VZCZCXRO0427
RR RUEHLMC RUEHRN
DE RUEHMU #0004/01 0042052
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 042051Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0348
INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0007
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0006
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 0001

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MANAGUA 000004 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PREL PGOV NU
SUBJECT: Embassy Managua's Diplomatic Outreach Plan Supporting the 
GHFSI and the GON's Food Security Strategy 
 
REF: A) STATE 124059; B) STATE 127466; C) STATE 12958 
D) MANAGUA 1318 
 
SUMMARY 
 
--------------- 
 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Per reftel A, Embassy Managua has developed a diplomatic 
strategy to promote and support the Secretary's Global Hunger and 
Food Security Initiative (GHFSI).  Where possible, we will attempt 
to complement the GON's food security strategy.  Our plan focuses 
on the following four areas: 1) engaging the GON and Nicaraguan 
people on the benefits of market-led development to promote food 
security and address poverty; 2) seeking areas of cooperation to 
enhance the GON's fulfillment of its food security goals where 
consistent with our own approach; 3) exploring a regional focus to 
maximize USG food security assistance in Nicaragua; 4) improving 
international donor coordination.  Despite our differing policy 
approaches with the GON regarding the best means to improve food 
security, we believe there are areas of mutual interest to build 
upon.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
POVERTY REDUCTION KEY TO IMPROVING FOOD SECURITY 
 
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----------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) The primary food security challenge in Nicaragua is 
alleviating widespread, endemic poverty.  Access to food supplies 
and basic staples has steadily improved here since 1990, yet the 
majority of Nicaraguans remain food-insecure because they simply 
lack the purchasing power required to maintain an adequate, 
nutritious diet.  According to a 2008 World Bank report, 46 percent 
of the Nicaraguan population, or almost 2.4 million people, live in 
poverty.  Fifteen percent of the population, or 766,000 people, 
live in extreme poverty.  Although Nicaragua's gross domestic 
product (GDP) growth averaged 3.8 percent from 1995-2008, the World 
Bank estimates that this rate of growth is insufficient to meet the 
GON's long term development goal of reducing extreme poverty by 50 
percent. 
 
 
 
THE GON'S FOOD SECURITY STRATEGY 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) In May 2009, the GON unveiled its new food security 
strategy that clearly favors a state-led approach, to be 
implemented at the community (neighborhood), municipal, and 
departmental level.  The GON strategy, entitled, "Food Security and 
Nutritional Sovereignty Policy for the Agricultural and Rural 
Sectors," promotes food availability, access, consumption, and 
utilization for Nicaragua's poorest locales.  The GON strategy 
asserts that achieving food security and poverty reduction are 
likely to be accomplished utilizing the following methods:  an 
emphasis on domestic food production; buying and selling food in 
local markets; respecting local knowledge and practices related to 
food production, storage, processing, and preparation; and ensuring 
that food imports, both commercial and donations, do not negatively 
impact domestic production. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Unfortunately, the GON's desired mechanism to implement 
its food security strategy is via its so-called Citizen Power 
Councils (CPCs), formed in 2007, which are highly-politicized 
entities controlled by the ruling Sandinista National Liberation 
Front (FSLN) party that duplicates the GON's official structure at 
all levels, and whose membership owes allegiance to President 
Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo.  The First Couple has used 
the CPCs to impose their will and policies on the general 
population (ref D).  For instance, Ortega and Murillo have used the 
CPCs to implement hunger and poverty reduction programs, such as 
the "Hambre Cero" (Zero Hunger) program, for partisan reasons. 
Based on this precedent, we have little confidence that the CPCs 
will implement the new GON food security program in a non-partisan 
manner.  There is also concern among international donors, and 
local political and civil society leaders, that the GON's food 
security strategy will be used to help FSLN supporters to further 
Ortega's goal of reelection in 2011. 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) The GON food security strategy also fails to identify and 
clearly distinguish the competencies and complementary roles of the 
private and public sectors.  The GON proposal blurs the line 
between the two objectives of any comprehensive food security 
strategy.  The first objective should be to achieve sustainable 
food security among individuals who possess the short/medium term 
potential to overcome their condition of poverty, while the second 
objective should be to provide immediate food safety nets for those 
who are chronically (or temporarily) poor with minimal recovery 
potential.  In our view, the first objective should be led by the 
private sector in Nicaragua, focused on the chain of production and 
marketing, job creation, and income generation.  The second 
objective should be state-led because of its social protection 
mandate.  GON agreement on these separate, but complementary, roles 
would assist Embassy Managua and other players to channel and 
coordinate their support to the GON more effectively. 
 
