Renewed Partnership Between U.N. and U.S. Peace Corps Strengthens Fight Against Hunger

An agreement was signed on Thursday between the United Nations and the United States Peace Corps marking their mutual allegiance in the battle against world hunger.  The plan -- increase food security in 76 countries where more than 8,600 U.S. volunteers work.

Signed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), this ensures that all three organizations have access to the resources necessary to help the world's poor and hungry.  Highlighted by WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, "...we all work a hand up, not just a hand out, to improve their own ability to produce and access food for their families and communities."  Like the old saying goes, "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish you, feed him for a lifetime."

The Peace Corps has worked with FAO and WFP in nearly 40 countries promoting food security through citizen participation, education, and capacity building.  Some of the techniques and practices shared between Peace Corps volunteers, FAO, and WFP include: training on sustainable gardening and organic farming, providing education on nutrition and hygiene for children, proper food storage and handling, and a workshop on how to grow produce.  This critical issue of food security must be treated at the source, the poor and the vulnerable.

"FAO and the Peace Corps have a long history of working together in rural communities throughout the world.  This agreement signals a renewed, enhanced commitment to harnessing the respective strengths and expertise of our three organizations to tackle the root causes of hunger and ensure sustainable food security and economic development."

-Jacques Diouf, FAO Director-General

-Georisa Chang

SOURCE: UN News

Enjoy Rugby And Tackle Hunger At The Same Time

Are you a Rugby fan? Are you planning to watch this year’s Rugby World Cup? Even if you are not planning to watch, this message concerns you. With the Rugby World Cup ongoing in New Zealand, fans and followers of the sport are encouraged not only to cheer for their favorite teams but also to support the global campaign to end hunger. The ‘Tackle Hunger’ campaign is just one of several partnerships between the United Nations and different sports associations to eliminate hunger.

The campaign was launched in 2003 to finance World Food Program’s feeding programs and similar initiative around the world by using the ongoing world cup to generate more support for it. We have seen their presence in the last FIFA World Cup as well.

Various initiatives have already been taken to encourage Rugby followers to support the Tackle Hunger campaign such as, advertising boards at the stadium in New Zealand, program advertisements, and public service videos shown online, on television and in the stadium. The campaign is also using Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to reach out to rugby fans across the world and inspire them to donate to WFP initiatives, particularly those focused on helping famine and drought victims in East Africa. The Rugby World Cup Twitter account has more than 104,000 followers while its Facebook profile has at least 1.4 million.

The Rugby World Cup is the third-biggest sporting event in the world, after the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. It has an estimated TV audience of 4 billion people globally. It will be a huge success for the initiative even if only half of the Rugby fans show their support for world hunger reduction.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: DEVEX

What An Amazing Way To Realize How Fortunate We Are!

For most of us, either poverty or hunger is an issue that needs to be taken care of. We simply can not let 1 billion global citizens to carry on their lives without food. But do we ever feel the rush to actually do something? Do we realize how fortunate we are that we are not in their shoes? To feel the pain that hungry people have to suffer on a daily basis, more than 60,000 Canadian teens are going to participate in the two-day long World Vision 30 Hour Famine starting from today. The teens will go without food for 30 hours to know what hunger feels like, and they will raise money and build awareness of issues that children face around the globe.

The 30 Hour Famine is the world's largest youth event to fight poverty and hunger. It began in Canada in 1971 when a group of Calgary teens held a fast after they saw some images of a famine in Africa. Since then it has become a global event. Participants all around the world go hungry for 30 hours, raise money, and attend local events to celebrate the change they are making in other countries. This year many Canadian celebrities including Dan Hamhuis, Danny Fernandes, FaberDrive, LIGHTS and These Kids Wear Crowns will support the Canadian youth during the event.

The proceeds from the event will provide assistance in countries including: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, India, Niger, the Philippines, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The funds can be directed to a specific cause, choosing food & nutrition, clean water, child protection or education.

"For 40 years, Canadian youth have battled global poverty through the World Vision 30 Hour Famine," says World Vision's T.J. Grant "Canadian teens understand that fighting childhood poverty is a priority. Youth are making it their personal goal to do something now - and through the Famine are motivating friends, families and communities to get involved." Today, more than 500,000 youth in 21 countries participate in the 30 Hour Famine on an annual basis.

We can all show our support for this global event and raise our voice against hunger, poverty and injustice around the world. Or we can also go hungry for a day to realize what these people are fighting against!

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: DIGITAL JOURNAL

The Boy That Survived The Vulture

17 years ago, back in 1993, the New York Times published one of those photos that instantly make their way into our collective memory: a severely malnourished toddler under the stalking look of a vulture just a few feet away. The picture was taken in the Sudanese village of Ayod, and the photographer was South African Kevin Carter. This image, crude as it can be, soon became symbolic of the terrible problems that devastate the African Continent, and I bet every one of us had seen it before. Carter was awarded with the Pulitzer for that picture one year later, but along with the Pulitzer, came a wave of critics blaming him for not helping the little boy.

