By joining the Global Alliance, the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD) reaffirms its commitment to fostering inclusive and locally driven food security initiatives that include the unique contributions of religious actors.
The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty was launched at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024. Within the context of the UN 2030 Agenda along with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Alliance’s mission is to support and accelerate efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty (SDGs 1 and 2) while reducing inequalities (SDG 10) and contributing to revitalizing global partnerships for sustainable development (SDG 17) and to the achievement of other interlinked SDGs, and championing sustainable, inclusive, and just transition pathways. The Alliance aligns with other global efforts, including the Nutrition Dialogues programme and the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris.
Credits: Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty
Hunger is globally persistent
Initiatives such as the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, in which PaRD now participates, are therefore more crucial than ever. As a multi-stakeholder partnership bringing together governmental, multilateral, academic, religious and other civil society actors, PaRD can mobilize its diverse membership of around 170 members to contribute to the purposes of the Global Alliance, drawing on the expertise and local-to-global connections of faith actors and organisations.
PaRD’s new flagship initiative, Strengthening Faith-Based Partnerships for Sustainable Food Security and Community-Led Development – launched in Indonesia in February – aims to promote sustainable, culturally sensitive, and locally driven food security interventions. Within this framework, PaRD commits to engaging in the Global Alliance Against Hunger:
- to co-create and provide technical assistance, capacity building and strengthening, training and/or knowledge-sharing in response to requests by Global Alliance member countries.
- to improve the alignment of its actions, including through the Global Alliance’s coordination mechanisms, leveraging and partnering with other actors to better support large-scale, country-led implementation of policies and programs.
- to collaborate with other Alliance members to develop innovative solutions and share good practices in learning and knowledge exchange and dissemination, data collection and analysis, including by leveraging existing local, national, and international knowledge networks, coalitions and communities.
“PaRD’s commitment to the Global Alliance strengthens our collective ability to foster sustainable food security solutions that empower those most affected. We will bring a vital perspective to the table – one that recognizes the unique role faith actors play in fostering sustainable food systems.”
- Mapping and Mobilisation: Identify and connect faith-based organizations within the PaRD network that contribute to sustainable food security solutions, ensuring alignment with the Global Alliance’s mission.
- Engagement with Global Partners: Collaborate with the Global Alliance and other international partners to drive policy dialogues that address the structural causes of hunger and malnutrition, particularly for women and children.
- Advocacy Initiatives: Increase visibility and commitment to the Global Alliance’s objectives by leveraging PaRD’s established networks and convening power.
- Integration with PaRD workstreams and taskforces: Ensure an integrated and intersectional approach that builds on and enhances PaRD’s efforts through existing Workstreams and Taskforces on food security, health, gender, peace, climate protection, and freedom of religion or belief, localisation, and food security.
- Contributions to the Nutrition Dialogues and N4G 2025 Summit: Facilitate discussions that highlight the role of faith-based actors in addressing nutrition challenges, ensuring that grassroots voices and community needs are effectively represented in global food security policies.
Khushwant Singh, PaRD Head of Secretariat, emphasizes: “Global alliances that are inclusive and consider the expertise and networks of religious and other civil society actors have the power to create tangible results. Religious actors are often on the frontlines of hunger responses. Their ethical values, global and local presence, along with their often voluntary contributions, enables them to drive change holistically from the ground up. The benefits of including religious actors in the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty will be profound.”
The International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD) convenes governments, multilateral entities, academia, religious and other civil society actors on a long-term basis to amplify contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and make them visible at a global level. PaRD facilitates workstreams and taskforces and offers a safe space for global dialogue, learning, sharing of good practices and evidence, and collaboration to better inform policy and practices through recommendations and practitioners guidelines. The 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda set the foundation of PaRD’s work along with fundamental principles of human rights as well as freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief (FoRB), as these are preconditions for sustainable development.
