Entry: Bill Guyton

Today, I participated in a discussion with this year's Leland International Hunger Fellows at the headquarters of the U.S. Congressional Hunger Center in Washington, DC. The 15 Fellows are embarking on a two year program to learn more about agriculture and poverty alleviation programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They will be working with the following development organizations and graduate schools:

Catholic Relief Services in partnership with University of Maryland
World Food Programme in partnership with Johns Hopkins University
Save the Children in partnership with American University
Land-o-Lakes in partnership with Columbia University
Action Group for Health in partnership with Yale University
Ikamva Labantu in partnership with University of Washington
CARE International in partnership with Duke University
Bioversity International in partnership with University of Montana
World Food Programme in partnership with Tufts University
World Bank in partnership with Tulane University
Mercy Corps in partnership with George Mason University
Hellen Keller International in partnership with Washington University in St Louis
World Food Programme in partnership with American University
NFED and GCNF in partnership with Tufts University
World Food Programme in partnership with University of Kansas

I spoke briefly about the World Cocoa Foundation's public-private partnerships on sustainable cocoa (Download presentation here). The Fellows asked some good questions regarding the company members' participation in the programs, as well as how the sustainable cocoa principles were developed and put into practice. Other speakers included USAID, Mercy Corps and Walmart.

World Cocoa Foundation and our member companies extend our congratulations to the new Leland International Hunger Fellows and thank the Congressional Hunger Center for the opportunity to participate in today's session.