the hunger project

THEHUNGERPROJECTA strategic organization committed to the sustainable end of chronic hunger

When you think about “world hunger”

what are the first images that come to mind?

When you see those images

what thoughts arise?

When you see those images and have those thoughts

what feelings follow?

What you’ve just described is a type of hunger called “famine” -

defined as “a severe interruption in an already vulnerable area caused by natural and or/man-made disaster – for example,

drought, earthquake, war…”

Famine is “an emergency”

That’s how it gets into the TV news, onto the headlines, and into our minds as the main kind of

severe hunger we know

Famine

accounts for less than 10% of world hunger

The other 90%

Chronic, persistent hunger

Doesn’t look anything like “famine”

Chronic hunger

Can be defined as “not enough of the right kind of food over a

long period of time”

Unlike famine, chronic hunger isinvisible and silent –

even when you are looking right at it.

How many?

854 million people - roughly 1 in 7 people in our world

Today and everyday, 20,000 will die as a consequence of chronic hunger –

¾ under 5 years old.

Not from starvation, but from diarrhea, flu, and other basic illnesses that we’ve

all had and survived because we were not chronically hungry.

Progress?

Is world hunger better, worse or the same today as it was in the 1970’s?

1977 estimate = 41,000 deaths per day

Every headline today could read:Humanity cuts hunger by half in 30 years!

Where is most chronic hunger?

The rest in Latin America, mostly amongst indigenous people, and in other parts of Asia

29% in sub-Saharan Africa

35% in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal)

Hunger in the U.S.?

Yes – and many great organizations are addressing it –

it’s the severity and prevalence in South Asia, Africa and Latin America that are so much

higher

The Hunger Project is focused where chronic hunger is most widespread and severe

Famine is…

Fundamentally an issue of food –

food shipments delivered quickly

end famine

Chronic hunger is fundamentally

NOT

an issue of food

Consider India

A net exporter of food for decades since the Green Revolution improved their

agriculture in the 1950s and 1960s.• Today has more than 40 million tons of

grain in storage• AND today - 47% of all children in India

are malnourished – worse than Africa

If food is not the answer?

Chronic hunger is best understood as an issue of opportunity

It occurs when people lack the opportunity to translate a full day’s work into enough:

• Food• Money

• Education• Health care

• Voice in decisions affecting their lives

Question becomes:

Why is this opportunity so diminished where chronic hunger persists?

1996 study commissioned by UNICEF

Asked why rates of malnutrition in South Asia were so much higher

than most African countries,

even though all other indicators such as economic growth, agricultural production, infrastructure – all suggested the opposite

should be true?

Conclusion:

“The exceptionally high rates of malnutrition in South Asia are rooted deep in the soil of

inequality between men and women”

Study revealed that severe discrimination against women and girls gives rise to

“a cycle of malnutrition”

In India, since 2000More than 50,000 elected women representatives in 14 states have completed the 3-day, residential Women’s Leadership Workshop.

In India, since 2000More than 100 local Indian

non-governmental organizations

are now partnering with The Hunger Project to

provide ongoing trainings and support to these

women as they work to transform the quality of life

in their villages.

In India, since 2001

• The Hunger Project’s Sarojini Naidu Prize for Journalists Reporting on Women in the Panchayats In 2001, 166 articles were submitted In 2006, 1517 articles were submitted Awards ceremony on Gandhi’s birthday,

October 2 2006 was hosted by the Ministry of the

Panchayati Raj at the Minister’s residence

Ending Hunger In Africa

• Leadership• Marginalization of Women

Farmers• Infrastructure• HIV/AIDS

The Epicenter Strategy:5 years to self-reliance!

Principles

• Local leadership• Self-reliance• Gender Equality• Partnership with local government• Integrated strategy vs. sectoral, i.e. food

production, income, education, health, nutrition, literacy et al…..all together

• Minimal external inputs• Affordable, replicable, sustainable

Essence of the Epicenter strategy

• …to transform a culture of dependency, resignation, despair and discrimination against women and girls…

• … to one of responsibility, self-reliance, and gender equality.

Four phases - overview

1. Mobilization (1 year)2. “Tipping Point” (1 year)3. Progress on all fronts (3 years)4. Self-reliance• Demand-driven – people move when

they are ready

Phase 1: Mobilization

• Support of local leaders

Phase 1: Mobilization

• Support of local leaders

• Vision, Commitment,& Action workshop (VCA)

Phase 1: Mobilization

• Support of local leaders

• VCA workshop• Train volunteer

leaders called “Animators”

Phase 1: Mobilization

• Support of local leaders

• VCA workshop• Train Animators• Animator Initiated

Projects

Phase 1: Mobilization

• Support of local leaders

• VCA workshop• Train Animators• Animator Initiated

Projects

Phase 1: Mobilization

• Support of local leaders

• VCA workshop• Train Animators• Animator Initiated

Projects

Phase 1: Mobilization

• Support of local leaders

• VCA workshop• Train Animators• Animator Initiated

Projects • Elect Epicenter

Committee

Phase 2: Tipping Point

• Chief donates land

Phase 2: Tipping Point

• Chief donates land• Learn to make

concrete blocks

Phase 2: Tipping Point

• Chief donates land• Learn to make

concrete blocks• Build the epicenter

building

Phase 2: Tipping Point

• Chief donates land• Learn to make

concrete blocks• Build the epicenter

building• Subcommittees for

health, education…

Phase 2: Tipping Point

• Chief donates land• Learn to make

concrete blocks• Build the epicenter

building• Subcommittees for

health, education, etc.• HIV/AIDS Gender

Inequality workshop

Phase 2: Tipping Point• Chief donates land• Learn to make

concrete blocks• Build the epicenter

building• Subcommittees for

health, education, etc.• HIV/AIDS Gender

Inequality workshop• Inauguration!

