In 2016 my husband and I visited Ghana with The Hunger Project(THP) to experience their work and celebrate with 3 epicenters, each serving thousands of people living win a 10 Kilometer radius) their achievement of self reliance. I spoke to many villagers who worked with THP over 8 year+s whose lives have been transformed. Women were able to start their own businesses with small loans from micro-banks which were paid back in just a few months—seamstresses and the women who went to Accra to buy fabrics for their work; a group women who baked bread in a hand built clay oven and sold it weekly to villages; small farmers who are producing good crops to feed their families and others and the list goes on. The men expressed their joy and pride in their wives accomplishments and the health of their families. I also learned how infant and maternal mortality has dropped to almost zero due to access to pre-natal care and delivery services from nurses who visit provide the epicenters’ health centers. Every epicenter has an health center. And the children!! In school, learning and thriving-both boys AND girls. They were so happy to see us and share their joy and accomplishments. And I could go on. On our last day in Ghana our group met with journalists in Accra who interviewed us to learn about our experiences. At the end I was asked “why I invest in THP” My answer was simple: “because it works”. I have work in public health in the US with many non-profits working with vulnerable populations and have not seen outcomes like I saw in Ghana. I have been investing in the people that THP works with for 24years and will continue for the rest of my years. THP is instrumental in building self-reliance and dignity with people who were never given the opportunity, and now they are doing it on their own. THP is different than most NGOs. The people doing the work are the people native to the country. THP does not send in western “experts” to solve their problems. THP provides support, education , and empowerment so the people themselves create what is important to them. They like us, want healthy, thriving, well-fed families who are able to provide what they need and want to live a self- sufficient and happy life. The people come together to make this happen. And after THP leaves it is all sustained:: the creativity, entrepreneurism, and ongoing growth and development is humanity at its best. We left Ghana in tears of joy and gratitude. Our commitment to this work and this approach is solid. We are proud to be part of this organization and the changes their work has inspired in other NGOs. As far as I am concerned, THP is in a class of its own.
I have been a proud investor in The Hunger Project (THP) since 2000. My experience is of an organization that continues to grow and evolve their programs in our ever changing world. They are one of the first organizations to see women as key change agents to ending chronic hunger and poverty, and they have carried this message to the UN and many NGOs around the world for many years. Their strategic approach to ending chronic hunger: community led development, the empowerment of women and working with local government continues to have a measurable impact in all the countries in which they work.
I had the privilege of visiting Ghana with THP 7 years ago to celebrate the first epicenters that had achieved self- reliance--many more have achieved this status since then. I was so moved by the women and men I met and the stories they shared about their experiences working with THP. At the end of this trip when asked at a news conference why I invest in THP, it was an easy response: This is an organization that works! As a public health professional who worked in many vulnerable communities, I have been so inspired by what THP has accomplished and continues to accomplish. THP continues to partner and expand their strategies with other global NGOs as founders of the Movement for Community Led Development (https://mcld.org/).
For over 20 years I have been a major contributor to The Hunger Project, because I heard from the people being supported what the impacts were. Then I visited Ghana and saw the new bread ovens, participated in the soap making, listened to a husband about how he learned that his wife could be a major contributor, heard from a women who traveled to obtain orders for textiles, then traveled to procure and was introduced to a women who now had a sewing machine to make clothes from these materials faster than by hand. Mostly, I saw how happy and healthy people were. Their joy and appreciation upon seeing Hunger Project investors brought tears for me.
I saw firsthand the community empowerment and activation done by the Hunger Project staff in Ghana. One episode I still remember was a powerful speech I witnessed by an African woman Hunger Project facilitator to a local chief in a local community meeting.
I've been a Hunger Project supporter for 46 years. I've travelled to places like India, Bangladesh, Malawi and Ghana to meet our global partners on the ground and see what ending hunger looks like at the village or community level. The Hunger Project's bottom-up, holistic, women-centered approach addresses the root causes of hunger and poverty. It includes empowering the local people themselves to develop leadership skills that enable them to lead the way in ending their own hunger. The end result is self-reliant, thriving communities. The Hunger Project does not provide temporary fixes but does the deep work that actually ends hunger on a sustainable basis.
