Jeddah (UNA-OIC) – The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) organized a virtual lecture on “Investment in National Social Protection Systems for Zero Hunger”, on Tuesday, November 2.
The lecture was presented by Abdel Mageed Yahia, the World Food Program (WFP) Country Director in the United Arab Emirates and a representative of the GCC region, who brings 30 years of experience in emergency and development humanitarian settings
He gave an insight into the WFP relief work for millions of people in emergencies, tackling malnutrition and famine in countries ravaged by armed conflicts and affected by climate changes, unjust international trade rules, and declining economic activity amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The lecturer also touched on the WFP’s priority work to achieve the goal of a world with zero hunger, as set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and specifically in Sustainable Development Goal 2. In this connection, he brought a number of ideas and insights to help poor countries rise up to the challenging goal of ending poverty.
The WFP official stressed the importance of concerted and combined global efforts to find solutions to help poor countries work their way out of poverty and achieve food security by means of improving education, training and innovation capacities, creating job opportunities, promoting equal gender opportunities, knowledge transfer and agricultural industry development.