Phase 3: Progress in all sectors

Phase 3: Progress on All Fronts

• Community Farm

Phase 3: Progress on All Fronts

• Community Farm• Food bank

Phase 3: Progress on All Fronts

• Community Farm• Food bank• Women

Empowerment Project (WEP)

Phase 3: Progress on All Fronts

• Community Farm• Food bank• Women Empowerment

Project• Mobilize savings

Phase 3: Progress on All Fronts

• Community Farm• Food bank• Women Empowerment

Project• Mobilize savings• Bank Certification

Phase 4: Self-reliance

• Low IMR, MMR• Water & sanitation• Halt AIDS, Malaria• Sustainable

livelihoods• Sustainable

environment• Men return from cities

• Self-reliance, responsibility and gender equality

• Authors of their own development

• Women as leaders

$8 per person per yearover 5 years

020406080

100120140160180200

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

CreditConstructTraining

The next great challenge

• "The last 50 years of development practice have shown that project success is not enough. The greatest technical challenge lies not in identifying the right interventions or making them work in one village—but in taking known interventions to scale.“

Investing in Development: A practical plan to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, UN Millennium Project Report 2005

Ghana Epicenter Scale-up Demonstration

• Eastern Region – already mobilized 7 epicenters

• Not too far from the capital - Accra

• 16 rural districts – 1.3 million rural people

• Good cooperation with local government

Ghana - Eastern Region Scale-up

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2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Epicenters

The Hunger Project

• Founded in 1977 • Currently working in 13 developing countries:• West Africa – Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana,

Senegal• East Africa – Ethiopia, Uganda• Southern Africa – Malawi, Mozambique• South Asia – India, Bangladesh• Latin America – Mexico, Peru, Bolivia

The Hunger Project

• Giving more than 22 million people the opportunity to improve their lives

The Hunger Project• 2006 Global budget = $13.5 million• 248 staff worldwide• 150,000 volunteer leaders• Staff and volunteers are all indigenous – no

outsiders lead our programs in developing countries

• 79% $$ for Programs• 21% $$ for Administration and Fundraising• Charity Navigator – Four star rating (their

highest)

The Hunger Project - Funding

• Investment or charity?• Investing as co-equal, strategic partners in

creating a future free from hunger.• Investing to have a meaningful personal stake in

the historic process of ending hunger• Investing as an intervention in our own

complacency, consumerism, and status quo. • Investing to obtain a substantial return – real,

cost-effective, sustainable progress

The Hunger Project - Funding

• How much to invest?• Highest Appropriate Level • Somewhere between

• too low to remember that you did it • so high that it’s unrealistic and disempowering

• How you know?• Inspired• Awakened• Courageous• Connected to partners throughout the world

Current Funding Sources

• Global Investment Group (GIG) – individuals, families and institutions at $5,000+/year (currently up to $1 million/year)

• GIG provides more than 75% of all our funding• 90% comes from $1,000+• Financial Family – monthly investment • Various high level opportunities• 10% from Foundations and Corporations• Funding from 15 different countries

How can I participate?

• Become an investor• Make a list of others you think might be

interested in learning about The Hunger Project• Invite others or host gatherings for others to

learn about The Hunger Project• Learn to lead Hunger Project presentations• Learn more – www.thp.org• Contact The Hunger Project – locally or in New

York at 212-251-9100 or info@thp.org

Service Delivery vs. EmpowermentCONVENTIONAL, TOP-DOWN

SERVICE-DELIVERY MODEL

THE HUNGER PROJECT’S BOTTOM-UP EMPOWERMENT

MODELWho are hungry people?

Beneficiaries whose basic needs must be met.

Principal authors and actors in development – hardworking, creative individuals who lack opportunities.

What must be done?

Provide services through government or charities.

Mobilize and empower people’s self-reliant action, and stand in solidarity with them for their success.

What’s the primary resource for development?

Money and the expertise of consultants and program managers.

People: their vision, mobilization, entrepreneurial spirit and confidence.

Who is in charge? Donors, who provide the money and hold implementers to account.

Local people: through elected local leaders whom they hold to account.

What are the main constraints?

Bureaucracy: the inefficiency of the delivery system.

Social conditions: resignation, discrimination (particularly gender), lack of leadership, lack of rights.

What is the role of women?

Vulnerable group who must be especially targeted beneficiaries.

Key producers who must have a voice in decision-making.

Service Delivery vs. EmpowermentCONVENTIONAL, TOP-DOWN

SERVICE-DELIVERY MODEL

THE HUNGER PROJECT’S BOTTOM-UP EMPOWERMENT

MODELWhat about social and cultural issues?

Immutable conditions that must be compensated for.

Conditions that people can transform.

How should we focus our work?

Carefully target beneficiaries on an objective-needs basis.

Mobilize everyone as broadly as possible – build spirit and momentum of accomplishment.

What is the role of central government?

Operate centrally managed service-delivery programs.

Decentralize resources and decision-making to local level; build local capacity; set standards; protect rights.

What is the role of local government?

Implementing arm of central programs.

Autonomous leadership directly accountable to people.

What is the role of civil society?

Implementing arm of central programs.

Catalyst to mobilize people; fight for their rights; empower people to keep government accountable.