Forging Partnerships with Local Government

Local government is closest to the people and has the mission of working with people to meet their basic needs. The Hunger Project works in partnership with local government bodies to ensure that they are effective, include the leadership of women, are directly accountable to local people, and provide access to resources and information.

In order to strengthen local government, The Hunger Project also works from the top down, lobbying for state and national law changes, and in some cases court rulings, to shift power to the hands of the people.

The Hunger Project forges effective partnerships with local governments throughout Africa, South Asia and Latin America to ensure that they support their communities, for example:

• In India, The Hunger Project's has expanded the capacities of 70,000 elected women leaders, who are now exercising their leadership and bringing about change in their villages, affecting millions of others in rural India.
• In Bangladesh, The Hunger Project works with 508 union parishads (local government bodies) on initiatives such as ensuring 100 percent sanitary latrine coverage, 100 percent birth and death registration, and open budget meetings to provide transparency and accountability.
• In Mexico, The Hunger Project works in partnership with municipios (local government bodies) and trains government employees, who then come together as unified teams to work in partnership with the people to achieve local priorities.
• In Africa, local government officials are included at every stage of our Epicenter Strategy. When the villagers build the epicenter building, local government provides nurses, teachers and supplies for the preschool and health clinic.