Rio de Janeiro, November 18, 2024 – The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, an initiative launched today at the G20 Leaders’ Summit under Brazil’s G20 Presidency, takes a significant step towards its operationalization with the announcement of the first members of its Board of Champions.

The Global Alliance is an initiative dedicated to mobilizing resources and coordinating actions among countries, institutions, and organizations to achieve ambitious goals of reducing hunger and poverty, working to find solutions for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 1 (no poverty) and 2 (zero hunger).

Called for by the Global Alliance’s Terms of Reference and Governance Framework, approved by the G20, the Board of Champions is a diverse group of senior representatives drawn from the Alliance’s members across its national, knowledge and finance pillars, whose main focus is to encourage the active participation of countries, institutions, and organizations and help remove roadblocks and facilitate the establishment of concrete action-oriented partnerships for policy implementation at country level.

Among other prerequisites, the designated Champions must have significant responsibility or influence in decision-making within their affiliated entities regarding programme implementation. The full list of attributions and requirements can be found at the Global Alliance’s website. The first 18 members announced today were drawn from expressions of interest by the countries and international organizations which had participated in the initial design and setup of the Global Alliance in a special Task Force proposed by Brazil’s G20 Presidency specifically for that purpose.

The Board of Champions, when fully conformed, will consist of up to 50 members, including 25 countries and 25 organizations. The aim is for the complete Board to also include countries and organizations beyond the G20 Task Force, drawn from the wider Global Alliance membership, to foster greater global representation and impact. The first meeting of the complete Board of Champions is expected to happen by the first trimester of 2025, marking the start of its full operation.

The first Champions of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty are:

• Brazil: H.E. Wellington Dias, Minister of Social Development and Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger;
  • Alternate: Saulo Ceolin, General Coordinator for Food and Nutritional Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Bangladesh: Senior representative General Economic Division of the Planning Commission of Bangladesh, representative to be announced.
• China: Li Xin, Deputy Director General, International Poverty Reduction Center of China IPRCC.
• European Union: Sandra Bartelt, Principal Adviser for G7, G20 sustainable development, European Commission, Directorate-General for International Partnerships.
• Germany: Ariane Hildenbrandt, Director-General of the Department of Global Health, Equal Opportunities, Digital Technologies and Food Security, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
• Norway: H.E. Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Minister for International Development.
• Portugal: Ricardo Vitória, Deputy General Director for Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA);
  • Alternate Representative: João Bezerra da Silva, Head of G20 and Global Gateway Units, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
• South Africa: representative to be announced.
• United Kingdom: Melinda Bohannon, Director-General, Humanitarian and Development, FCDO;
  • Alternate: Jen Marshall Haugen, Deputy Director, Head of Global Food Security, Agriculture and Land Department | Humanitarian, Migration and Food Security Directorate (HMFD) | FCDO.
• Chair of the UN Committee on World Food Security: Ambassador Nosipho Jezile.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Maximo Torero, Chief Economist.
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): Ron Hartman, Director of Global Engagement, Partnership and Resource Mobilization.
• International Labour Organization (ILO): Mia Seppo, Assistant Director-General for Jobs and Social Protection;
  • Alternate: Shahra Razavi, Director, Universal Social Protection Department.
• Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): Ferdinando Regalía, Manager of the IDB’s Social Sector.
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Pilar Garrido, Director for Development Cooperation.
• UNIDO: Gunther Beger, Managing Director.
• World Food Programme (WFP): Stanlake Samkange, Director of Multilateral and Programme Country Partnerships.
• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): Omar Abdi, Deputy Executive Director, Programmes
  • Alternate: George Laryea-Adjei, Global Director, Programme Group

PRESS AND MEDIA CONTACTS:

Press inquiries should be sent to:

G20 Presidency – Brazil
Carlos Alberto Jr. – [email protected]
Brazil – Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger – [email protected]

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty
https://globalallianceagainsthungerandpoverty.org/

The Global Alliance was proposed by the G20 with the aim of accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1 and 2) of eradicating hunger and poverty. The Alliance supports country-owned programs and policies that have a proven track record of strengthening international cooperation and knowledge sharing.”