Category: News

“It’s hard to find a family with bad quality grain these days. Families keep their maize, sorghum and millet in the food bank and are able to use it while it’s still good,” says Joyce Nakato, a Community Development Officer in Mbale, Uganda.

Joyce is referring to the storage facility that is part of The Hunger Project-Uganda’s Mbale Epicentre, which currently serves over 120 villages. The food bank supports local efforts to address food insecurity by providing farmers with a safe place to store their grain before selling it in the marketplace. In 2016, our community partners in Mbale added 3,040 Kg of grain to their community food bank. By increasing pest-free storage capabilities in the community, the food bank enables the storage of excess harvests, thus promoting the villagers’ food security during the off-season.

Initially set-up in 2007, over the last decade the food bank has become a favourite resource for farmers in the area, especially because the area is fumigated on a regular basis. Local farmers note how storing maize, sorghum and millet in the food banks helps preserve the quality and quantity of harvests. The food banks also provide an additional buffer against famine in the case of unexpected food shortages.

“I am grateful for the project,” Lorna Mubogi, a farmer in the region, told local newspaper New Vision. “Each harvest season, I keep there almost one and a half tons (1,500 kg) of maize from my garden.”

The food bank also engages the community in modern agricultural methods, provides improved seeds and trains farmers on climate-related information. These learning opportunities plus access to the food storage facilities empower farmers to work towards a more food secure future!

Post courtesy of The Hunger Project Global Office.

The Hunger Project Uganda and researchers from Makerere University have published a new study that shows the efficacy of Farmer Field Schools in empowering farmers to adapt to climate change.

The researchers studied farmers in the Kiboga District of Uganda, an area characterized by unreliable rainfall. The study found that Farmer Field Schools were an effective tool to spread knowledge that supported farmers in adapting to changing weather patterns. The research compared a randomly selected group of farmers who participated in the Farmer Field Schools program to a group of farmers who did not. Both groups were selected from the same district.

In recent years, changing climate patterns have resulted in the movement of warm, dry air toward the drylands of Uganda, where the Kiboga District is located. This area is also suffering from the effects of deforestation. As a result, the Kiboga District and surrounding drylands have experienced both catastrophic droughts and erratic rainfall that causes flooding and damages infrastructure. The farmers interviewed for this study identified drought as the main manifestation of climate change in their region.

Farmer Field Schools were first set up at the end of 2013 to combat the effects of drought and to support farmers with new agricultural technologies that increase resilience to climate change. Initially funded by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, the project grew to include additional schools across the country over the following 18 months.

By the end of the project, The Hunger Project-Uganda had worked with community partners to establish a total of 52 schools, supporting 1,196 farmers. The most common techniques implemented by the schools included comparative studies, commercial enterprises and member training. They also distributed agricultural inputs, assessed performance and integrated village savings.

Through comparative studies, farmers were able to solve local problems by designing and testing simple experiments. For example, farmers set up study plots where they tested various farming techniques to support them in choosing the best solution. The Farmer Field Schools also trained farmers in a variety of agricultural techniques and adaptive technologies. Often, training took place on field days, during which farmers visited each other’s fields to learn new skills and techniques.

The study concluded that, when compared to farmers who did not attend the schools, Farmer Field Schools farmers were more knowledgeable about farming techniques to adapt to climate change. Participating farmers implemented a variety of agricultural methods, such as kitchen gardens, effective irrigation, agroforestry and drought-tolerant pastures for their livestock.

As the study shows, when farmers have the opportunity to learn and develop new skills, exchanging best practices with each other, they can be empowered to sustain their livelihoods, even in the face of a changing climate.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Decjuba x THP t-shirts.

The t-shirts are available for purchase in black and gold or black and white in-store or via the link here.

All of the proceeds from this limited edition t-shirt will go towards The Hunger Project’s work empowering women to end hunger.

A special thank you to our wonderful partners at Decjuba.

There’s increasing evidence that access to information can dramatically improve outcomes in rural communities, The Hunger Project recognises that it’s more important than ever to document and share easy-to-use and cost-effective practices for local data and transparency initiatives.

That’s why The Hunger Project involves the community in not only collecting data—but also in bringing information and analysis back to the communities. Community members need to see the results and benefits of the program interventions – their own efforts — under way, to avoid it becoming simply an externally imposed demand on their time.

The first step of showing these results–once data collection and analysis have concluded—is presenting the data on “Transparency Boards” in a central building, where information on the planning, performance, and financial status of activities are permanently posted. This is a powerful tool for accountability, empowering community members to follow up with leaders at any time regarding their concerns and allowing them to arrive at quarterly and annual meetings already armed with information. Communities use this data to make decisions about activities and short-term planning.

