Food has been used as a weapon of war for a long time, explained Carolyn Miles, Special Advisor and Executive Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and Concordia Leadership Council Member. Children, especially, suffer. Mark Viso, President & CEO of Food for the Hungry, described his organization’s work in Ethiopia over 40 years. He listed three crucial elements to addressing hunger: access to those in need, fuel for transportation, and salaries for staff members. Due to the current conflict in Ethiopia, many staff are essentially working as volunteers.
The current war in Ukraine has exacerbated what was already a food crisis, Viso noted. Conflict and war are pernicious problems that need a complex and integrated approach to ensure the availability and fair distribution of food. Advocacy is the start, putting laws, resolutions, and conventions in place. We need to develop a paradigm of resilience to address fragility in systems so we are not simply treating the symptoms of the problem.
“This issue of using food as a weapon of war is something that we have all dealt with for a long time.”
Carolyn Miles, Special Advisor and Executive Fellow, University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business; Concordia Leadership Council Member
“The most important thing that offers some hope for us is shifting our paradigm of how we approach these things so that we don’t just deal with the present symptoms.”
Mark Viso, President & CEO, Food for the Hungry
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