Gaddi Vasquez - Ambassador To FAO

Ambassador To FAO

Vasquez completed his term as Peace Corps Director September 7, 2006, just over two months after he was confirmed as the new United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome, Italy. "The first day I went to work at the U.N., I was led into the governing council's meeting room for my first meeting," said Vasquez. "You see the nameplates around the table – France. U.K. Italy. United States of America. That's one of those moments you stop in your tracks and reflect on where you've been and what you're doing," Vasquez said. "I am fortunate, and blessed."

To publicize work done by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the World Food Programme to help reduce poverty and make agriculture more productive, Ambassador Vasquez accompanied journalists on media tours to Mali in December, 2006 and to Guatemala and Honduras in May, 2007. His trips aim to increase visibility for the anti-hunger efforts of the United States and the international community around the world.

Vasquez has also spoken out on hunger to groups in the United States. In an address to the Orange Rotarians in Orange County, California on January 24, 2008, Vasquez talked about the $1 billion that the United States spends on food aid every year and how part of Vasquez's job is to make sure that money is spent as wisely as possible. "Over 840 million people suffer from chronic malnutrition," Vasquez said. "My hope is to raise your awareness. Consider how you can contribute to this effort."

The Daily Titan reported on April 21, 2008 that Vasquez had been the keynote speaker at the 'Connecting Worlds" conference at California State Fullerton speaking to about 250 conference members about global hunger. Vasquez said his life had been transformed while Director of the Peace Corps by the things he had witnessed traveling all over the world and recounted that once while in the Caribbean he had encountered a boy to whom he gave a piece of candy. The boy broke the candy in three, ate one piece and sold the other two. "This is the desperation some parts of the world are reaching," Vasquez said.

In October 2008, Vasquez visited Colombia accompanied by seven Latin American journalists. Vasquez visited a small sausage factory built with support from USAID that now employs 12 people and is providing food to the community. "It's a small thing but very significant, because it is sustainable entrepreneurship and is providing jobs," Vasquez said.