Nobel Peace Price Recipient to Speak at Baylor’s Forum on Global Hunger

United Nations World Food Programme, Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, others gather to explore policy and philanthropic solutions to famine, migration and justice

WACO, Texas (Sept. 9, 2021) - The Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty (BCHP) will welcome David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), to its Forum on Global Hunger Sept. 10 at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. The WFP received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for their work combatting hunger and preventing the use of famine as a weapon of war in the most dangerous regions of the world.

Following a morning address to the Baylor community, Beasley will speak in the afternoon on the importance of public policy in supporting large-scale efforts to bring assistance to hundreds of millions of people around the planet who are at daily risk of starvation.

The afternoon session also will include a panel of experts moderated by Jenny Howell, Ph.D., inaugural director of Truett Seminary and BCHP’s “Theology, Ecology and Food Justice” program. Included in the panel will be Baylor political science professor Victor Hinojosa, Ph.D., who leads BCHP’s migration efforts, former Texas A&M President Elsa Murano, Ph.D., who served in the George W. Bush administration as the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety, and Asma Lateef, policy and advocacy lead for the United Nations’ Zero Hunger Sustainable Development Goal.

“With the world’s attention focused on conflicts in Afghanistan, Yemen and Central America, it is time for us to think strategically about how to best care for those in war-torn regions who are most vulnerable to starvation caused by conflict,” said Jeremy Everett, executive director of the BCHP. “The World Food Programme is the most adaptable and capable organization in the world at doing this, so we are honored to learn from David Beasley ways we can collaboratively work toward peace.”

The limited-capacity, invitation only Forum will be livestreamed to the public. The 10:30 a.m. address to the Baylor community can be viewed on Truett Seminary’s Facebook page and the 2 p.m. afternoon conversation on BCHP’s Facebook page.

The Forum on Global Hunger is made possible through a partnership with McLane Global, a food logistics company that has worked with BCHP to deliver millions of meals to children in remote communities across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic through the Emergency Meals-to-You program. McLane is an industry leader in exploring how public-private partnerships can effect real change for some of the country’s greatest challenges around food security.

ABOUT THE BAYLOR COLLABORATIVE ON HUNGER AND POVERTY

The Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty is a capacity-building project that develops and implements strategies to end hunger through policy, education, research, community organizing and community development. BCHP works to make the state food secure by ensuring that every individual has access to three healthy meals a day, seven days a week. BCHP convenes federal, state and local government stakeholders with non-profits, faith communities and business leaders to create an efficient system of accountability that increases food security in Texas, the United States, and globally. Along with its office located within the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor, BCHP has offices located in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen and San Angelo.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 19,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.