His fellow athletes call him "The Gentleman", but to hundreds of thousands of hungry children around the world, he is a "saint". Paul Tergat, the world marathon record holder, who'll be lacing up his shoes for another tilt at the Flora London Marathon this weekend, is dedicating his race to the cause of hungry children.

Few would place Paul Tergat in the same category as humanitarian celebrity ambassadors like David Beckham (UNICEF), or Angelina Jolie (UNHCR), but in his work for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), Tergat has been no less effective in highlighting the issue of child malnutrition in his role as an "Ambassador Against Hunger".

Paul's visits to school feeding programmes in Kenya or road de-mining projects in southern Sudan have been more like private pilgrimages. There are no packs of screaming paparazzi following in his wake when Paul takes time out from his training to speak to children who depend on the WFP for a healthy meal at school.

As humanitarians, we all find ourselves forced to visit the gaudy shrine of celebrity at some point in an effort to raise the worthiness of our cause above others. But perhaps the time has come to adopt some gold standards about what it should take to qualify as a celebrity "ambassador" for a humanitarian agency.

For too long, the balance of power has been in the hands of the celebs and their agents. Why should we as humanitarians be made to feel they're "doing us a favour" by casually blessing the cause we represent and cashing in on the positive publicity it raises?

Last year, the world was treated to the unedifying sight of a number of "rent-a-celebs" puffing and sweating along for one good cause or another in the London marathon, and stealing the limelight more for their under-achievement than anything else. One - who shall remain nameless - said she limbered up for the race with a late-night curry and a few last-minute stretching exercises.

It's difficult to know how much good this does for any cause. At least in Paul Tergat's case, his commitment to the cause of hungry children comes against the background of a dedicated training regime and a focus that, just as much as he wants to win this weekend's race, he also wants to see an end to child hunger.

Paul's special quality is his credibility. As a poor boy growing up in an extended family on the shores of Lake Baringo in Kenya's Rift Valley Province, he knew the meaning of hunger. He tells a moving story of how his life changed when WFP began providing free school meals at his local primary.

His message to the world is simple: if it wasn't for this assistance in my early years, I might never have become the athlete I am today.

"The Gentleman" lives up to his name in the world of marathon running and the world of humanitarianism, quietly but effectively getting his message across. Relatively few other "celebrity ambassadors" have his kind of credibility and their message is weakened as a result.

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