MAY 2004

Investors Fuel Expansion

Dr. Fitigu Tadesse, vice president for Africa (center), with two of the underwriters for our expansion into Ethiopia, Prudence Ducich and Barbara Mayer.  

 

As Joan Holmes stated in launching 2004, this is the year for our most significant program expansion in a decade.

This expansion is made possible by hundreds of committed investors, upgrading their level of sustainable investment in the end of hunger.

At the annual global board of directors meeting on 18 April, Joan reported that “based on this fund-raising success, we have increased our program budget by 20 percent for each existing country program, plus sufficient funds for new programs.

 

 

 

In India in 2003, we sustained our program to empower women in local democracy in the five states in which we had been working, and took the first steps to begin this campaign in seven more states. This year, we are strengthening and expanding our program in all of these states.

“ Bangladesh has already trained 800 newly elected local officials and 3,000 new animators in 2004, bringing the total number of trained animators to 38,000.

“In Latin America , the empowerment of rural indigenous communities is our highest priority. This August, I will travel to Mexico City , where The Hunger Project will hold its first-ever Latin American strategy meeting. I will be accompanied by a delegation of our high-level investors, who will be present as we create what’s next for The Hunger Project in Latin America .

“I have recently signed the papers to begin creating a new Hunger Project in Ethiopia . And we have launched an entirely new initiative to play a leadership role in influencing the policies and programs in the international development community.”

Congratulations on a great first quarter! Please visit www.thp.org for more details of the progress being achieved around the world.

Investors Visit Bangladesh

A delegation of 13 Hunger Project Global Investors from Australia , the Netherlands and the U.S. visited Bangladesh on 6–12 March to see the work of The Hunger Project in action. Since their return, and empowered by the experience, the team has already raised more than US$200,000 for The Hunger Project, and plans to raise far more.

One of the team’s most striking experiences was to witness the severe societal discrimination against girls, including the prevalence of dowry and early marriage. Parents find that if they marry off their daughters earlier and with less education, they need to pay less dowry, because the bride is believed to be more compliant. Hunger Project animators are intervening in this condition throughout the country — stopping the practice of dowry, building schools, and encouraging girls to stay in school and delay marriage.

 

Cathy Burke with Rheema, a 14-year-old expectant mother.

 

Investors at a village meeting conducted by Badiul Majumdar.

Joan Holmes Appointed to UN Hunger Task Force

Joan Holmes, president of The Hunger Project, was appointed on 1 April to the UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force. In his invitation letter to Joan, Prof. Pedro Sanchez, task force co-chair, wrote, “Based on your outstanding expertise and contribution to the field, we are convinced that you would be invaluable in helping us achieve our ambitious goal.”

The Hunger Task Force is one of 10 that make up the Millennium Project, established by the UN secretary-general to recommend the best strategies to meet the Millennium Development Goals. In September 2000, United Nations members adopted these goals, committing to significantly reduce the world’s most serious development problems by 2015, and eliminate them in the long-term.

The task force includes 30 leading experts from around the world, representing a wide range of disciplines (including science, economics, nutrition, business and development policy); sectors (including international agencies, national governments, business, NGOs and academia); and regions (Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas).

The task force will present its findings to the UN secretary-general in June 2005.

  

 

This invitation represents an important new opportunity for The Hunger Project to play a leadership role in the international development community beyond the scope of The Hunger Project’s direct programs. The task force visited one of our epicenters in Malawi last year, and has included Hunger Project field program leaders from India , Bangladesh and Uganda in its regional consultations.

Financial Family Upgrade Campaign

Jim Goodman, Joan Holmes and Valerie Harper.

 

On 1 April, Joan Holmes and Hunger Project investor activists from across the United States launched a campaign to reach every Financial Family (FF) member with the opportunity to upgrade her or his investment.

More than 75 percent of the FF have been members since the 1970s and 1980s, and 85 percent invest at levels below US$50 per month. When members look today at what level of monthly investment expresses their commitment to the end of hunger, it is likely to be US$100, US$250, US$1,000 or more.

As Joan stated, “Our Financial Family members demonstrated extraordinary courage when they began investing in the 1980s. They represented the financial backbone, the very heart of The Hunger Project. But since that time, the cutting edge has moved.

“Our Financial Family members deserve to know the current status of world hunger…to know that the issues that remain between us and the end of hunger are the most difficult and the most entrenched…and to have the opportunity to be back on the cutting edge of investment for the end of hunger.”

The chair of the campaign is Valerie Harper, who said, “The Hunger Project is one of the very best investment opportunities on the planet, and I’m proud to be the chairperson of this campaign.”