This article appeared
in the Daily Republic
June 14,
2008
McGovern, Dole earn
$250,000 World Food Prize
Former U.S. Sens. George
McGovern and Robert Dole were named winners of the $250,000 World Food Prize
for their leadership in encouraging a global commitment to school feeding,
which has enhanced school attendance and nutrition for millions of the poor
children throughout the world.
McGovern, of Mitchell, and
Dole were so honored at a ceremony Friday at the U.S. State Department.
The McGovern-Dole
international school-feeding program was established in the United States in
2000 and provided meals to feed more than 22 million children in 41 countries
and boost school attendance by an estimated 14 percent overall, and by 17
percent for girls. The success of the program has led to dramatically increased
international support for the expansion of school-feeding operations in
developing countries around the world.
An example: The UN World Food
Program’s school-feeding operations have nearly doubled since 2001; in 2006
alone, it fed more than 20 million children in 74 countries.
“Senators McGovern and Dole
are tireless champions in the battle against hunger, and are an enormous
inspiration,” Josette Sheeran,
executive director of the World Food Program, said in a press release. “They
have given millions of children a chance to dream — and to live healthy lives —
through school feeding.”
In the late 1990s, McGovern
and Dole worked with then-President Bill Clinton to establish a pilot program
to provide poor children throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern
Europe with school meals. A two-year pilot program, the Global Food for
Education Initiative, was established in 2000. Based on the success of the
pilot, in 2002 Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law the
George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education and Child
Nutrition Program (known as the McGovern-Dole Program).
“Senator McGovern and Senator
Dole worked across party lines toward a common goal to eradicate hunger,” Quinn
said. “By reviving and strengthening global school feeding, nutrition and
education programs, they have transformed countless lives around the globe.”
The 2008 World Food Prize
will be formally presented to Dole and McGovern at a ceremony at the Iowa State
Capitol on Oct. 16.