THE GLOBAL HUNGER PROJECT

AFRICA - The foundation of The Hunger Project's work in Africa is the Epicenter Strategy, which mobilizes clusters of rural villages that encompass 5,000 to 15,000 people into "epicenters" where empowered individuals and communities take the reins of their own development and unlock local capacity for change. Community members at epicenters create a vision for a self-reliant future and then work together to achieve it through community-led programs that improve food security, nutrition, health, education, women's leadership and income-generation. At the end of 2024, 86 epicenters reaching 1.4 million people-52% of whom are women-had declared self-reliance. This means they have the confidence, capacity, and skills to act as agents of their own development and continue to make sustainable progress. In addition to working with active epicenter communities, The Hunger Project is also leveraging its core community mobilization and leadership development strategies to advance sector-specific community priorities, such as reforestation, nutrition, meaningful access to internet, inclusion of people with disabilities, water and sanitation, land conservation, and agricultural entrepreneurship.

SOUTH ASIA - In South Asia, The Hunger Project works to strengthen local governance for the end of hunger. In six states in India, THP supports the leadership development of women elected to serve in local village councils (panchayats). Each of these women are champions for advancing projects that address women's rights, social and economic development and nutrition. Additionally, THP works with adolescent girls to support them to exercise their voice and agency and make governance more responsive to their rights. In Bangladesh, THP mobilizes trained local volunteers, youth, women leaders and local government representatives across 143 unions, encompassing nearly 2,850 communities, to support peaceful, effective local democracy and meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Community partners design and implement holistic, bottom-up strategies focused on nutrition, active citizenship, peace, income generation, food security, girls' rights, and more in order to achieve the SDGs in their communities.