Beyond governments: philanthropists at the table: an interview with Howard G. Buffett.

• Position: Interview

In April 2013, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) hosted an event with philanthropic foundations from around the world to generate new ideas for advancing the global development agenda beyond the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The UN recognized the key role that philanthropy plays in funding and shaping the international development agenda. Howard G. Buffett, who heads a foundation targeting food security, shared with the Journal his experience as a philanthropist, the challenges he has faced, and the lessons learned.

Journal of International Affairs: Your foundation aims to end hunger and improve the standard of living and quality of life for the world's most impoverished and marginalized populations by funding projects in food and water security, conflict resolution, and post-conflict development. There are many global issues that need attention. Why did you pick food security as your target?

Howard Buffett: Well, I kind of work backwards. 1 consider myself a farmer, and I have spent most of my adult life involved in agriculture. Mv dad always says, "Stick to your circle of competence." I understand agriculture and farming, and so if I go somewhere else in the world, I can always talk to farmers as a farmer, understand their problems and needs, and see what they do differently. I do not know everything about agriculture, but I have a good starting point. And most of the smallholder farmers we come in contact with are actually dealing with hunger and food security issues. So I started out looking at agriculture because this is what I was familiar with, and this led me to hunger and food security issues.

Journal: There are other philanthropic foundations working in the field of food security. What is the Howard G. Buffett Foundation doing that is unique, different, or innovative?

Buffett: The main difference is the geography we operate in. We work in a lot of conflict areas such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Sudan, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For example, in the DRC provinces of South and North Kivu, we are funding some projects involving coffee and cocoa, and we are the only U.S. foundation involved in those projects. We are also funding a hydroelectric power project, which is currently the largest in the DRC. However, what makes us unique is not just where we fund projects, but also how we fund and what we fund. There are many NGOs in the DRC, but we are...