One year after its launch, the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty is beginning to prove that a new model of international cooperation is not only possible but necessary. The announcements in Doha where Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Palestine, and Zambia presented large-scale national programs backed by broad coalitions of donors and partners signal that the world may finally be shifting from words to action.
For too long, global development efforts have been fragmented, donor-driven, and reactive. The Alliance’s approach, built around country ownership and multi-partner implementation, represents a long-overdue correction.
Rather than imposing external templates, the initiative allows nations to lead with their own priorities, while financial institutions, UN agencies, and philanthropies align behind them. This shift could transform how the world tackles persistent challenges like hunger, poverty, and climate vulnerability.
Qatar’s role as host of the First Leaders’ Meeting underscores a growing recognition among Gulf states that global stability and prosperity depend on shared responsibility. Minister of State for International Cooperation H E Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad aptly noted that eradicating hunger and poverty is a “collective responsibility requiring international solidarity and genuine partnership.” Her remarks echo a broader truth that inequality and deprivation anywhere threaten progress everywhere.
The figures remain sobering as over 700 million people still live in extreme poverty. Yet, as UN General Assembly President H E Annalena Baerbock reminded attendees, the world has made enormous strides since 1990, when two billion people faced similar hardship. In a world of abundance, the persistence of hunger is not a failure of capacity but of commitment.
The Alliance’s “Fast-Track Initiative,” launched only nine months ago, has already generated momentum. Brazil’s example is especially powerful where through evidence-based policies and inclusive governance, it lifted millions out of poverty and hunger in just two years. As Brazil’s Social Development Minister H E Wellington Dias put it, the Alliance has “put the fight against hunger and poverty back on the global map.”
Spain’s Secretary of State for International Development, H E Eva Granados, summed up the heart of this new model saying, “This is not business as usual.” Integrated, country-led partnerships and not scattered projects are the future of development.
The Doha meeting yesterday showed that collective action, when rooted in respect and shared purpose, can yield real progress. If the Alliance’s early results are any indication, the dream of a world free from hunger and poverty may finally be within reach not as an aspiration, but as an achievable goal.
