Policy Partnerships
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs was established in 1922 as an impartial forum for discussing foreign affairs. Over the years, the Chicago Council has informed the public about US foreign policy, and catalyzed policy debate among private, public and civic leaders. Today, the Chicago Council emphasizes public education, drawing U.S. and international leaders and world affairs experts to participate in policy discussions. The Council covers trends and themes such as the global economy, democratization, sovereignty and intervention, global institutions, and a changing America. It organizes task forces, conferences and study groups as a means for influencing opinion and policy regarding global issues. Recently, the Council has placed greater attention on developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, addressing food security through its Global Food and Agriculture Program.
The PCGFS has been in partnership with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Annual Global Food Security Symposium Series. Our Center Director, Gebisa Ejeta, serves as a member of the Advisory Group that carries out annual policy studies with a focus on developing countries, on a pressing theme that impacts the global food supply. The studies result in policy recommendation reports that are presented at the Council’s annual conference on food security in Washington DC. The PCGFS also supports graduate student applications from Purdue to attend this annual conference as a “Next Generation Delegate”. In the past three years, four graduate students from Purdue have been selected as one of the 20 delegates, chosen from 600+ applicants. The Council’s director of the Global Food and Agriculture Program has given lectures at the Borlaug Summer Institute, interacting with the participants on global food policy issues. The Council has also hosted a visit from the Summer Institute participants, organizing an exciting panel on domestic and international food security trends.
The Lugar Center
Located in Washington, DC, the Lugar Center was formed by former United States Senator Richard G. Lugar in 2013 as a platform for an informed debate on global issues. Building upon Senator Lugar’s priorities during his career, the Lugar Center focuses on two broad themes: nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and global food security. The Lugar Center is also concerned with foreign assistance effectiveness and global development, energy security, and enhancing bipartisan governance. The Center maintains strategic partnerships with institutions in Washington, DC and Indiana including Indiana University’s School of Global and International Studies, Georgetown University and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The PCGFS has had several cooperative exchanges with the Lugar Center, including organizing a visit of the Lugar Center policy experts to Purdue’s campus to share knowledge on food policy formulation and foreign assistance in Congress. Senator Lugar has also presented one of our PCGFS Distinguished Lectures, and engaged faculty in a roundtable discussion on food security issues. The Lugar Center has also hosted visits by our Center Director, Gebisa Ejeta, and College of Agriculture Dean Jay Akridge to Washington to discuss cooperation between our centers and to keep us up to date on the latest policy developments.
USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was created with the passage of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy. US foreign assistance policy is driven by furthering America's interests and improving lives of people in developing countries. USAID’s overarching goal is to further broad-scale human progress while promoting stable, free societies, creating markets and trade partners and fostering good will. Working in over 100 countries, USAID’s programs may be grouped into one of the nine categories: economic development, democracy and good governance, human rights (including gender), health (including water & sanitation), food security and agriculture, environmental sustainability, education, conflict management and mitigation, and humanitarian assistance in response to natural and man-made disasters. USAID leads the Feed the Future initiative, which was started in 2009 by President Obama in response to the world food crisis. The Feed the Future program operates in 19 developing countries with the goal of sustainably reducing global poverty and hunger through improved nutrition and inclusive agricultural sector growth.
In 2011, PCGFS organized a high-level meeting on campus for USAID to help generate strategies for the Feed the Future initiative. This visioning exercise provided Purdue faculty to participate in this pivotal meeting and offer input to strategic approaches for combating poverty and food insecurity in priority countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Further, PCGFS is the implementing unit for the US Borlaug Fellows Program in Global Food Security initiative by USAID. Through this program, we have been able to meaningfully contribute towards Feed the Future’s goals and strategies. PCGFS has supported our academic units to conceptualize and design cutting-edge programs such as the Post-Harvest Innovation Lab.
BIFAD
Established by Title XII of the Foreign Assistance Act, the seven-member Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) advises USAID on agriculture and food insecurity in developing countries. The President appoints members from the academic community in recognition of the importance of the role of land-grant universities in domestic and international agricultural development. BIFAD closely works with USAID’s Bureau for Food Security, which leads the US Government’s Feed the Future initiative. BIFAD commissions studies and reports in areas concerning individual and institutional capacity building and the role of higher education in moving the agriculture and food security agenda forward.
Our PCGFS Director, Gebisa Ejeta, is a member of BIFAD, and through his participation on the Board, we have been able to provide meaningful input on USG and USAID policies related to food security. Most recently, Gebisa has shaped ideas during policy dialogues leading to the Global Food Security Act of 2016, and the USG Global Food Security Strategy FY 2017-2021. The BIFAD Board commissioned a study on Human and Institutional Capacity Development (HICD) in agriculture, led by Purdue’s Vic Lechtenberg, to provide guidance to USAID’s HICD efforts within the framework of the Feed the Future Program. With PCGFS support, Purdue also hosted a two-day BIFAD meeting on campus where Purdue Faculty were able to showcase initiatives in post-harvest management, extension and climate change, HICD and more.
The World Food Prize Foundation
In 1986, the World Food Prize was conceived by Norman Borlaug, the Father of the Green Revolution and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Dr. Borlaug envisioned the World Food Prize to be the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in food security. General Foods Corporation helped establish the Prize, and the first was awarded to Dr. M.S. Swaminathan for his work with high-yielding rice and wheat varieties in India. The World Food Prize Foundation is located in Des Moines, Iowa, with the World Food Prize being awarded annually at a ceremony in the Iowa State Capitol. The World Food Prize Foundation organizes the Borlaug Dialogue, an annual conference that brings more than 1,200 participants together to discuss topics related to food security. The Foundation also hosts a Global Youth Institute in food security where high school students present their ideas for tackling global development challenges. Today, the World Food Prize Foundation is supported by the John Ruan Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, DuPont Pioneer, Monsanto, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the H.G Buffett Foundation and others.
PCGFS Director, Gebisa Ejeta, is the 2009 World Food Prize Laureate and regularly participates in high-level events during the Borlaug Dialogue. In addition, PCGFS participates in the panel of experts that evaluates Indiana high school candidates for the Global Youth Institute on Purdue’s campus, as well as in the sessions held in Des Moines. In 2015, the President of the World Food Prize Foundation, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, visited Purdue and gave a keynote address at our Borlaug Summer Institute. Since then, each member of the winning group for best presentation during our annual Summer Institute has been awarded a trip to Des Moines to attend the Borlaug Dialogue and the award ceremony for the World Food Prize.