Category: News

By Rita Sarin, Global Vice President and Country Director of The Hunger Project India.

As a development practitioner working in the field of social development for over 40 years, I am convinced that women-focused and women-centred strategies are key to ending hunger, poverty and inequity across the globe.

Why do I say so? Let us unpack this.

A major part of my work has been with the elected women representatives to village councils in India and this work has proven that when more women occupy decision-making positions, a mindset of concern and inclusive development for all starts; where women look out for the last person in their communities. Equipped with the right skills, knowledge and processes so they can access systems, women leaders not only become articulate in their vision, thoughts and action but also strive to leave no stone unturned in achieving the ‘last mile delivery’. By adopting inclusive and equitable development strategies, women leaders tackle the issues of extreme hunger and poverty in their communities, as well as help create and sustain an equal and just society.

Why is it that women leaders adapt certain strategies over their male counterparts?

We all know that women have always centred their actions and lives around their families and communities. As primary caregivers, they have always taken action to meet the basic nutritional needs and health of their families. Therefore, there cannot be a more potent and direct relationship between women’s thoughts, concerns and actions and the well-being of their family/community.

Our work has shown that whenever women are in decision-making positions, their first action is to address hunger, malnutrition, hygiene and sanitation in their families and communities, followed by safe drinking water and education. These are the basic needs for any community to survive and develop. Be it food security and nutrition, health, education, sanitation, and now, awareness and support for COVID-19, women leaders are the frontline workers and will remain so no matter what.

Let me state unequivocally that when you empower a woman, the whole village and community develop. If you do not invest in her skills and capacities as the changemaker, generations will suffer from hunger and malnutrition, as is evident today.

To quote one woman leader “We do not allow even our neighbour’s child to sleep without food”. Therefore, the narrative of investing in women to end hunger is as clear as existence itself!

In light of our Leadership Immersion Programs being postponed and restrictions in place for face-to-face events, we are leveraging technology, creativity and our experts in the field to keep you up-to-date with all things THP.  

In case you missed our first online session – From the ‘village frontlines’ – life under lockdown – THP’s COVID-19 Response – our Global Vice President, Rowlands Kaotcha in conversation with Diane Grady AM explored what life looks like for our communities right now as they deal with lockdowns and limitations on healthcare, transportation, food supplies and more – while still confronting and overcoming the daily challenge of ending their own hunger and poverty. 

In our second webinar, we were joined by Ruchi Yadav, Director of Programs at THP India, and Rachel Akehurst THPA National Board Member and long-time THP Leadership Immersion Program facilitator. Ruchi and Rachel had an in-depth conversation about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in India and how THP India are utilising years of experience and knowledge to reach over 500,000 people across the country.   

Stay tuned for more to come in our ‘From the Village Frontlines’ series! We’ll promote the events when they become available via our mailing list and social channels

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges for the continuation and progress of The Hunger Project’s work throughout Africa, India and Bangladesh. Our innovative and integrated model of community-led development means that communities are empowered with the skills and knowledge needed to adapt and shift to challenging contexts and events with continued support and capacity building from The Hunger Project.

In working to build community resilience, leadership and ownership, our community partners are equipped to continue leading the way in implementing preventative measures to decrease the spread of the virus while supporting households to continue income-generating activities where possible, maintain food and water supply, and follow the advice and guidelines given by their governments.

Africa

• Health clinics are remaining open. THP-trained Health Animators (local volunteer leaders) are working in partnership with the health clinics to disseminate information household-by-household. Clinics are also continuing to prioritise treatment of those who have serious health conditions and those who are HIV positive.
• Rural banks are remaining operational where possible during this time with additional sanitation, safety and security measures in place.
• Across each of our Epicentres, we are working with Animators and Epicentre Project Officers to continue our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene trainings and workshops. More than ever before, this program is vital to protecting our communities. In Benin for example, 1,200 Tippy Taps have been installed to increase the accessibility of hand washing facilities.

India

• The Hunger Project is committed to working closely during the COVID-19 pandemic with Elected Women Representatives (EWR’s) across the 6 states where we already work. A task force has been established to get in touch remotely with every single EWR, as well as the Adolescent Girls Program participants, to spread awareness about keeping safe from COVID-19 and ensure no one is left behind. So far, they have reach 500,000 people!
• The main priority is for every last person in The Hunger Project’s communities to have accurate information and understand what to do in the current situation.
• EWR’s are active in monitoring the distribution of government entitlements, overseeing quarantine efforts and ensuring people are observing lockdown rules and sanitation.

