formulation, targeting, implementation and monitoring progress of interventions to reduce hunger and poverty at local, national regional and global levels. FIVIMS was established following the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) at the request of Member States, as a key step towards achieving the WFS Plan of Action goals in the fight against hunger in the world. FIVIMS also plays a key role in achieving the MDGs to reduce poverty and hunger.

FAO website discussing and providing resources for understanding the interplay of gender and food security issues.

The State of Food Insecurity in the world reports on global and national efforts to reach the goal set by the 1996 World Food Summit: to reduce by half the number of undernourished people in the world by the year 2015.

Background Paper on the Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger, providing an analysis of the complex factors that affect hunger and undernutrition and a preliminary overview of existing knowledge about the proven and promising mechanisms to reduce hunger. It integrates the nutrition, agricultural, economic development, health care, and human rights perspectives on how to best reduce hunger and identify strategies likely to be most effective in different parts of the world with different population groups.

Web site highlighting progress toward the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goal of reducing by half the number of hungry people by 2015, including examples of initiatives by FAO and other agencies in the fight against hunger, notably at country level.

Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action, adopted at the World Food Summit (13-17 November, 1996 in Rome, Italy)

Progress report on implementation of the World Food Summit of 1996 and its Plan of Action

Country-level coordination mechanism for follow-up to the World Food Summit (1996). This Network used to be called the United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) Network on Rural Development and Food Security but was changed in March 2002 to its current title, 'UN System Network on Rural Development and Food Security; in order to reflect the inter-institutional character of the Network's Thematic Groups. The Network has a two-tiered structure. At the country level: National Thematic Groups of development partners work together on rural development and food security issues. To date, 70 Thematic Groups have been established, while another 13 are in their initial stages of development, in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Near East. At the international level: 20 UN organizations support these national Thematic Groups. FAO provides the Network Secretariat, in close collaboration with IFAD and WFP.

Information and field reports on food insecurity and vulnerability among the hungry poor.

An FAO information tool that groups the Organization's archive of information on its global activities in agriculture and development in a single area and catalogues it exclusively by country, offering decision-makers around the world a fast and reliable way to access country-specific information without the need to search individual databases and systems. It gives added-value to FAO's vast store of information by providing an easy-to-use interface with particular emphasis on interactive maps and graphics.

Second draft of FAO's Anti-Hunger Programme, setting out actions to be taken internationally and by governments to achieve the World Food Summit and MDG target of halving the world's hunger by 2015

Site of FAO's Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS), including best practices, case studies, information on the programme's objectives, implementation modalities, etc.

FAO website of the IGWG on the Right to Food, that was established to elaborate a set of voluntary guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food, and reports to the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

Global Annual Report on the state of food and agriculture.

Paper prepared for the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, 18-22 March 2002

Information on WFP's country level development projects

Information on WFP's country level relief operations

Basic information about the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization's contribution to the MDGs

Small farmers produce much of the developing world's food. Yet they are generally much poorer than the rest of the population in these countries, and are less food secure than even the urban poor. Further, although the majority of the world's population will live in urban areas by 2030, farming populations will not be much smaller than they are today. For the foreseeable future, therefore, dealing with poverty and hunger in much of the world means confronting the problems that small farmers and their families face in their daily struggle for survival. This book looks in detail at some 20 farming systems that are judged to have the greatest potential for poverty and hunger reduction and economic growth in the next few decades. The material for this book is derived from a study originally undertaken at the request of the World Bank in order to provide a specifically agricultural perspective to the revision of the Bank's Rural Development Strategy. It has drawn on many years of specialized work within FAO and the World Bank, as well as in a number of other national and international institutionsl. Findings were supported by more than 20 case studies from around the world which analyzed innovative approaches to small farm or pastoral development. This book is intended for policy makers, researchers, NGOs and the agribusiness sector. It is hoped they will carry the analysis further by applying the approach at national level to assist in the formulation of rural development strategies.

Small farmers produce much of the developing world's food. Yet they are generally much poorer than the rest of the population in these countries, and are less food secure than even the urban poor. Furthermore, although rapid urbanisation is taking place in many developing countries, farming populations in 2030 will not be much smaller than they are today. For the foreseeable future, therefore, dealing with poverty and hunger in much of the world means confronting the problems that small farmers and their families face in their daily struggle for survival. This FAO website provides extensive information on farming system, including analyses of farming systems, maps of farming ystems by theme and by region, case studies, and relevant links.