 
 
EMBASSY MANAGUA'S DIPLOMATIC OUTREACH PLAN 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------------- 
----- 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) Nonetheless, the United States has national security and 
humanitarian interests in Nicaragua related to food security. 
Persistently high levels of poverty, hunger, and food insecurity 
engender instability, and negatively impact building upon our 
current activities, and long term economic development.  Given our 
limited resources, we propose the following outreach plan to 
promote the GHFSI, complementing the GON's efforts to improve food 
security in Nicaragua: a) engage the GON and Nicaraguan public on 
the benefits of market-led development to promote food security and 
reduce poverty; b) explore areas of cooperation to support the 
GON's emergency food security safety net programs; c) implement a 
regional focus within Nicaragua to maximize USG food security 
assistance; d) improve international donor coordination. 
 
 
 
PROMOTING A NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON MARKET-LED DEVELOPMENT 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------------- 
--------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Market-based development remains the best method to 
reduce poverty and improve food security here.  Nicaragua has 
achieved impressive private sector-led economic growth, job 
creation, and income generation through the Central 
American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), 
USAID's Economic Growth and Agriculture activities, the Millennium 
Challenge Corporation's (MCC) Compact, and the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's (USDA) technical assistance and Food for Progress 
PL-480 programs. [Note: PL-480 obligations are slated to end in 
Nicaragua in 2010.  As a result, GHFSI funds could fill a critical 
void. End Note.]  To promote the benefits of market-based 
development, members of Embassy Managua's Country Team will engage 
with senior and mid-level GON officials to underscore the 
importance of the GON's critical role in supporting conditions to 
further stimulate and reinforce market-based development.  We will 
emphasize the importance of investing in key communication and 
infrastructure projects, market feeder roads and bridges, energy 
sources for targeted rural areas to include mini-hydroelectric 
plants and the harnessing of solar energy and wind power, and small 
irrigation technologies and systems. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) We will also place strategic op-eds and related articles 
in both major daily newspapers on the benefits of market-led 
development, highlighting the critical roles of the private and 
public sectors in improving food security.  Another available tool 
is the use of targeted IIP speakers.  Embassy Managua's Public 
Affairs Section hopes to execute a full speaker program on food 
security in 2010, which would include visits to several key cities 
in Nicaragua.  Our goal is to reinforce the message on market-led 
development via positive coverage in the local media. 
 
 
 
EXPLORING AREAS OF COOPERATION 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Post will explore ways to cooperate with the GON that 
could complement its more reasonable food security goals.  While we 
do not support the GON's state-led and politicized strategy to 
improve food security, we will discuss with GON counterparts how 
USG assistance programs could help create conditions to promote 
sustainable food security.  In these discussions we will stress 
partnering with the private sector, and strengthening social safety 
net programs for the extremely poor, identifying problem areas that 
require more support such as nutritional health and education 
programs for mothers and children. 
 
 
 
A REGIONAL FOCUS FOR USG ASSISTANCE 
 
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¶10.  (SBU) Given scarce resources to promote food security, we will 
review our assistance programs to determine whether a regional 
focus within Nicaragua would yield maximum benefits.  USAID is 
currently conducting a series of background assessments, including 
a reevaluation and validation of where  to focus investments in 
food security in north-central Nicaragua, for example.  This region 
is home to the largest number of poor and extremely poor families, 
and is perennially vulnerable to natural disasters such as 
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and droughts.  MCC's highly 
successful Compact, which contains food security elements, already 
maintains a regional focus in western Nicaragua, particularly in 
the departments of Leon and Chinandega. [Regrettably, Nicaragua's 
poor performance on governance and corruption, most egregiously 
demonstrated in the massive fraud in the administration of the 
November 2008 municipal elections, has led to a partial termination 
of MCC assistance.] 
 
 
 
IMPROVING DONOR COORDINATION 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Improved donor coordination to address food security 
issues in Nicaragua is another key element in promoting the GHFSI 
here.  Post will adopt a leading role in coordinating an enhanced 
dialogue with our bilateral and multilateral partners through 
workshops and related activities.  According to the World Bank, 
over 40 bilateral and multilateral donors are active in Nicaragua 
disbursing nearly $550 million annually in foreign assistance.  The 
World Bank further estimates that 25-30 percent of this assistance 
is allocated for food security-related programs.  Hundreds of NGOs 
active in Nicaragua maintain food security-related projects. 
Facilitating more information sharing will provide donors a more 
complete picture of what sorts of projects are being implemented 
throughout Nicaragua, and whether they are effective. 
 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Given the large role of UN agencies here, we would 
encourage our colleagues at USUN New York, USUN Rome and US Mission 
Geneva to take advantage of U.S. influence to consult respectively 
with the WFP, UNESCO, UNPD and other UN entities.  Our goal should 
be to persuade the UN's Managua offices to more closely collaborate 
with other donors here such as the European Commission, EU Member 
States and other important donor countries such as Japan. 
SANDERS