Address by H.E. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, chair, Africa Prize jury

Mme. Vice-President of Uganda

Ms. Holmes, President of The Hunger Project

Dr. Swaminathan, Chairman of the Board

Ladies and Gentleman:

It is for me an honor and a pleasure to attend this significant ceremony in which The Hunger Project delivers the last Africa Prize of this century and millennium.

Dear Friends,

During the 10 years that I served as UN Secretary General, I had – and I still have – the strong belief that the African Continent and, more precisely, the Sub-Saharan region, deserved a privileged attention from the international community and from the inter-governmental organizations. With such a connection I visited 40 African countries and had stood with Africa during her liberation struggles and in heroic efforts to overcome war, famine, drought and other disasters.

It was clear to my mind that these disasters could only be avoided if the more powerful and advanced countries of the world decided to provide the Sub-Saharan people with a massive and well co-ordinated assistance. Unfortunately such an urgent and indispensable help had not yet arrivedÖnutrition, health, education continue to be desperately needed in many regions of the continent.

We, at The Hunger Project that are deeply committed to Africa and her future, consider that in order to alleviate and eventually to put an end to the socio-economic problems of the Sub-Saharan region, is essential to make progress in food production and that there is nothing we do for Africa that is more important, than to honor, celebrate and empower the African woman food farmer, as women are the key-food-producers.

We know Africa must build a culture of peace and democracy: it is from women-from their mothers-that each generation first learn the important values of society.

It is for these reasons – and many others – that the International Jury, over which I am privileged to preside, has decided that this yearís Africa Prize should most rightfully honor Africaís women food farmers.

We must devote our energies and resources to free these rural women from backbreaking drudgery – so that she may learn more, grow more and earn more.

It is therefore, with great respect and pleasure, that The Hunger Project dedicates this yearís Africa Prize to the 100 million women who grow Africaís food.

Representing these women, we have with us tonight a woman food farmer from Burkina Faso - a country where The Hunger Project is working.

This woman – Mme Aisseta – embodies those qualities of leadership that thousands of women food farmers exhibit every day.

In her village of Zinko, she takes care of her family. She produces and sells food. With the help of The Hunger Project, she has organized the women of her village and has empowered women around her to pool their resources, improve their crops, earn more money, and save that money for the future.

It is therefore with great pleasure that I present the 1999 Africa Prize for Leadership to the African Woman Food Farmer – and place it in the hands of Mme Aisseta.