By Rev. David Beckmann, President Emeritus of Bread for the World.
In a powerful address at the G20 Interfaith Forum on August 20, 2024, Reverend David Beckmann, Coordinator of the Circle of Protection and President Emeritus of Bread for the World, delivered a compelling call to action. Rev. Beckmann, representing a coalition with 100 million members, emphasized the critical role of faith leaders in reviving global progress against hunger and poverty. His speech highlighted the urgent need for renewed focus on this foundational issue and introduced the upcoming launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty at the G20 Summit. Rev. Beckmann’s remarks not only underscored the importance of interfaith cooperation but also provided concrete suggestions for how religious leaders can contribute to this vital cause. These are his remarks.
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I’m Rev. David Beckmann. I’m Coordinator of the Circle of Protection in the United States. It’s an advocacy coalition of faith bodies and organizations that together have 100 million members. I’m also President Emeritus of Bread for the World, a grassroots faith-based organization of 500,000 active citizens and 1,000 active congregations.
This session is about setting priorities, and I see the revival of progress against hunger and poverty as a foundational priority for faith leaders. It’s the first of the five priorities that the Forum leadership set for us, and it has clear connections to the other four.
Over the last several decades, the world made unprecedented progress against hunger and poverty. In 1990, two in five of the world’s people lived in extreme poverty. Today, less than one in ten of the world’s people live in extreme poverty. This is an extraordinary liberation. I see it great exodus as an experience of God in contemporary history, and I believe that God is urging us to keep it going.
But progress against hunger and poverty has now stalled. In some respects, it’s been reversed. Yet past successes have taught us a lot about what works. We know how to get progress going again. Our problem is that governments and people of the world have other priorities now. Political will is the binding constraint.
Faith leaders can help to change this situation. First, by teaching what all our religions have to say about the importance of action and advocacy for the most vulnerable. Sadly, a lot of religious people are oblivious to issues of social justice and sometimes opposed to social justice. Second, the faith community can help to build push organizations. Advocacy organizations, for example, or organizations that represent disadvantaged groups.
This year’s G20 Summit will launch an international push organization – the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. President Lula proposed it and sees its launch as the main business of this year’s Summit. An intergovernmental task force has developed plans that will allow it to mobilize funds and knowledge from governments and financial institutions and then connect those funds and knowledge to effective programs and policies.
Just last month, a minister-level meeting unanimously approved the launch of the Alliance at the G20 Summit in November. They aim to get more than 100 governments to submit Statements of Commitment and join the Alliance by the time of the Summit.
I suggest that this year’s Interfaith Forum should help to recruit governments to the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. We might express our support in publicity work we do together or in our social media. Some of us have contacts or networks that can encourage our own governments to make statements of commitment and join the Alliance. If you can recruit a government that is not a member of the G20, that would be especially helpful. Finally, I suggest that the leadership of the Faith Forum set up a process to keep track of what we all do on this issue.
If we can together recruit just five governments to the Alliance, that would add significant momentum to the world’s movement toward the end of hunger and poverty.
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David Beckmann is president emeritus of Bread for the World, having led the organization from 1991 to 2020 as it worked to strengthen U.S. political commitment to overcoming hunger and poverty. A Lutheran clergyman and an economist, Beckmann previously worked with the World Bank; he earned degrees from Yale, Christ Seminary, and the London School of Economics.