Archive for category: Food Aid

Information and news about food aid

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5 Facts About the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014

Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014
On Tuesday, U.S. lawmakers introduced the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014. U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., jointly introduced this legislation, which would end restrictions on international food aid programs.

“More than anything else, the mission of America’s food aid program is to save lives,” Coons said. “Our current system for acquiring and distributing food aid is inefficient and often hurts the very communities it is trying to help.”

1. Feed More People
The reformed food aid legislation would feed about 9 million people around the world.

2. Greater Efficiency
The legislation would make hundreds of millions of dollars more available per year. Currently, the food aid program has restrictions that require food to be produced in the United States rather than purchased locally. It costs more and takes months to reach people in disaster areas. It would also allow U.S. locally or regionally acquired commodities, cash transfers or vouchers to be used for aid.

3. Small Effect on U.S. Agriculture
U.S. food aid contributed merely 0.86 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports between 2002 and 2011 and just 1.41 percent of net farm income.

4. Let USAID Ship Food on Any Available Vessels
Currently, half of food aid must also be transported on U.S. vessels, which takes months and costs more. The cargo preference requirement means that aid is shipped at 46 percent higher than the market rate.

5. End Monetization
“Monetization” is a requirement that says 15 percent of all U.S. donated food must be sold first by aid organizations, which produces cash that funds development projects. Removing this would save 25 cents out of every taxpayer dollar, would feed 800,000 more people and make about $30 million per year more available. Many development supporters argue that monetization upsets local markets.

“At a time when our budget is strained and U.S. resources are limited, Congress needs to find ways to be more efficient and effective with every dollar,” Corker said.

– Colleen Moore

Sources: Reuters, Agri-Pulse
Photo: Africa Green Media

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Bread for the World: The Faith to End Hunger

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Bread for the World, a Washington D.C. based nonprofit organization, is urging government leaders and communities of faith to end hunger.

Every day, around 16,000 children die from hunger related causes. 1.5 billion people live in extreme poverty in developing nations around the world, but developed nations are not exempt from the problem of hunger – nearly 15 percent of those living in the U.S. have struggled with food insecurity at some point in their life.

Motivated by the belief that ordinary people can do “plenty” to end global hunger, Bread for the World seeks to empower U.S. citizens to voice their support of hunger-fighting policies to their elected representatives. A bipartisan “collective Christian voice,” their network includes thousands of individuals, churches and denominations – therefore creating an impact that reaches far beyond their local communities.

After analyzing policy, Bread for the World creates strategies to move toward their ultimate goal – to end hunger at home and abroad. The movements they create within churches, campuses and other organizations help build political commitment to overcome poverty. Bread for the World accomplishes their work with integrity, earning a four star Charity Navigator rating and spending an impressive 82.9 percent of their budget on deliverable programs and services.

Bread for the World Institute, the educational wing of Bread for the World, exists to conduct extensive research on food policy and provide information to Bread for the World’s advocacy network. Their studies empower constituents with information to ultimately change the politics of hunger.

For 2014, Bread for the World is focusing its efforts on reforming U.S. food aid, calling for the economically powerful U.S. government to use their resources more efficiently and effectively. Bread for the World estimates that with improvements and changes, 17 million more people could benefit from food aid each year without any additional costs to taxpayers.

Find more information and extensive educational materials, visit www.bread.org.

– Madisson Barnett

Sources: Bread For the World, Charity Navigator
Photo: Food Tank

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The National Food Security Act in India

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Food has become a right, rather than a luxury, in India. Parliament approved the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in September 2013, requiring the government subsidize food for nearly 800 million people. Success of this program will lead to greater food security for nearly 70% of the Indian population and a political advantage to the ruling Congress Party.

Yet critics fear the program asks too much from an economy “burdened by a weakened currency and a large fiscal deficit.” This monumental step toward food security “relies on an unwieldy network of farmers, buyers, storage facilities, and sellers.” NFSA requires this network to supply an estimated 60 million tons of subsidized grains a year. Individuals receive an average of five kilograms per month. Those occupying the lowest income bracket receive more as well as assistance from state-run programs.

Supporters of NFSA highlight the past success in government food subsidies. In the 2011, more than 500 million Indians benefited from government programs. Delivering 51.3 million tons to those in need, the government provided 10 times more than the World Food Programme.

