Between March 18 and 22, the irector of the Multilateral and Programme Country Partnerships Division at the World Food Programme (WFP), Stanlake Samkange, came to Brasilia to participate in a series of meetings and working groups of the Group of Twenty (G20) alongside the Director of the Centre of Excellence against Hunger Brazil, Daniel Balaban.
WFP is engaging in G20 discussions on three fronts: the Development Working Group, the Task Force for the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, and the Agriculture Working Group. Samkange is the Head of the WFP Delegation at the forum, and the Director of the Centre is one of the delegates from the WFP delegation at the event.
“Brazil has emphasized the issue of hunger and poverty, and these are indeed central issues for WFP and for the Centre of Excellence here, because it is very clear that issues related to hunger and poverty and SDGs 1 and 2 cannot be resolved by the intervention of a single actor, requiring a broader range of solutions. And that’s why the G20 is so important,” Stanlake stated.
During his stay, Stanlake also participated in an agenda at the Itamaraty Palace, engaging in discussions about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 and 2, which addresses the promotion of racial equality and universal access to water and sanitation. Additionally, he met with the ambassador of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), Luiza Lopes da Silva, in a parallel agenda to discuss South-South Cooperation and school feeding as strategies to face hunger.
Stanlake Samkange is Zimbabwean and practiced law in Washington DC at Covington & Burling. He studied at Harvard University, Oxford University, and Stanford Law School. Today, he holds the position of Acting Deputy Executive Director, Workplace and Management at WFP, and has an extensive career within the organization.
Previously, he served as Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships (2018-2024), prioritizing the promotion of partnerships with national governments and development actors – including international financial institutions – to strategically position WFP in the development sphere and mobilize new resources to achieve hunger eradication.
Stanlake has also held the position of Director of Policy and Program Division (2013 – 2018), was Regional Director for East and Central Africa (2011 – 2013), the WFP Representative and Country Director in Uganda (2008 – 2011), and served at WFP headquarters as Director of Policy, Strategy and Program Support (2003 – 2007).