It’s been one year since the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, an initiative created during Brazil’s presidency of the Group of 20 to pair governments with the solutions, resources, funding, and knowledge to reduce hunger across the world.

Organizers describe it as a kind of matchmaking service, where a global secretariat helps countries connect with one another — along with international organizations, financial institutions, and nonprofit organizations — to implement programs finetuned to that nation’s context. On Monday, the alliance marked that anniversary with its first-ever leaders’ meeting in Qatar’s capital, which came just before the Second World Summit on Social Development began.

“For us in Zambia, the Global Alliance is not just partnership. It’s a catalyst for transformation, to transform our poor and vulnerable households,” said Doreen Sefuke Mwamba, Zambia’s minister of community development and social services, speaking at the leaders’ meeting. “It brings together our national priorities on poverty reduction, food security, and climate resilience into one powerful agenda for inclusive growth.

The past year hasn’t been easy, the alliance’s director, Renato Godinho, told Devex. But despite straining budgets and bureaucratic hurdles, on Monday the alliance marked a new milestone. Twelve nations have released country-specific implementation plans to fight hunger, and four have taken steps toward putting them into action: Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, and Zambia.

“We’ve done all the matchmaking and put them in contact [with the right partners] — and they know, strategically, what is their role,” Godinho told Devex at the summit in Doha. “But [now], the country takes the front seat and starts to drive the process.”

An example of the progress of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty can be found in Kenya, Godinho explained. Throughout the year, Brazil and the East African country have been working to adapt learnings from a Brazilian safe water program to the Kenyan context, announcing the Maji Plus: Water to Thrive project at the summit on Monday.

Read the full article about the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty by Elissa Miolene at Devex.