At their third meeting, Champions of the Global Alliance back a new country-driven approach for large-scale social protection and food security programmes, while calling for hunger and poverty to return to the centre of the global agenda
Paris, France, 11 May 2026 – At their third meeting today, Champions of the Global Alliance reaffirmed their commitment to tackling hunger and poverty in a time of mounting global uncertainty and competing priorities.
“We are living through a serious paradox: while humanity faces interconnected crises – climate change, conflict, debt and food insecurity – the world is reducing precisely the instruments created to respond to them,” said Wellington Dias, Minister of Social Development and the Fight against Hunger of Brazil in his opening remarks. “For millions of families, this fragmentation is not an abstract concept: it means more expensive food, disrupted services, and an uncertain future,” he added.
Hosted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development alongside its Conference on the Future of Development Cooperation, a major theme at the meeting was the need to put country priorities at the forefront of development support, particularly in the areas of social protection and agricultural investment.
Champions endorsed a transition towards a fully country-driven approach to mobilize support for large-scale programmes and plans to reposition hunger and poverty higher on the global agenda, including in upcoming discussions at the G7 and the United Nations General Assembly. They also discussed new proposals to earmark and integrate funding from different streams – development, humanitarian, and climate finance – for social protection and food security.
“We are at an inflection point in development finance,” emphasized Eva Granados, Secretary of State for International Cooperation of Spain. “What we need now is more coherence and commitment to more stable, predictable and sustainable financing for SDG 1 and 2. We need to leverage Alliances like this to merge funding streams and generate more impact for every dollar,” emphasized Eva Granados, Secretary of State for International Cooperation of Spain.
The meeting also marked important governance milestones for the Alliance. Mozambique was welcomed as a new member of the Board of Champions, while the European Union and Germany assumed Vice-Chair roles in the Alliance’s Core Group, succeeding Norway and the United Kingdom, whose outgoing leadership was applauded.
On the main stage of the Conference, Minister Dias, Secretary Granados and Renato Domith Godinho, Director of the Global Alliance Support Mechanism called for a move a move away from disconnected development projects.
“We need to move beyond rhetoric on coordination while hanging on to the operational models that generated the fragmentation we see today. There is still room to improve how development partners align behind the priorities of countries and the needs of vulnerable people,” Godinho highlighted in a panel discussion on resetting partnerships.
Against a challenging global backdrop, the meeting concluded with a renewed and unwavering commitment from Alliance Champions to drive coordinated action where it matters most: at country level and at the scale required to end hunger and poverty.