EWR’s rallying to spread accurate information about COVID-19 to their communities. 

Bangladesh

The Hunger Project’s model of community-led development means that it is in a unique position where work is implemented by volunteers on the ground in villages. Volunteers are working to:

• Mobilise thousands of community members via raising awareness with factual and accurate information on COVID-19
• Provide sensitisation training on washing hands, good hygiene and social distancing – including the provision of soap where possible (pictured)
• Ensure that people who are eligible for government support are connected to these benefits, and that people who are ineligible are instead connected with other locally available philanthropy funds

Adequate water, sanitation and hygiene is essential for human health. Each year, hundreds of thousands of adults and children die from diseases introduced via unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, or poor hygiene. Currently,  2.2 billion people around the world are currently living without access to a safe water source. As a result, water-borne diseases like diarrhea, cholera and dysentery, all potentially fatal conditions, are pervasive. In fact, hundreds of thousands of children die each year from water-borne diseases alone.

Empowering women

In our program countries, women in particular bear the brunt of the lack of availability to clean and safe water. Charged with transporting water, women and girls often walk kilometres per day to fetch water. Each time a woman sets out for a distant water source, she runs the risk of encountering violence along the way. Reliable access to clean, close water reduces that risk, empowers women with the time and security to invest in family and community development and gives girls the opportunity to attend school.

Combatting climate change

Moreover, with the majority of the world’s fresh water supply devoted to agriculture, effective water conservation techniques are essential. The vast majority of people living in extreme poverty live in rural areas and are dependent primarily on agriculture and related activities for their livelihood. The well-being of these smallholder farmers is closely tied to the natural environment, highly vulnerable to environmental destruction, water shortages and climate change.

The Hunger Project works to empower rural communities to ensure increased access to clean water and improved sanitation, the development of new water sources, and the implementation of water conservation techniques.

What We Do

• Build water and sanitation capacity. Establishing water project boards made up of community leaders who are trained by experts on how to monitor, maintain and repair water systems; training people in the use and repair of water pumps and generators; and training a core of local leaders in water safety and purification so they can lead workshops throughout the community and expand grassroots knowledge.
• Develop new sustainable water sources. Empowering local communities to drill new wells and boreholes and repair existing ones; build and repair water towers; and construct water troughs for livestock.
• Ensure a reliable supply of clean water. Providing equipment and training for testing and pumping water; empowering communities to build and repair toilets in homes, schools and public spaces; and lobbying local governments to devote public resources to water infrastructure projects.
• Implement water conservation techniques Mobilising communities to initiate drip irrigation projects, which minimise the use of water and fertiliser by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, and to develop water catchment systems, which collect rainwater from a roof or other surface before it reaches the ground and store it for future use.
• Build sanitation programs. Good hygiene is more than a convenience; waterborne illness is a leading cause of childhood deaths around the world. The Hunger Project training and capacity-building projects improve living conditions and save lives.

 

Feature image credit: Johannes Odé

Although we don’t know to what extent yet, we do know that COVID-19 will have some level of impact on our partners in rural, remote villages in Africa, Bangladesh, India and Latin America. So many people around the world, especially in The Hunger Project communities, rely on a small daily income to survive day to day, so staying at home is sometimes not an option, or instead of a forced-choice which puts them and their family’s lives at risk in other ways. 

The core of how The Hunger Project works is more relevant than ever: we will continue to empower our communities to access reliable information and needed services, and support their leadership and resilience in the face of challenges.  

Now that we are rapidly entering a period of social distancing, we need to find new ways to partner with communities and for them to work safely with one another. We have started implementing some new measures already, including:  

• postponing gatherings of more than 10 people 
• creating call trees and WhatsApp groups of key local leaders, Animators and stakeholders to enable accurate and reliable information to flow into communities 
• connecting our teams and communities with reliable global and local public health services and resources 
• notifying communities that THP staff are putting travel from capitals and regional centres to communities on hold, and empowering people to find new ways to continue their activities 

What does this mean for our work ending hunger?

As you can appreciate, the process of ending hunger is an ongoing, daily task; it doesn’t stop for any kind of disruption. We appreciate your partnership, patience and compassion as we work out the best ways to continue creating possibility for millions of people around the world. 

We recognise these measures may slow down or alter some programmatic work. That said, our sustainable approach and the way we are set up, means development work can continue even without THP staff travelling out to communities. This period may lead to new innovations that could strengthen our programs as well.  

The key is to be nimble in approach while being steadfast in our commitment to our mission and our partners. We are confident they will lead their communities through this challenging time. We’ve seen it time after time: our communities are resilient and mobilise to lead in times of crisis. 