Those in opposition cite the 2005 incidents of “theft, corruption and difficulties identifying the needy.” In this fiscal year, the government estimates a 60% loss in grain, yet researchers returned to analyze recent government efforts, reporting gradual improvement in food delivery.

This program began at the start of the 2013 fiscal year and will cost the government an estimated $20 billion annually.

Supporters contend this modest increase from past years fulfills the “moral obligation of the government” to protect its people. Sonia Gandhi currently serves as the leader of the Congress Party and stands in staunch support of the program.

More than 100 million children attending school currently receive midday meals and a “take-home ration,” according to the New York Times. NFSA strengthens these entitlement programs, expanding access and improving efficiency. A number of studies support these school-based food programs, pointing to increased attendance and healthier development. The program also proposes revitalized efforts to protect maternal health, allocating 1,000 rupees, or $16.43 per month, for six months.

Maternal health during and following pregnancy directly affects the health and development of infants.

The success of NFSA depends on the strict government supervision and reform. Gandhi understands this and regards access to food as a fundamental right.

“The question is not whether we can do it or not,” she asserts. “We have to do it.”

– Ellery Spahr

Sources: TIME, New York Times
Photo: Commodity Online

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Malnutrition in Haiti: Philanthropic groups

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Since the catastrophic earthquake four years ago, the number of people suffering from malnutrition in Haiti has risen dramatically. Even before the earthquake hit, people were struggling to eat a nutritious balance of food, with complications from malnutrition contributing to 60% of deaths in children and a relatively high mortality rate in adults.

Although children are the primary worry, the concern regarding malnourishment extends to those sick with HIV and tuberculosis, pregnant women and young adults. Poor sanitation also contributes to poor health by spreading disease, which can critically damage the immune system or cause severe dehydration. Other effects of malnutrition include hindered mental and physical growth, emotional changes (depression or anxiety) and difficulty learning or concentrating.

There are ways to help ebb malnutrition in Haiti.  Here are a couple of philanthropic causes that are focused on heightening nutrition in Haiti.

The Nourimanba Production Facility

Located in a modest two-story building in Haiti’s Central Plateau, the Nourimanba Production Facility is more than it appears on the outside. The facility is quite sophisticated, using top-of-the-line stainless steel devices to process peanuts and mix the peanut based paste with vitamins in order to create a nutritious and essential medicine. Andrew Marx, Director of Communications at Partners in Health (PIH) stated that this facility enables 350 tons of Nourimanba to reach 50,000 children a year, with each child taking the medicine daily for up to eight weeks.  The company supports local peanut farmers and opens up an incredibly convenient and dependable market for the community to yield both sales and even jobs.

Hunger Relief International (HRI)

HRI works with local farmers to provide three meals per day consisting of beans, rice, cornmeal and pasta, to 1,450 orphans in 28 different orphanages. HRI also helps children and women plant gardens at homes and schools, helps tackle malnutrition in Haiti, promotes healthy eating and forms new sources of income for the communities. The easy access to nutritional food will relieve the families of unnecessary spending, which will allow their money to be spent on education or school supplies, for example.

World Food Programme (WFP)

WFP is a leading agency in the fight to provide young children and mothers with the proper nutrients necessary during crucial developmental stages. The WFP is working with the Ministry of Agriculture to build a link between local smallholder farmers and the school meal system to produce a greater market for farmers and cut down on food insecurity. An estimated 3,000 metric tons of rice will be bought from Haitian farmers during the current school year in order to provide the National School Meals Programme with a supply large enough to sustain the 685,000 children in school. Milk is also bought from local smallholder farmers and distributed to 84 different schools.

With continued support from these various causes, Haiti is making strides to rebuild its health and economy. Farmers and the most vulnerable members of the community are also being given the necessary resources needed to help strengthen them and curb malnutrition in Haiti.

– Becka Felcon

Sources: Partners in Health, Partners in Health, Hunger Relief International, World Food Programme

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5 Facts About Hunger in Rwanda

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The Republic of Rwanda is a small sovereign state in the Eastern part of Central Africa. Rwanda ranked at 166 of 187 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index in 2011. Rwanda also has the highest population density in the region with 416 people per square kilometer.

