Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI)

ICOS - the International Council on Security and Development

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About Global Food Security

Providing global food security is one of the principle challenges for humanity in current times. The scale of the challenge is immense. According to an FAO estimate over 1 billion people suffer from hunger. One sixth of all humanity currently goes hungry every day. This is a challenge that has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. There are more people hungry today than at any time since 1970.

Malnutrition has also been growing since the mid-1990s, and in 2008 was affecting approximately 915 million people. These trends are expected to worsen given high food prices, and structural issues relating to the recent downturn in the global economy.

Food Security is a somewhat fluid concept, defined in the 1974 World Food Summit as the ...availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices.

Adequate measures must be taken to provide a level of food security for the 1 billion people who go hungry every day. Responses from policy makers, the development and foundation community must be attentive to the complex linkages between the global economy, agricultural sectors and presence of food insecurity.

The Aim of The Global Food Security Portal

The Global Food Security portal has the aim of offering a "one stop shop" for information on food security around the world. This is achieved through the management and organisation of information regarding food security policy and related issues comprehensively in one place.

The portal provides instant access to articles and studies on local and international food security policy from a cross-section of organisations working with the subject .Thus a broad-based knowledge platform is offered to policy makers and the global foundation community.

The portal offers a complete and concise directory of organisations working on food security and related areas, along with alerts of upcoming events, conferences and publications.

Global Food Security Portal Intended Usage

The Global Food Security portal is aimed to be of service to individuals, government and non-government bodies, as well as organizations and corporations across the globe in need of information and resources pertaining to food security.

The work of The Network of European Foundations' Mercator Fund is underpinned by the principle that the global philanthropic community has a vital role to play in promoting and implementing the work necessary to bring about social and political change. The Mercator Fund aims to generate innovative ideas to respond to key global challenges through the development of projects that address core global social issues.

The Sir Ratan Tata Trust is one of the oldest philanthropic institutions in India, and has played a pioneering role in changing the traditional ideas of charity and introducing the concept of philanthropy. Through its grant making, the Trust supports efforts in the development of society, through institutional grants in areas of Education, Health, Arts & Culture, Enhancing Civil Society & Governance and Rural Livelihoods & Communities. Besides institutional grants, the Trust also makes individual grants for education and medical relief.

Nearly 70% of the tribal communities of India reside in central India, concentrated in about 110 districts within the nine central Indian states. The region is endowed with rich natural resources; however, issues such as abject poverty, primitive farming methods, improper use of water resources, naxalism, etc. ensure that this tribal belt lags behind other parts of India. Central India Initiative, one of the flagship initiatives of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, was initiated in 2004, with the basic objective of enhancing tribal livelihoods through a Natural Resource Management (NRM) based approach. Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), a registered organization seeded by the Trust, is the nodal agency for the Central India Initiative.

ICOS is an independent international organisation providing local solutions to tackle new global challenges. Through an innovative combination of research, analysis and project implementation, ICOS examines the root causes of current challenges to achieve measurable and direct results.