I salute The Hunger Project for taking a stand to end hunger and modeling programs that, if widely adopted by governments and NGOs, could actually get the job done.
I started donating to The Hunger Project monthly in 1979, shortly after it began. Over the yearsI have also volunteered with the Hunger Project as an Ending Hunger Briefing Leader and fundraiser.
For my 50th birthdayI raised over $3000 for the hunger Project (and 2,000 at my wedding). I was able to visit Senegal with 22 otherGlobal investors. My 12 year old daughter and I were able to see villages who had just begun working with the Hunger Project and others who had been empowered by the Hunger Project over a decade before.
The difference was amazing. As women became educated, ran micro enterprise banks, took on money making project, made sure that schools and latrines were built, children began growing up healthy and staying in the villages.
In many countries self-sufficiency projects in Hunger Project epicenters were so successful that governments implemented them nationally. Bangladesh declared and has continued to have a "Girl Child Celebration Day". Indian women now are seated in 50% of local governments and are trained by The Hunger Project to be very effective.
Many NGOs and PVOs, including the UN, have followed the Hunger Project approaches to empowerment, especially of women.
Please invest in the sustainable end of hunger with The Hunger Project.
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I have been a volunteer, sporadically, and a monthly donor with The Hunger Project since 1979. the work it does to empower individuals, villages, regions and countries, and especially women, is phenomenal. My 12 year old daughter and I visited villages in Senegal and saw first hand the changes in villages 6 months to 10 years with the organization. Valerie Harper came to the 25th anniversary live video event in Baltimore since she was performing there later in the day. Her limo driver was very inspired, as were we all, by the people sharing from countries all over the world of the impact of being empowered.
The Hunger Project is all about empowering women and men across the planet in ending their own hunger. I have been an investor and activist in The Hunger Project for 42 years and have travelled to THP programs on the ground in India, Africa, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia (these last two through strategic partnerships) to witness the work being done by courageous women and men in the villages. I have yet to find a more highly leveraged opportunity for my investment. I also believe THP is the world’s largest leadership development organization. All the work is led and done by citizens of each country where THP is engaged and most if it by courageous local villagers who volunteer. In Africa alone over 500,000 people have been involved in Epicenters that have declared their self reliance!
www.thp.org
I am a sculptor and illustrator for fifty one years. What has inspired me to invest in The Hunger project is the passionate spirit of human beings. I have created ten public art projects acknowledging different groups of people. Two examples are: The Hanger Project created in 1988, a project to acknowledge textile and garment workers internationally for creating beautiful garments to bright all of our lives. The coat hanger I declared to be a symbol of the finger print of the garment workers. The people of Pittsburgh, PA and suburbs contributed 35,000 coat hangers from their closets. I made 33 life size semi-realistic human figures from these coat hangers and exhibited these sculptures in clothing stores, dry cleaners libraries and galleries.
The second example, the project I am presently working on is titled “Figure Skaters'. This project is to acknowledge figure skaters for their expression of the beauty and passion of the human spirit. I am draw the figure skaters during practice and competitions as a form of acknowledgement I grant the skater or parent the photographing of the drawing for their personal use. I am then creating 50 life size composites of specific moves from these studies to be www.thp.org
exhibited internationally.
Emil A. Sauer, http:emilasauer.blogspot.com and esauer.artspan.com
Review from #MyGivingStory
I started volunteering with THP in 1981, volunteered full time from 1981-85, and have participated sporadically as a donor and volunteer since then. THP is one of the most cost-effective NGOs on the planet, reaching 35 million of the world's poorest in over 22,000 villages on an annual budget less than $15 million. THP is so effective because a) THP directly confronts the most important root cause of extreme poverty: gender inequality. Before THP begins working in a community, a leadership team composed equally of men and women from that community is formed. b) THP does not send expensive Western experts to developing countries. Instead, THP develops local leadership. c) With less than 300 paid staff worldwide, THP is actually a volunteer movement, with hundreds of thousands of trained volunteers. THP succeeds because it treats the poorest with a deep respect, and believes that they must be the authors of their own development. By developing their leadership skills, THP is building a better future for humanity.