Watch this short video for more information…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhrXMUF4usY

Courtesy of The Hunger Project, Global Office

The Hunger Project-Benin and The Hunger Project-Burkina Faso are celebrating their 20th year of working to end chronic hunger and poverty!

In both Benin and Burkina Faso, we have worked in close partnership with local and national government agencies, and with the generous support of many local and international funding partners and thousands of individual investors.

The Hunger Project began work in both Benin and Burkina Faso in 1997 by mobilising clusters of villages through our Epicentre Strategy. Each group of rural villages becomes an “epicentre and a dynamic centre of community action. Communities launch and run their own programs to address their most pressing challenges. For example, epicentre communities work together to address health and nutrition, access to clean drinking water and sanitation, education and literacy, food security, microfinance, climate change and women’s and youth’s empowerment.

The Epicentre Strategy is designed to partner with communities for about eight years, after which each epicentre graduates to a phase of “sustainable self-reliance.” At this point, the epicentre has demonstrated the confidence, capacity and skills to act as agents of their own development.

The Hunger Project-Benin currently partners with 19 epicentres, serving 183 villages and a population of 297,256. Three of these epicentres—Avlamé, Beterou and Kissamey—have graduated to the phase of “sustainable self-reliance.” The self-reliant epicentres have had impressive results, including a 72% decrease in chronic hunger and a 73% increase in participation in epicentre activities in 2016 alone.

In Burkina Faso, The Hunger Project works with community partners in 15 epicentres, serving 189 villages and a population of 303,893. Of the 15 active epicentres, Boulkon Epicentre has graduated to the phase of “sustainable self-reliance” and, between 2014-2016, was able to halve the proportion of households living below the poverty line. The gains were particularly strong for women, where the proportion of female business owners increased 600% over that time period, from just 5% in 2014 to 35% in 2016!

Since their launch, programs in both countries have continued to thrive by spearheading holistic initiatives that sustainably address the needs of changing and growing rural communities. For example, in 2015, The Hunger Project-Benin led a national campaign to raise awareness about the nutritional benefits of the “miracle” Moringa tree. The pilot program has now been expanded to seven other program countries in Africa. And in 2016, The Hunger Project-Burkina Faso launched activities as part of an 11-country partnership to end child marriage. The partnership is in alliance with a group called Her Choice, which involves several organisations dedicated to creating child-marriage free communities in which girls are able to decide if, when and whom to marry.

To acknowledge 20 years of community empowerment and innovating for the end of hunger and poverty with initiatives such as the Movement for CLD, The Hunger Project-Benin organised an event at the Palais de Congress. The event brought together national and regional leadership, partnership organisations, and women leaders from the epicentres themselves in a shared celebration of sustainable development.

Our 20-year record of achievement in Benin and Burkina Faso is grounded in the principle that people must be the agents of their own change. We invite you to learn more about our programs in both countries and celebrate community partners who are doing the incredible work of ending hunger for themselves, their neighbours and their families.

Feature photo by Johannes Odé.

Post courtesy of The Hunger Project, Global Office.

“It feels as if my life has been rescued and the darkest times are far behind me.” – Tsege Searko, Ethiopia used a microfinance loan and skills training from The Hunger Project to create a flourishing farm. 

Approximately 70% of the world’s hungry are women – and we firmly believe that empowering these women as key change agents in society is essential to achieve a sustainable end to hunger and poverty globally.

The sustainable end of hunger will not be achieved through aid and resource drops.

Community-led action that addresses ALL of the issues that lead to hunger is the ONLY solution.

Your support of The Hunger Project Australia has already enabled some of the poorest, hungriest women around the world to make enormous changes in their communities.

In 2016 alone, you enabled The Hunger Project Australia to:

• Train 82,164 women through our Women’s Empowerment Program in Africa = a sustainable end to hunger!
• Teach 55,014 women in Bangladesh about the negative impacts of child marriage and to stop this harmful, traditional practice that keeps girls out of school = a sustainable end to hunger.
• Support 14,065 elected women in India to join forces as effective, respected leaders who bring education, healthcare and sanitation in their villages = a sustainable end to hunger!

Despite the daily hardships these women face – like hunger, violence, threats and discrimination – they are strong. They are bold. They are courageous.

Thank you for being the reason that The Hunger Project can continue our important work to support these courageous women on International Women’s Day, and every day!

Yours in ending hunger,

Melanie Noden

CEO, The Hunger Project Australia

Photo Credit: Anna Zhu

Violence and discrimination against women remain a pervasive challenge in Benin. In fact, a study in 2013 showed that 75% of women in Benin are victims of violence and more than 44% are sexually abused. To tackle this issue, The Hunger Project-Benin works with community partners through the Women’s Empowerment Program to raise awareness and empower local women through education and training. In 2016, these efforts included the establishment of village councils specifically dedicated to preserving children’s rights and preventing violence against women using educational sessions and plays.