This report to the Committee on World Food Security reviews the impact of AIDS on food and livelihood security and highlights the role of poverty alleviation and improved food security in stemming the spread and mitigating the impact of the epidemic. Special attention is paid to the current situation in Southern Africa, where an acute food shortage coincides with some of the most advanced HIV epidemics.

This paper represents a collaboration between IFPRI, a research organization and WFP, an operational agency, both concerned with issues of food and nutrition security, and both concerned with how best to respond to the raging HIV/AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. It builds on and complements previous work done by Haddad and Gillespie (2001), which in turn benefited from a consultation on HIV/AIDS and rural livelihoods, held at IFPRI in January 2001, and supported by DFID. It also encompasses the main findings of five country studies of heavily impacted countries undertaken by WFP, aimed at improving understanding of the appropriate uses of food aid in prevention, care and mitigation.

Information and publications on the role and multiple benefits of Non-Wood Forest Products NWFP) for Poverty and Hunger Eradication, food security and healthcare from the Non-Wood Forest Products Programme of FAO's Forestry Department.

FAO initiative to facilitate and support the formulation and implementation of policies and institutional changes that have a positive impact on the livelihoods of those of the world's poor that depend on livestock in supporting and sustaining their livelihoods.

World trade in agricultural, fisheries and forestry products totals some $460 billion annually (average 1996-99, FAOSTAT). This trade is an important source of foreign exchange earnings and a crucial component of food security. FAO's programme of work on trade seeks to enhance the critical linkages among agriculture (including forestry and fisheries), economic development and food security, which are closely related to trade. FAO is committed to ensure that developing countries are fully informed and equal partners in the current round of WTO Multilateral Trade Negotiations on Agriculture.

Report by IFAD on the rural development aspects of the MDGs

They are also available at http://www.unhchr.ch/ and later at http://www.unhchr.ch/development/poverty.html. This document was developed by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the assistance of three experts: Professors Paul Hunt, Manfred Nowak and Siddiq Osmani. In 2003, they will be piloted through substantive consultations with practitioners involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of poverty reduction strategies, and through field testing. Then, they will be revised before the end of 2003.

This list of frequently asked questions and answers about information and communications technology (ICT), poverty and development was written in the context of the 2001 theme for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP); the role of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in poverty reduction. The explanations highlight the role of technology in realising Millennium Declaration Goals; the relevance of ICT for poor developing countries and poor people; what developing countries and their development partners can do to benefit from ICT and, in particular, what the UNDP is doing. The document concludes with a list of sources for further information on ICT and development.

From Structural Adjustment Programmes to Poverty Reduction Strategies: Towards Productive and Inclusive Cities
This paper was prepared by Habitat for presentation at the fourth International Conference of the International Forum on Urban Poverty (IFUP) held in Marrakech, Morocco, 16-19 October 2001. The paper takes up the policy debate between growth and equity, as a choice between productive cities and inclusive cities. The document attempts to reconcile the notion of productive vs. inclusive cities, by arguing that the two concepts are mutually reinforcing. It provides a general presentation of PRSP and discusses the new elements or fundamental changes introduced with Poverty Reduction Strategies with respect to structural adjustment and some of its shortcomings. It concludes by presenting Habitat's strategy for urban poverty reduction

Conference Paper prepared for the ECOSOC High Level Segment by IFAD and the World Bank on measures required to strengthen the global partnership for rural development

Papers from Qualitative & Quantitative Poverty Appraisal Workshop, note especially 'What is Required to Reduce Tension and Increase Complementarity'
What is Required to Reduce Tension and Increase Complementarity, can be found on page 94.
Qual-Quan, Qualitative & Quantitative Poverty Appraisal: Complementaries, Tensions and the Way Forward, was the name of a Workshop held at Cornell University, March 15-16 2001. Contributors summarized the differences between quantitative and qualitative poverty assessments in terms of approach to measurement and how poverty is defined. Contributors were from Cornell, University of Sussex, The World Bank, ODI, University of Toronto, Delta, and Bretton Woods Project. The compilation of papers represent a remarkable statement on the state of the art and debate on "Qual-Quan" at a time when the comlementaries between the quantitative and qualitative traditions in poverty analysis are being recognized, but the tensions are ever present and analysts and policy makers are looking for a way forward in using the two approaches to design effective poverty reduction strategies.

Poverty Mapping Website, integrating data from various sources that provides information on the spatial distribution of poverty

Access to IFAD's tools and guidance on aspects of rural development and poverty, including the Rural Poverty Report, gender, household food security, livestock and rangeland issues.

Global Report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Includes access to regional assessments of rural poverty