Low income, limited natural resources, and food and water insecurity pose a problem for citizens in Rwanda every day. In the years following the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, international rebuilding efforts have been on the ground trying to make sustainable changes to alleviate some of the hunger and water issues.

Here are five facts that explain the state of hunger in Rwanda and how it may change in the coming years:

  1. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide marked the end of the ceasefire signed the year before that stopped the fighting of the Rwandan Civil War. The war began between two ethnic groups the Hutu and Tutsi. The Genocide began when the plane carrying the Hutu supported president Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down and he, along with several other members of the government, were killed. The genocide lasted 100 days and an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed. The fallout from the Rwandan Genocide is the cause for much of the instability in the region that lasts today.
  2. Secondary school attendance in Rwanda is one of the lowest in the world and the literacy rate is 55%.
  3. Approximately 65% of the population has access to safe, clean drinking water
  4. 45% of children under 5 years of age are malnourished.
  5. Over 67,000 refugees from neighboring countries currently reside in Rwanda.

Even though there is a lot of strain on the country today, organizations have been working with the government to address one of Rwanda’s major problems: food insecurity. Agriculture was the country’s main sector before the genocide, and since then, major efforts have been made to make it profitable one more.

Updating the agricultural practices is what the World Food Programme credits with directly reducing the number of food insecure people.

The country hopes that with the reliance on agricultural programs it will improve its GDP to US$900 by the year 2020, up US$380 from its current GDP. Rwanda was also the first country to sign the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), meaning that addressing malnutrition and food insecurity is one of the government’s main priorities.

Even though Rwanda still has a long way to go, the government has been taking steps in the right direction that could provide a template for other countries in the region to follow.

– Colleen Eckvahl

Sources: World Food Programme, World Vision
Photo: Rising Continent

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Hunger in Zimbabwe

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Drought in Zimbabwe is reaching epic proportions as nearly one million people are at risk of food insecurity. According to the 2013 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC,) food insecurity levels will affect roughly 2.2 million Zimbabweans at the peak of hunger season between January and March in the upcoming year. Zimbabwe already suffers from high poverty rates as approximately 72 percent of citizens currently below the poverty line and nearly 14.7 percent of the population is HIV prevalent.

Zimbabwe relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture, which has since plummeted since last season’s drought.  As the need for food increases, maize, a primary source of food in Zimbabwe, continues to rise in price making it more difficult on a population who already lives on less than a $1 a day. Making matters worse, the World Food Programme (WFP) recently announced that their initial plan of providing support for 1.8 million people will be drastically reduced.

“We’d been hoping to have scaled up our seasonal relief operations to reach 1.8 million people in the coming months with distributions of food aid, in some areas, cash transfers. Despite generous contributions from donors such as (United States,) (United Kingdom,) Japan, Australia, ECHO and the central Emergency Relief Fund (UN CERF), it’s now looking like all this will not be possible because of a shortage of funds. In fact, we’ve had to cut rations for one million of our beneficiaries in recent months and there are likely to be deeper cuts as from next month,” said WFP in a statement to the media.

Of the $86 million funding dispersed by the previous listed countries, only half of it has been implemented into relief intervention. “Rising food prices are making matters worse — in some areas, they are as much as double what they were last year,” says WFP communications manager Tomson Phiri.

These rising prices in the market are heavily affecting food security and although WFP is short on funding, they are hoping to raise another $60 million over the next 6 months in an effort to implement relief and recovery operations.

– Jeffrey Scott Haley
Feature Writer

Sources: World Food Programme, World Food Programme, Zimeye
Photo: The Telegraph

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World Hunger Relief and Christina Aguilera

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In 2007, Yum! Brands Inc., the world’s largest fast food restaurant, created the World Hunger Relief program. Using its nearly 40,000 stores and 1.5 million employees, Yum! Brands Inc. leads the most expansive private sector hunger relief effort. The World Hunger Relief and international superstar Christina Aguilera are teaming up to help save the nearly 1 billion people around the world who are hungry.

Consisting of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell restaurant chains, the company uses its network to raise awareness and funds in order to benefit the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) that reaches more than 90 million people worldwide. Since its inception, the World Hunger Relief program has raised over $150 million for the WFP and other hunger relief organizations, breaking their annual donation record every year. Every one-dollar that’s donated provides four meals for hungry children at school.