Yes, The Hunger Project has not ceased to exceed my expectations every year since my first investment 25years ago. I haven't found an organization that better expresses my desire to make a difference in the world. I have done and continue to do my due diligence. Gratefully, it is clear that my investment in The Hunger Project is the highest leveraged difference I can make with my money. Not only is the realm of development altered by the principles and methodologies of The Hunger Project but I am confident that time will reveal that the entire course of human history was, and is, altered by our work. By giving my money I am expressing my partnership with our brothers and sisters around the world at the margins of society. It is happening now—hunger and poverty is ending! I now know that the poor don't need our charity—what they truly hunger for is our partnership. I have been to 7 of our program countries(2 twice). What a privilege it is to witness our work on the ground and what an honor it is to meet our partners ending their own hunger and bring back their stories. I am blessed to be a part of this global movement. When I die all that will need to be said about me will be that I was an investor in The Hunger Project—this is my legacy. Enough said.
The Hunger Project is a gathering of individuals who share the desire to use their lives in a way that empowers, heals, inspires and creates change in our world. In the course of that kind of challenge our own lives are transformed and global citizens, with a wealth of knowledge, emerge. The founding principles of the Hunger Project continue to strengthen the course of, not only ending hunger, but abject poverty, and the rights of women in developing countries. As a Hunger Project volunteer for some years , i will say that I have found greater strength in myself as I worked to strengthen others. i found that partnership creates the energy for lasting change in people in developing and developed countries. The Hunger Project is about democracy in action. The Hunger Project is forward moving, strategic, and cutting edge thinking. I have volunteered, invested, traveled, and learned about our world through the Hunger Project and I have loved every moment.
I have invested money in The Hunger Project, which is really investing in people ending their own hunger, for years. And I have traveled to Ghana (on my dime) to see the results first hand. The way people are left as authors of their own future is remarkable. Also to see hunger eradicated by the people in the epi-center (villages) themselves in only 5 years, plus women owned banks, plus their own health care, plus greatly lowered infant mortality rate, plus food security is breathtaking. I have worked for the UN and know a lot of the solutions out there, and what The Hunger Project accomplishes is unbelievable for the investment. The biggest problem seems to be that traditional NGO's and donors can't believe the amazing results in such a relatively short period of time.
I have experienced nothing less than tremendous inspiration and hope from this organization throughout my years as an investor. Their approach to hunger is unmatched, and the results of their work prove it. I had to choose my role as a "volunteer" on this website, because "investor" is not an option. There are no donors in this organization, there is no pyramid of money or status. Everyone who works within this organization is an investor in our future; no one is a donor. Investing in this organization means investing in infrastructure and education, empowerment and change. They look at the concept of hunger from a holistic paradigm; one can hunger for food, but s/he can also hunger for education, rights, empowerment, voice, or good health. That is why the three pillars of this organization aren't all focused on simply giving those who are hungry food. They focus on the empowerment of women, grassroots mobilization, and forging partnerships with the local government to create a holistic, and most importantly, SUSTAINABLE change. I am a college student that works for a non-profit who donates 100% of its proceeds to the Hunger Project. I began as a member, then the Chairman of Public Relations, and now I am President of my chapter. Every year our chapter donates anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 to The Hunger Project. Every year we get together and analyze and research other organizations to donate to. We have often thought of splitting our proceeds to a couple of organizations, but our final decision always ends in donating all of our proceeds to this organization, because it is the best. I have met with many people who work within the organization, and they are all truly inspiring and amazing individuals. Please, if you ever doubt their work, visit their website at www.thp.org, or please feel free to visit my non-profit at www.feelgoodworld.org (my chapter is the University of Vermont).
I had the opportunity to see the work of The Hunger Project first hand in Uganda. What they are doing to empower women farmers in Africa is amazing - micro-finance rural banks, education about farming, adult literacy and numeracy, meals for children at school, equal leadership with men in The Hunger Project village organizations and much more. The Hunger Project has decades of experience and methods that WORK!