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The Hunger Project

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The Hunger Project (THP) is a global non-profit organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. In 13 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the organization implements programs that mobilize rural grassroots communities to achieve sustainable progress in health, education, nutrition and family income.

Over the years since its foundation in 1977 The Hunger Project has sometimes attracted criticism, which is summarized below.

Current activities

In each region of the developing world, The Hunger Project's programs apply principles of self-reliance, gender-equality, local leadership and local democracy to overcome root issues of hunger and poverty.

In Africa (in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda) The Hunger Project carries out what it calls its "epicenter" strategy. The Project organizes clusters of 10-15 villages to establish and manage their own programs for rural banking, improved agriculture, food-processing, income-generation, adult functional literacy, food security, and primary health-care (including the prevention of HIV/AIDS). A committee of villagers (with equal representation of women and men) manages each epicenter facility. A special program of microfinance, the African Woman Food Farmer Initiative, integrates with the epicenter strategy.

In 14 states of India, working in partnership with 90 local civil-society organizations, The Hunger Project focuses on the role of women elected to local village councils. It has trained 45,000 elected women as effective change-agents for solving problems of education, health and nutrition in their villages. It provides women with training in social and political citizenry, local governance and village-level planning, and provides them with links to existing government programs. Women are organized into federations to strengthen their ability to lobby for change.

In 450 clusters of villages spread over all 64 districts of Bangladesh, The Hunger Project has trained more than 60,000 village volunteer "animators" to strengthen the institutions of local democracy and to carry out campaigns to improve food production, incomes, sanitation, nutrition and public health.

In Latin America, where poverty especially affects rural indigenous communities, The Hunger Project works with such communities to overcome their economic marginalization - particularly that of the indigenous women. The Hunger Project implements programs in indigenous communities of Bolivia, Peru and Mexico.

The Hunger Project receives its primary support from the private contributions of individuals in the United States, Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan.

Brief History

  • February 1977 - THP is founded by John Denver, Werner Erhard, and Oberlin President Robert Fuller, and launched in public events across the US with an initial focus on generating the worldwide commitment to the end of hunger.
  • 1978-1989 - THP carries out communication and education campaigns on the issue of world hunger, including mobilizing public response to international famines.
  • 1990 - 1997 THP shifts its programmatic focus to pioneering decentralized, people-centered approaches to grassroots development, first in India, and then in Africa (1991), Bangladesh (1992), and Latin America (1997).
  • 1998 THP makes the empowerment of women the top priority in all its programs worldwide.

Criticism

Particularly in its early years, The Hunger Project attracted criticism for (a) its association with Werner Erhard, founder of est, who served on The Hunger Project's Board of Directors from 1979 to 1990, and (b) because it did not carry out feeding programs as a response to hunger. Whenever critics published statements alleging THP of being directly tied to, or promotional of est, THP requested corrections or removal of the statements, which in turn led to the further criticism that THP tries to squelch critics. THP maintains that it welcomes criticism, but not statements it perceives as false and defamatory.

Governance and Administration

  • Joan Holmes, President
  • John Coonrod, Vice President and COO
  • Fitigu Tadesse, Vice President for Africa
  • Badiul Alam Majumdar, Vice President and head of Bangladesh programs

Board membership

Chair Emeritus

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