Before establishing village councils, The Hunger Project-Benin helped coordinate a series of discussions with community and religious leaders and local officials. Participants listened to presentations and testimonies from one another and brainstormed solutions. A total of 41 participants attended these discussions and addressed issues like the consequences of gender inequality and the types and impact of violence against women, including child marriage. After the discussions, participants established village councils composed of community notables and local leaders.

In addition to the creation of village councils, the Women’s Empowerment Program hosted seminars in nine priority epicentres. The seminars included capacity-building sessions to empower women and girls economically, socially and politically and informational sessions on the impact of violence against women. In total, the seminars were able to reach over 400 people, including more than 160 women.

As a part of these initiatives, The Hunger Project-Benin began a targeted project called “Her Choice” in 2016, a project with the goal of ending child marriage and female genital mutilation entirely. Project organizers recruited a professional comedian to write and stage a play illustrating the negative impacts of child marriage, titled “Unchained Destiny.” The performance group, Le Baobab, trained 10-12 young girls and boys in each of the three initial epicentres to produce the play and perform it for a large audience of local officials and community members.

The plays were incredibly successful, eliciting emotional reactions and applause from the audience. Many community leaders committed to joining The Hunger Project-Benin in combating child marriage and encouraged project organizers to bring the production to other epicentres and partner villages. It’s only with the active commitment and participation of community members that we can reduce the incidences of violence against women and gender-related inequalities.

Credit: The Hunger Project Global Office

1. Self-reliant epicentres: Ten epicentres across five of our  African countries celebrated achieving all the criteria to demonstrate their ability to successfully drive their own development in all key sectors.
2. A Growing Movement: Our Movement for Community-led Development grew from 18 to 38 member organizations with activities in 92 countries. The movement was presented to the World Bank, USAID, the UN and IFPRI, and established chapters in Malawi, the UK, and the Netherlands and began the process in Haiti. A priority for the movement is sharing best practices to expand the community-led model: The Hunger Project-India works with the Bhutan Network for Empowering Women (BNEW) to empower women in the local governance system.
3. Restoring the Environment: The Hunger Project-Ethiopia was awarded our first-ever grant to integrate reforestation into our epicentre strategy. WeForest is partnering with The Hunger Project to tackle environmental threats and promote the resilience of local people through tree planting.  The partnership gives community partners ownership, leverages local knowledge and enhances environmental stewardship capacity.
4. Youth and Gender: Our Washington colleague Mary Kate Costello was named to the UN’s Youth and Gender working group, and was flown by the UN to Indonesia to stress the importance of investing in young women’s cooperatives. Sweden’s Girl Platform (Flicka) organized unprecedented THP participation in Women Deliver bringing 14 staff from nine countries, as well as hosting a high-level reception during the UN Commission on the Status of Women. We also partnered with Her Choice—an alliance of organizations that are working to halt child marriage in 11 countries, and our work is well underway to deepen our impact to end child marriage in the communities where we work.
5. Peace Treaties in Bangladesh: In a nation wracked by partisan violence, Badiul Majumdar has succeeded in having the three major political parties in 11 sub-districts sign codes of conduct to eschew violence and cooperate to halt violent extremism.
6. National Strategic Plans: Building on our global strategic plan for 2016-2020, each Hunger Project country developed its national strategy to deepen our impact and take it to a transformative scale. Each country presented its strategy on global webinars. We established an online progress tracking system for the plans.
7. Major New Funders: The Hunger Project-Mexico received our first-ever grant from the European Union, and The Hunger Project-India received its first grant via DASRA, the clearinghouse for corporate social investment.
8. Learning Organization: The Hunger Project renewed its commitment to strengthening our practices as a learning organization. A department name change to “Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) reflected Our MEL department’s leadership for “Data for the People” was featured at the American Evaluation Association conference.
9. New Policies in the US: We participated in the passage of key legislation to firmly establish reforms in the US government’s Global Food Security Strategy and aid transparency. Empowerment of communities is also now a priority for USAID for the first time in 20 years.
10. Partnership in Malawi: Following epicentre visits by a Parliamentary Committee and the Minister, The Hunger Project and Malawi’s Ministry of local government and rural development signed an agreement to integrate Malawi’s rural development policy and our epicentre strategy, and to work with the Malawi Chapter of the Movement for Community-led Development to go to national scale.

Article courtesy of The Hunger Project’s, Global Executive Vice President,  John Coonrod on December 21, 2016.

The Ndereppe Epicentre community in Senegal has officially reached all 3 criteria required to declare self-reliance, the ultimate goal of The Hunger Project’s Epicentre Strategy (where the community has the resources and skills needed to continue the work started by us, independent of The Hunger Project).