Epicenter Strategy
Our Epicenter Strategy works with empowered individuals and communities to take the reins of their own development and unlock local capacity for change.
Working across 9 countries in Africa, we implement the Epicenter Strategy with communities to work together to build a path to sustainable self-reliance by shifting the power to small-scale producers and promoting community-led development.
The strategy takes communities through a path to sustainable self-reliance through a period of five to eight years. From 2008 to date, 81 epicenters have achieved self-reliance in our Program Countries in Africa. The core philosophy of the Epicenter Strategy lies in three essential areas:
- Start with women: Empowering women as key change agents
- Mobilize everyone: Building people’s capacities, leadership and confidence
- Engage local government: Forging effective partnerships with local government
The aim of the strategy is to achieve synergy among programs in health (including HIV/AIDS prevention), education, water and sanitation, adult literacy, nutrition, improved farming and food security and microfinance. The strategy drives economic and environmental sustainability in the different Program Countries we operate in. To ensure that the strategy is successful and sustainable, various stakeholders are involved, including sector specialists, epicenter project officers, district liaison officers, animators and community partners. Learn more about each role here.
The Epicenter Strategy is integrated and holistic. It achieves synergy among programs in health (including HIV/AIDS prevention), education, adult literacy, nutrition, improved farming and food security, microfinance, water and sanitation, and building community spirit with a momentum of accomplishment involving the entire population.
It is economically sustainable. The primary resources for the strategy come from the local people themselves and by making existing local government resources more effective. Income generation is built into the strategy from the start. Within five to eight years, our epicenters require little or no financial support from The Hunger Project.
The Epicenter Strategy is environmentally sustainable. People at our epicenters learn composting and small-scale, environmentally sound irrigation technologies such as drip irrigation.
In September 2005, The Hunger Project began an ambitious initiative: to demonstrate that the Epicenter Strategy can be taken to full national scale. We have undertaken our first scale up program in Ghana.
Photo: Uganda 2017 by Rebke Klokke
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