Learn more about our work

Learn more about our sustainable programs to end hunger here, and meet some of our village partners making sustainable change in their communities here.

Although stopping may not always be seen as a mark of success, there are some cases where The Hunger Project knows that we have reached success when we do stop.

As our Epicentre communities in Africa reach Self-Reliance, we can begin to exit the community. The Hunger Project continues to monitor and evaluate Self-Reliant communities to ensure they remain on track with their goals.

One of the things we love about the communities we work with in Africa is how they celebrate their successes. Today, we’re stopping to celebrate the success of the most recent Epicentre community to celebrate their Self-Reliance.

Mbale Epicentre Community, Uganda.

A group of investors and their families, including lead investor Colin Tate, travelled to the Mbale Epicentre community, Uganda, in November to join the community’s celebration for reaching the critical milestone of Self-Reliance.

 

Cutting the celebratory cake shaped like the Mbale Epicentre.

 

Mbale now joins two other Epicentres in Uganda as Self-Reliant Epicentres. In the Mbale community, 93.6% of households now live free from severe hunger, and 100% of pregnant women visit health facilities during their pregnancy.

The celebrations to commemorate the community’s 12-year journey to Self-Reliance were attended by over 5,000 community partners, local government authorities, as well as Australian investors and their families and The Hunger Project representatives from Australia and Uganda. The guests of honour at the celebrations were the Honourable Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Hajjat Janat Mukwaya, and the lead investor Colin Tate.

Key highlights of the celebration included traditional performances by the Bamasaba Cultural Troupe, Epicentre preschool children as well as students from the Mbale School for the Deaf. Exhibition stores were also set up by the Women Empowerment Committee, showcasing items such as handicrafts and clothes.  

A huge thank you to the generous individuals, families and businesses that invested in the Mbale Epicentre community, including lead investor Colin Tate and the Mbale Investor Consortium, for enabling this community to reach Self-Reliance.

Find out more about our Epicentre Strategy in Africa here. If you’re interested in partnering with communities to Self-Reliance, our Head of Philanthropy (stephanie.tucker@thp.org) would love to hear from you.

We know that climate change has caused levels of people living in chronic hunger to rise since 2015.

Women are likely to feel the effects of climate change and reduced supply even more profoundly than their male counterparts as social conditions force them to accept less of diminishing resources. As the primary providers of food and water, especially during the dry season when men leave to work in urban areas, rural women will be forced to walk further to collect supplies for their families as water becomes less accessible.

UN agencies estimate that 80% of people displaced globally due to climate change are women. They have been forced to move due to inhospitable conditions, lack of resources, or conflict resulting from water and food shortages.

Often we can overlook social solutions, such as gender equality, in response to climate change and focus majorly on technological and scientific solutions, such as electric cars. A combination of addressing and utilising both are essential to solving climate change.

Project Drawdown, a global research project which identifies and assesses solutions to climate change, has identified three solutions that stem from improving the rights and wellbeing of women and girls. According to Project Drawdown, addressing the following factors simultaneously has the potential to reduce greenhouse gases pollution by over 100 gigatonnes by 2050. This is equivalent to what the world has produced over the last three years.

Family planning

Ensuring every woman in developing countries has access to family planning not only improves the lives of women and children but also helps tackle climate change. To attain the UN’s population recommendation of 9.7 billion by 2050, family planning is necessary to slow population growth, which will therefore decrease the burden on natural resources.

Education

Educated women have more choices open to them. In developing countries, however, girls face many barriers that stop them from going to school including child marriage, harassment or a lack of facilities at school. When girls are educated they are empowered, this will curb population growth. Education also builds resilience and equips girls with skills to face the challenges that climate change presents.

Agriculture

Women in agriculture face a variety of obstacles and constraints that their male counterparts do not, such as lack of access to training, machinery, and new technology. In developing countries, women in agriculture commonly lack the economic resources and income to invest in agricultural technologies and the knowledge to improve their practices. Providing women in developing countries with greater access to resources and land could produce greater crop and livestock yields, producing more food from the land and reducing pressure for deforestation.

With the proper adaptive techniques, communities can learn to adjust to the new realities of their environments while working to lessen the impact of climate change. Rural populations already have a low environmental impact as compared to urban ones, and small changes can go a long way in adjusting to new conditions. Women in Ethiopian villages, for example, invest in more durable homes, utilising The Hunger Project’s Epicentre credit savings programs to build structures that can protect their families against both natural and man-made changes. 

It is more important than ever that we all continue to empower women around the world.