Where We Work
Read our Uganda Impact Assessment Report
Across Africa The Hunger Project's epicentre strategy has expanded to 110 epicentres, providing approximately 2.1 million people with new opportunities for better health, education, nutrition and income. This strategy has proven effective in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda.
The Hunger Project works in:
Benin
is working in 11 epicentres
Burkina-Faso
is working in 15 epicentres
Ethiopia is working in 6 epicentres
Ghana is working in 40 epicentres
Malawi is working in 7 epicentres
Mozambique is working in 3 epicentres
Senegal is working in 17 epicentres
Uganda is working in 11 epicentres
All of the above epicentres are at various stages of evolution with the four phases. These four phases are phase 1 is mobilising, phase 2 is the tipping point, phase 3 is progress on all fronts and phase 4 is self-reliance. At the end of each phase there is a segue - a level of development momentum which makes possible the next phase.
An epicentre is a cluster of 10 to 15 villages within a 10km radius, with a population of between 10,000 - 20,000 people. These people work together to help meet their basic needs. The centrepiece of the epicentre strategy is a building that houses the community's programs for health, education, food security and economic development.
The Epicentre Strategy is comprised of three cardinal pillars:
Mobilisation of the rural people for self-reliant action to end hunger and poverty in their communities: To date The Hunger Project principles and unique methodology has enabled our communities to built their capacity to work together for self-reliance, with a view to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. This has been made possible thanks to on-going Vision Commitment and Action Workshops for capacity building, transfer of techniques in agriculture and literacy and establishment of community food banks that ensure food security for part5ners during the lean season.
Empowerment of Women: The progress achieved by our women partners in our epicentres shows that women are increasingly achieving gender equality through leadership roles. Women are trained in legal and human rights issues, school attendance of girl children is increasing, and women are empowered through specific trainings to create various income-generating activities as well as to establish their own rural banks. Women then manage their loans, increase their savings and become economic players in their own right.
Partnership with local government and other agencies: From the initial stage of program implementation, The Hunger Project seeks the active support and partnership of the local government. In this way, local government officials increase their understanding of The Hunger Project's strategy and methodology and become more responsive of the needs of communities in terms of infrastructure, such as roads and water as well as securing access to health services.
Microfinance Program is for women food farmers to become economic players, decision-makers, planner, entrepreneurs, powers in their own lives and in the life of Africa. This initiative consists of training, credit and savings designed to economically empower women food farmers.
The goal of the Microfinance Program in each epicentre is to assist partners in forming an officially recognised, women-led rural bank. The Hunger Project is the first organisation in Africa to achieve this - to empower rural women to make the journey from illiteracy to meeting the requirements for bank certification. These steps include:
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Successful participation in the Microfinance Program for two to three years
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Demonstrated ability to mobilise significant savings
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Completion of training and passing exams by the women who become the trustees of the bank
In Bangladesh we mobilise grassroots action for a self-reliant future, as a volunteer movement in all 64 districts of the country.
Volunteer leaders are trained and then they organise their communities around strategic priorities which will provide income and opportunity to all, while addressing the social conditions that give rise to hunger.
The Vision Commitment and Action Workshop (VCAW) is the starting point of The Hunger Project Bangladesh's molibisation campaign. In the workshop, villagers create a vision of a new future. They discover that this vision is achievable and affordable, they commit to achieving it and they formulate a campaign of immediate action. More than 2 million people have attended this workshop to date.
In India The Hunger Project continues to strengthen the leadership of the elected women leaders in the Panchayats so that they are able to fight hunger, poverty and injustice in their villages. The Hunger Project has trained approximately 71,000 of elected women. These women are now exercising their leadership and impacting change in their villages, affecting the lives of millions of people in rural India.
To facilitate the leadership of these women leaders in each of their five year election tenures, The Hunger Project India also focuses on training through running needs workshops, facilitating the formation of federations and actively strengthening women's empowerment in the election process in the states that are going for elections.
The 5 year tenure consists of:
In the first 2 years the women struggle hard to change the status quo of their villages, fighting against patriarchy, the cynical social mindset, and cast, class and gender discriminations. Following the women's leadership workshops, the women get an understanding of the issues that need attention. They go back to their villages to prioritise the development needs and actively address the economic issues.
In years 3 and 4 of their election, the women realise the strength of a collective voice. Elected women leaders are working towards building a federation for themselves from where they can raise and voice issues that concern them. The Hunger Project facilitates the formation of these block and district level federations, training Elected Women Representatives in the processes of federation building, networking and prioritisation.
Year 5 is the year going in for elections for the women. The Hunger Project pushes the agenda for gender inclusive electoral processes. The pre-election campaign is a strategy that ahs been adopted by The Hunger Project to encourage women in rural India to participate both as candidates and voters, and adopt clean and fair electoral processes. Voters are asked to select genuine candidates and vote for people with integrity and commitment who will work for the welfare of the village.
The Hunger Project’s work in Latin America is based on the understanding that the greatest concentrations of hunger and poverty are in rural indigenous communities. While all indigenous people are more likely than others to be disadvantaged, indigenous women suffer double discrimination - because they are indigenous and because they are women.
The Hunger Project works in 3 countries in Latin America - Bolivia, Mexico and Peru.
In Australia, we educate and raise awareness about the issues of chronic, persistent hunger and its solution by the empowerment of indigenous people. Our work is to give individuals the opportunity to invest and become authentic partners with people working to end their own hunger.