About Bread for the World Comprehensive Timeline: 1974 - 2014 | Page 2

1980

worldwide has declined from 13.2 million in 1985 to 6.6
million in 2012. That translates into around 17,000 fewer
children dying every day in 2012 than in 1990.

Bread begins a broader campaign to reform food and
development aid in ways designed to help countries
become more self-reliant. Bread is  especially  concerned that food assistance does not undermine the
livelihood of local farmers by making food too cheap
or creating an unnecessary dependency on food aid,
causing more hunger in the long run. Year after year,
Bread tailored legislation that helped struggling farmers in poor countries increase their food production.
Congress  often  approved these measures in small
steps, but we swam against a powerful political tide of
receding foreign assistance and neglect of agriculture
throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

1985

The African Relief and Recovery Act provides $800
million in emergency food aid and increases agricultural development aid for Africa in the midst of a severe famine.

1986

Congress increases support for the Child Survival
Fund and earmarks $50 million for a campaign to immunize the world’s children.

1981

1987

This year marks the first time that Africa is a specific focus of Bread’s Offering of Letters. Bread members ask
Congress to provide more development and humanitarian assistance targeted to Africa and to reform the
way the assistance is delivered, including an increased
focus on the poorest countries in the world, and women, who are the chief food producers in Africa.

With the WIC: Food for Life resolution, Congress approves a program increase of $73 million, which allows
150,000 more women, infants, and children to receive
WIC benefits.

1988

Congress approves strong policy provisions to focus
development assistance toward women. All U.S. aid
projects are required to include women at every stage,
from conception and planning to execution and evaluation.

1982

At a time when programs for people in need are under
severe attack, Bread effectively encourages Congress to
squelch massive proposed cuts to U.S. food programs.
WIC was targeted for a $100 million cut, but instead receives a $100 million increase, allowing 150,000 more
women, infants, and children to be served.

1989

Through No Child Should Go to Bed Hungry, Congress increases WIC funding by $118 million, which
serves an additional 200,000 participants.

Bread moves its offices from New York City to Washington, D.C.

1990

1983

Shortly after the end of the Cold War, Bread launches
the Harvest of Peace resolution in Congress to urge a
redirection of resources from military security to efforts to overcome hunger and poverty in the United
States and around the world. The resolution generates
a strong response from Bread members and churches,
receives suppo rt from previous Secretaries of Defense
and State, and makes significant progress in Congress—
until it is eventually derailed by the Gulf War. During
this year, Bread also helps to win debt-relief provisions
in the farm bill, reducing food aid-related debts of poor
countries and freeing money for investment in health
care, education, and other needs.

This year’s campaign, to increase aid for basic needs
such as water, health, and education, pushes through
increases for the International Fund for Agricultural
Development and U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) health programs.

1984

Bread helps to craft and pass legislation to create an international Child Survival Fund, which helps immunize
more than 100 million children in the developing world
each year, among other achievements. Since the fund was
created, the number of deaths of children under age 5
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