NOVEMBER 2003

Reports from the Global Board Meeting

Country directors from 11 countries of South Asia, Africa and Latin America attended the Global Board of Directors meeting on 12 October.

Joan Holmes reported that the organization is very healthy, and in better balance in both programs and fund-raising than ever before. Board chair Dr. Peter Bourne commented that the meeting “was an extraordinary presentation that the depth and range of our programs on three continents is not only the greatest it’s ever been in The Hunger Project, but is extraordinary by any standards.”

The board meeting was held the morning after the 2003 Africa Prize award ceremony, where more than 1,000 dignitaries and Hunger Project investors honored two outstanding women who exemplify the vital importance of emerging women’s leadership for a new future for Africa. This year, for the first time, we also held a Policy Forum on the afternoon of the prize, which provided a more in-depth examination of the challenges facing Africa

 

Africa

“The government has officially recognized two epicenter banks entirely managed by women. We expect to register three more within the next few weeks, and four more next year.”
- Dr. Idrissa Dicko, Burkina Faso

“We are now operating in one-tenth of the country. We need to do more. The people are ready for us to go to many more areas.”
- Kataike Sarah Ndoboli, Uganda

“We’ve held 172 sessions of the HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality workshop with 3,600 women and 600 men.”
- Aboubacar Kourouma, Senegal

“I ask the people, ‘What differentiates The Hunger Project?’ They say ‘The Hunger Project unifies the people.’ In a continent of civil strife, our epicenters are bulwarks of peace and unity. Chiefs and communities that were once in conflict are now working together - in fact, competing to mobilize resources!”
- Dr. Naana Agyemang-Mensah, Ghana

“One difference with The Hunger Project is the way we link literacy and credit. With literacy, it allows women to can manage their businesses. Now, local officials are asking us to run this program in more areas.”
- Pascal Djohossou, Benin

“National Radio recently visited some of our farmers - they said they don’t want handouts at all, they want empowerment! We train traditional birth attendants in all the villages. One of them has now delivered 79 babies in a row without losing one - a zero IMR!”
- Callista Chimombo, Malawi

 

Latin America

“We train ‘popular reporters’ from the villages, who give real voice to the indigenous people who have had no voice. They mobilize the people. We want to dramatically expand the region where people are being mobilized, and strengthen the skills of the popular reporters in rights and laws, so that people can seize the opportunity of next year’s local elections.”
- Carmen Carrasco, Bolivia

“We are empowering indigenous people to go beyond what they saw as possible. We’re currently in nine states of Mexico, and we face an immediate opportunity to expand into 15.”
- Dr. Hugo Gonzalez, Mexico

“Indigenous women are at the cutting edge of development. In July, we held our first National Workshop on Women and Human Rights - 34 leaders from 20 indigenous organizations from both the Andes and the Amazon, who in turn are empowering 2,000 women leaders back in their villages. Next year, we want to bring together 260 indigenous women leaders from all across the Americas.”
- Irinea Bardales, Peru

 

South Asia

“A vibrant local democracy is what we need to mobilize the people and empower women. We face an enormous opportunity to train 55,000 newly elected local leaders, including 15,000 women, as change agents. These are busy people. To train them, we must take them away from their daily work to a residential training, but if we can afford it, it is worth it. If they are unleashed, they directly affect the lives of 100 million Bangladeshis.”
- Prof. Badiul Alam Majumdar, Bangladesh

On 30 September, Bangladesh celebrated its fourth annual National Girl Child Day with events across the country. Each year since its inception, the celebration’s scale has doubled - 50 events in 2000, to 100 in 2001 and 200 in 2002. This year, Hunger Project animators organized more than 500 Girl Child Day events nationwide.

“Two and one-half years ago, we launched the Women’s Leadership Workshop. Now, 15,000 elected women have been trained. On 15 August, we launched a new workshop for the educated elite of our country - the Ending Hunger in India Briefing. From that, we’ve been invited to lead two workshops for the Confederation of Indian Industries.”
- Rita Sarin, India

On 2 October, The Hunger Project-India presented the third Sarojini Naidu Prize for Best Reporting on Panchayati Raj, as a strategy to generate a climate of support. Participation has expanded from 160 submissions the first year to 584 this year.

 

Read Joan Holmess’ full report, the Africa Prize and Policy Forum speeches, and the complete country director reports from Benin, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Malawi, Mexico, Peru, Senegal and Uganda, as well as from the African Woman Food Farmer Initiative.