What is not widely known is that the little boy, named Kong Nyong, actually survived the menacing vulture and famine. The picture was taken in an improvised UN food aid station run by French sanitary personnel. Zooming in the picture, a plastic bracelet can be seen in Kong Nyong's wrist, showing that he had already been diagnosed and was about to be taken care of (T3, "T" for Severe malnutrition and 3 is the arrival number). Kong Nyong actually recovered, overcoming famine and other odds and lived for another 14 years. Unfortunately, three years ago Kong Nyong died of "fevers", according to his family.

This bittersweet story has a lot to teach us. First of all, that world poverty can be successfully fought, and international efforts are not as dull as they sometimes appear, as Kong's recovery demonstrates. Secondly, that there are still really big problems to tackle, like hunger or diseases like the one that took Kong's life three years ago. Third, that we should investigate what we hear about poor countries because, as it turns out, not everything is bad news and disappointment. Negative information leads to lack of hope. Carter himself received strong criticisms for not helping the boy, but nobody asked if the boy was already being helped. And finally, that there is still hope in the long and harsh struggle against poverty. We have to boost that hope with positive stories and sincere and complete information.

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: ELMUNDO.ES (Spanish news)

WFP Announces Record Food Purchases

Last Friday, the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN agency in charge of fighting hunger, made an encouraging announcement: of the US$ 1.25 billion procured in food commodities, more than 80 percent came from developing countries including Viet Nam, Guatemala and Ethiopia. The food has been used this year to provide nutritional aid for the people affected by the Haiti earthquake, the severe drought in the Sahel region, the Pakistan flooding and the long-lasting situation in Somalia.

WFP is on of the World's largest food buyers. This means that when buying from developing countries, the WFP not only purchases food to be delivered to those who need it the most, but also invests inin the agricultural economies and boosts the economy and trade of developing countries. This has especial importance nowadays with record food prices that, combined with environmental or human-made disasters, are behind severe alimentary crisis, particularly in Africa.

This change in the food suppliers, combined with other improvements and innovations such as growing donor quotas, new purchasing mechanisms and new "hunger tools," allow the WFP to acquire food stocks in bulk with enough anticipation and at lower prices. This saves money, delivery time... and lives.

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: World Food Programme

Number Suffering From Chronic Hunger Drops By 100 Million in One Year

Since 2009, the number of people suffering from chronic hunger worldwide has dropped from 1.02 billion to 925 million, according to a recent report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Many regions have made significant advances in feeding their populations, most notably in Asia, where it is estimated that 80 million fewer people will go hungry this coming year than last. Since 2000, the percentage of the world's population that suffers from world hunger has dropped from 20 to 16 percent.

Although many countries have succeeded in reducing hunger, many regions have seen little or no improvement in recent years. In sub-Saharan Africa, one out of three people are still malnourished. Additionally, two-thirds of the world's hungry live in just seven countries: Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Urging nations and individuals to continue progress toward the first target of the Millennium Development Goals, eradicating global hunger, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf calls hunger "the world's largest tragedy and scandal."

While many blame rising grain and meat prices and the ongoing economic/financial crisis for continued problems with hunger, according to the FAO, the fact that the number of undernourished citizens has risen even during historic periods of high economic growth indicates that it is not just high food prices or weaknesses in the global economy that cause hunger, but rather, deeply embedded structural deficiencies within nations and institutions. It is these problems that must continue to be addressed.

-Elizabeth Newton

SOURCE: United Nations News Centre, Reuters (photo)

The 30 Project

This May Ellen Gustafson, co-founder of the FEED Foundation (a non-profit that sells bags and then sends the profits to buy impoverished children school lunches ), launched the 30 Project on her 30th birthday at this year's TEDxEast conference. The 30 Project is an organization addressing the fact that 1 billion people worldwide are overweight, while 1 billion people remain hungry. Gustafson hopes for the 30 Project to look back over the last 30 years and discover how our world's "food culture" got to such a state. The 30 Project seeks to bridge the gap between organizations and activists that are fighting worldwide hunger and poverty those that are combating obesity and to devise a blueprint for the next 30 years of our global food system. In an interview with TED, Gustafson said, "until we break down that edifice in the middle separating these two groups and get them to see that we’re all fighting to get people to eat nutritious food, no matter where they are in the world, we’re not going to make much progress."

- Clara Hill

SOURCE: "Ellen Gustafson: Obesity + Hunger = 1 global food issue"- TED, "What's 30 Project?" - 30 Project