New report challenges thinking on food assistance to hungry

While food assistance plays a critical life-saving role in emergencies, it is not a long-term solution to achieve a hunger-free world.

That is the finding of a new report, “Telling Our Stories: Leveraging food Assistance for a Hunger-Free World", released today by World Vision to coincide with World Food Day.UPload.jpg“Food distributions need to be coupled with sustainable long-term programmes that ensure the hungry are equipped to meet their own food needs long-term,” says Thabani Maphosa, World Vision’s chief of food assistance programmes.

Challenging conventional thinking of food assistance, the report states that in order to address the root causes of hunger, distributing food packages alone will not be sufficient. Rather, as seen in countries that are affected by food insecurities such as Uganda, Niger and Myanmar, the food delivery process needs to be combined with the following two things:

1) Incorporating “resilience-building” elements with food assistance programmes 

For example, at World Vision, in addition to distributing food parcels, thirty percent of the countries we are helping in also have drought-resistant trees that improve soil quality and water retention; construction of water-harvesting structures; rehabilitation of degraded land; creation of water channels for irrigation; and building structures to support advanced gardening techniques. 

2) Involvement from the communities on “projects” that could help end their reliance on food assistance in the future

One of the case studies featured in the Telling our Stories report is Masemakaleng Kabane, a 59-year old HIV-positive grandmother from Lesotho responsible for the care of seven children. While receiving food assistance to take care of her family’s immediate needs, she was supported to construct a “keyhole” garden - where vegetables are grown on a raised bed made of recycled materials. This “keyhole” garden technology allows labour-constrained households to grow nutritious food even with poor soil and moisture conditions. Today, Masemakaleng produces vegetables all year round, sells surpluses to neighbours, and teaches them how to manage their own gardens.

“Masemakaleng’s story is a dramatic illustration of how powerful small farmers can be in the quest to eradicate hunger,” says Maphosa. “It’s not just that she is no longer dependent on food assistance; she has become a force in her community to end food shortages there for good.”
 
The United Nations estimates about 805 million people in the world are chronically undernourished and poor nutrition causes about 45 per cent of preventable deaths in children under 5.
 
“Telling Our Stories: Leveraging Food Assistance for a Hunger-Free World” will be presented at a World Food Day event at the European Parliament in Brussels. World Vision is one of the world’s largest deliverers of food assistance. We are also a participant in the Zero Hunger Challenge, a global political movement launched by the UN Secretary-General in 2012. The movement aims to rid the world of hunger and child malnutrition. Among its goals is to dramatically increase smallholder productivity and income.
 
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