Hunger Blog

Freedom from Hunger Day: Raising Awareness About the Global Food Crisis

Today is our third annual Freedom from Hunger Day - an occasion marking the many triumphs we’ve had over the problem of chronic hunger, and a time to honor the millions of hard-working women and families dedicated to sustaining themselves.

This year, though, Freedom from Hunger Day serves another very significant purpose, and that is to call critical attention to the severity of the current Global Food Crisis and the reality of its destructiveness.

With food shortages and food prices escalating everywhere, the extent of chronic hunger is expected Read more …

What Makes Microfinance Work for the Poor?

Any movement to eliminate hunger and radically reduce poverty has to be built on a basic understanding:The poor - even the very poor - even the chronically hungry poor - are not passive victims of their circumstances. They’re ready, willing, and able to actively use any help offered to them to help themselves.

Here are two corollaries:

• The poor have the power of individual human spirit, which gives them resourcefulness and resilience. And…
• They have each other - their social capital - the relationships, the solidarity, the collective courage that enable them to survive in conditions that would kill most of us who haven’t grown up with them.

Read more …