WASHINGTON, D.C. - Feed the Future Deputy Coordinator for Development Tjada McKenna and Paul Weisenfeld, the USAID Bureau for Food Security Assistant to the Administrator, will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, during the week of October 10, 2011 to participate in events surrounding the World Food Prize (WFP) and Borlaug Dialogue international symposium. She will accompany U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs Jose W. Fernandez and Acting Special Representative for Global Food Security Jonathan Shrier.

This year marks the 25th anniversary for the prize, which recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Former President of Ghana, H.E. John Agyekum Kufuor, and the former President of Brazil, H.E. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will be honored for their independent, personal commitment to and visionary leadership in creating and implementing policies targeting the alleviation of hunger and poverty in their countries. The award was initially announced in June by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and will be awarded in a ceremony on October 13th in the Iowa State Capitol. The WFP Foundation's prize aims to draw attention to the critical issues of hunger and food security, and to highlight progress and solutions toward ending hunger.

The theme of this year's symposium, named after WFP founder Dr. Norman Bourlaug, is "The Next Generation: Confronting the Hunger Challenges of Tomorrow." The event will be held in Des Moines from October 12-14 and will draw more than 1,000 international leaders to discuss solutions for improving agricultural development and production in the midst of challenges posed by political volatility, climate change, population growth and other factors.

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