The Business Alliance Against Chronic Hunger (BAACH) was formed in 2006 by a group of CEOs and public leaders who outlined an action plan for business to help reduce hunger. Since then the Alliance has launched pilot work in Kenya, and is working with a broad array of global and regional companies and partners to promote business models that contribute to sustainable food production and raise incomes in poor regions. The Alliance is a cross-industry, multi-stakeholder initiative championed by the Consumer Industry Partnership community of the World Economic Forum.
The Issue
Over the past year, rapidly-rising food prices have highlighted a crisis in the sustainability of global food supplies. In addition to posing near-term threats to human welfare – worsening the lot of the world’s 850 million hungry people and potentially driving another 100 million into poverty – the crisis poses a major challenge of ensuring adequate, sustainable food production systems for the world’s growing population.
Food value chains are complex, involving multiple stakeholders and industries in the journey from “farm to fork.” In poor regions, the potential for increased food production and wealth creation is hampered by a host of challenges ranging from poor infrastructure, governance and farmer capacity to climate change.
Businesses have significant and unique abilities to strengthen value chains and improve local and global food security. The World Economic Forum works to harnesses business expertise – in partnership with other sectors - to generate sustainable, market-based solutions to hunger and poverty.
Developing Business-led Solutions
Led by the Consumer Industries Community and engaging many other industries and stakeholder groups, World Economic Forum partners work to address food security and sustainable agriculture on three major levels.
• Global Level: The Global Agenda Council for Food Security engages top leaders from diverse sectors to leverage action on key priorities to improve global food security.
• Scalable Business Models: Research and roundtable events in Africa, Asia and Latin America are helping to define scalable business models that can help reduce hunger and poverty in poor regions.
• Local Level: The Business Alliance Against Chronic Hunger (BAACH) engages 30 global and local partners to develop and implement business-led solutions to hunger in a Kenyan pilot district, serving as a “learning laboratory” for a broader network of partners.
Each area of work leverages the Forum’s multi-stakeholder platform and networks.
Global Agenda Council on Food Security
The Forum has recently formed a Global Agenda Council on Food Security, engaging approximately 20 top-level global leaders and experts and chaired by Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme. Working as an independent, multi-stakeholder group in complement to official efforts, the Council’s primary goals will be to:
• Define and leverage support for priority actions to improve global food security;
• Serve as a “network of networks” of major global institutions and initiatives on hunger to expand partnerships and deepen synergies.
The Council holds three virtual meetings per year and participates in the Forum’s annual Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai.
Scalable Business Models to Reduce Hunger and Poverty
In partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Forum is undertaking a global assessment of scalable business models that can strengthen food value chains in poor regions. Research and analysis conducted with the Boston Consulting Group is being combined with insights and recommendations from three cross-industry, multi-stakeholder roundtables in Africa, Asia and Latin America, addressing:
• Improving access to agricultural inputs
• Sourcing and processing high-value products
• Expanding retail distribution networks
• Financial services and telecom innovations to empower entrepreneurs
The results will be summarized in a report launched at the 2009 Annual Meeting in Davos.
The Business Alliance Against Chronic Hunger in Kenya
Launched by Kofi Annan and a group of Consumer Industries CEOs in 2006, the Business Alliance Against Chronic Hunger (BAACH) aims to develop and test sustainable, business-led solutions to hunger. Through BAACH, a network of 30 companies and partners is working to implement such solutions in a pilot district in Kenya. In 2008, Alliance partners are undertaking 14 business-led initiatives along the food value chain, benefiting 90,000 people. Global and regional partners are learning from and applying these approaches more broadly.
Contact Us
For more information on the Alliance, please contact hunger@weforum.org.
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