In 2012, the World Hunger Relief provided 132 million meals in more than 45 countries. This was attributed to the record-breaking $33 million raised by the program.
The World Hunger Relief takes advantage of Yum! Brands Inc.’s huge employee base that enlists friends and family to volunteer for hunger relief efforts. Together, they have logged millions of volunteer hours in communities around the world.

The aid provided to emergency operations conducted by the WFP has helped thousands of men, women, and children. Other achievements of the World Hunger Relief include:

• Directed $1.5 million to relief funds in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan

• Providing assistance so that a school feeding program in Ethiopia, reaching 438,000 primary school age children, can continue for one year

• Those affected by floods in Bolivia were given fortified meals for one month

• Those affected by civil conflict in Somalia were provided fortified meals for one month

• Provided 132,000 people affected by floods with fortified meals for one month

• After a major earthquake in Peru, 80,000 survivors were provided with rice for one month

• Following Cyclone Sidr, victims in Bangladesh were provided with fortified meals for one month

– Sunny Bhatt

Sources: Hunger to Hope, Business Wire, World Food Programme
Photo: BGR

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Saving Calories & Lives

In recent years, technology and applications have had an increasingly philanthropic purpose. The latest of these technologies is the Share Your Calories application. The app was designed by Catherine Jones, a well-known author of nutrition cookbooks, Elaine Trujillo, a leader in nutrition, and Stop Hunger Now, an international agency aimed to end hunger across the globe.

The app can be used to help people lose weight while simultaneously providing food to people harmed by natural disasters. By adding a philanthropic purpose, the designers of the application aimed to give users another goal as well as more motivation to eat healthier. Studies also show that spending on others makes us happier than spending on ourselves, so the application, in and of itself, allows users to feel lasting happiness.

The application allows users to monitor their daily activities and food intake through a calorie bank determined by bio-data. If they do not consume all the calories in their calorie bank, the user has the option to convert the extra calories into monies. Once they have accumulated $12, the user has the option to donate to Stop Hunger Now.

Each Stop Hunger now high-protein dehydrated meal is equivalent to 250 calories and 25 cents.

The financial contributions from the Share Your Calories App go toward Stop Hunger Now meal packaging events. Each of these meals contains rice, dehydrated soy and vegetables as well as a vitamin-mineral pack. These meals are easy to store and have a shelf-life of 2 years.

These meals are currently distributed through host-organizations, but the funds from this application will also allow smaller groups and businesses to participate.

This application hopes to bring in $95,000 to build an android app, provide basic nutrition information, translate the app into different languages, etc. The Stop Hunger Now effort is supported by the Medical Science Foundation, TruBios Communications, iSO-FORM, The Ohio State University Food Innovation Center and the Experiment.

– Lienna Feleke-Eshete

Sources: IndieGoGo, FoodTank
Photo: Irish Red Cross

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Zimbabwe Facing Food Crisis Due to Corn Shortage

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Zimbabwe announced plans last Friday to import 150,000 tons of corn from South Africa in attempt to stave off the threat of mass starvation as poor crop yields and bad credit plunge the country into its worst food crisis in years.

A UN report found that at least 2.2 million Zimbabweans will require food assistance before the next harvest season to survive. Many people in rural areas are subsisting only on what wild fruit they can find.

Zimbabwe was once known as southern Africa’s breadbasket, but is now suffering low yields of its staple crop due to last year’s droughts, the late arrival and poor distribution of rainfall and an infestation of army worms. Economic collapses and poor planning by the government exacerbated the bad growing season, and Zimbabwe was able to produce only 800,000 of the 2.2 million tons of corn necessary to feed its population.

Scarcity has driven the price of corn up 20 percent since 2012, according to the to US-based Famine Early Warning System (FEWSNET).

“Communities, especially rural ones, are facing a twin evil: food is scarce, and that tends to push prices up,” Innocent Makwiramiti, an economist and former executive officer of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, told reporters.

“The government has no money to import enough grain so that people can buy it at subsidized levels,” Makwiramiti said. “The hungry are therefore forced to buy from private sellers, who charge high prices.”

Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation and resulting economic freefall, which many critics blame on President Robert Mugabe and his chaotic ascension to power, threaten the country’s ability to borrow to feed its citizens.

In the past, Zimbabwe has combated inflated food prices by importing grains on credit from neighboring countries like Zambia, many of whom are no longer willing to gamble that they will be paid back. In October, Zambia reversed its decision to give Zimbabwe 150,000 tons of corn on credit, instead requesting cash up front.

Zimbabwe managed to obtain only 14,000 tons.

Many Zimbabweans are angered by the response from President Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, who have acknowledged the food crisis and promised that “no Zimbabwean will die of hunger” but have yet to reveal any concrete plans to address food scarcity or the underlying economic problems ravaging the country.

In addition to a poor growing year and an economy in free fall, Zimbabwe’s food crisis has roots in Mugabe’s violent redistribution of land in 2000. Many white landowners fled the country as government forces seized their farms.

Instead of turning land over to Zimbabwe’s poor black farmers, as he had promised, Mugabe gifted properties to leaders of his ruling party, whom left much of it unattended and improperly cared for. Ironically, the farming surplus that Zambia has experienced, allowing them to sell corn to Zimbabwe, can be attributed at least in part to white farmers chased out of the country.

It will take time for Zimbabwe’s economy to rebound, but its people are dying now. The 150,000 tons of corn recently granted by South Africa will help some, but without money or credit, Zimbabwe and its citizens will be largely dependent on food aid from international organizations. Now is the time to get involved.

– Sarah Morrison

Sources: All Africa, New Zimbabwe, New Zimbabwe, New York Times, World Food Programme
Photo: The Guardian

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Heavyweight Helps Syrian Refugees

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Evander Holyfield, former world heavyweight boxing champion, is taking on an even greater role in helping displaced communities of the Syrian refugee crisis.

On November 13, Holyfield announced that he would be working to aid the alleviation cause for an estimated of 6,500 refugees fleeing from the war-torn Syrian nation, those of whom have settled in Bulgaria. During the announcement, Holyfield noted, “Somebody helped me and that gives me the opportunity to help someone else.”

The refugee crisis that has taken shape out of the Syrian civil war has become staggering. It’s estimated that 9 million Syrians have been displaced out of a population of 23 million.  Syrians are settling in nearby countries such as Jordan and Turkey, most of where large camps have drawn the majority of foreign assistance — muting attention for the relatively small amount that has ended up in Bulgaria.

Holyfield and the Global Village Champions Foundation, the organization where he works as a Goodwill Ambassador, hope to raise awareness and deliver support for these refugees. To future add to the impact of celebrities bridging successful traction to raise awareness, the head of the Global Village Champions Foundation is musician, Yank Barry, from the 1960s band “The Kingsmen.”

The pairing might seem odd, but they are united in their hope to make the lives of the Syrian refugees at least somewhat easier.  In an interview with CNN, Holyfield stated, “at some point in time, when you leave this earth… they’ll say: What did you do for the least of them?”

Yank Barry may not be as well known in modern pop culture, but he has been actively philanthropic in recent years.  Barry founded the Global Village with Mohammed Ali in 1995, and they worked together until Holyfield took Ali’s place within the organization in 2012.  Since the founding of the organization, it has sent out 900 million meals to the needy around the globe and, according to Barry, including “5,000 tons of food to (Syrian) camps” since last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEInSPRIVDY

During the 1990s, Holyfield’s biggest worries were Mike Tyson’s left hook and how he would retake a heavyweight championship belt that he ended up winning five separate times.  Now, he has taken it upon himself to help the world community that he once entertained.  While recent reports have claimed that Holyfield has not retained the fortune he accumulated over the course of his boxing career, his reputable standing as a celebrity can still help causes for those that never had the opportunities he did.

While the help from private foundations like the Global Village is welcomed and inspiring for others to emulate, the global community still has plenty of work to do.  The UN says that the number of Syrian refugees registered in various EU countries ranks over 62,000 with more likely to come.  With so many of them looking for ways to get by, the hungry continue to appreciate the influencers like those in the U.S. for the help that such refugee communities could barely survive without.

– Eric Gustafsson

Sources: Fox News, CNN, Huffington Post
Photo: Vintage 3D