The U.S. Agency for International Development has announced plans to launch a website for the government’s new global hunger and food security initiative, “Feed the Future.” The launch this week will be accompanied by keynote remarks from USAID Administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah, at a global agriculture and food security symposium at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

This announcement comes just weeks after Dr. Shah, through USAID and the World Bank, announced the 20 countries that will be the focus of the initiative to reduce poverty, hunger and undernutrition. The issue of undernutrition is of critical importance, notes Dr. Shah, because it “robs the developing world of critical human capital and capacity, and undermines other development investments in health, education, and economic growth.”

Over the past few months, Dr. Shah and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among other top State Department, USAID and government officials, have worked to move the issue of food security and global hunger to the forefront of U.S. development policy as well as a primary target for foreign assistance dollars. Echoing the commitment to this issue before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Deputy Secretary Jack Lew described this issue as a “core characteristic of smart power.” Furthermore, he said:

“The strategy for Feed the Future exemplifies our new vision for development. It starts with the recognition that food security is not just about food, but it is all about security—national security, economic security, environmental security, and human security.”