World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Fresh water used to be a rare find in the coastal Khulna region of Bangladesh where floods frequently brought salt water inland, killing crops and contaminating wells. Women like Kirtonia had to walk for hours in search of clean drinking water. But thanks to a new embankment, Kirtonia's life has changed.

In Shahinoor’s household there were days when she struggled to put even one meal on the family table. She and her husband are among Bangladesh’s ultra-poor; those with no land, no assets and little hope of breaking out of hunger and poverty. But a new programme to unlock the entrepreneurial spirit of Bangladeshi women has transformed her life.

Nine year old Ferdousi is a student at Vasentec School in Mirpur Slum in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Like many people living in the slum, Ferdousi and her family struggle daily to eat a healthy diet. 

Most ultra-poor families in Bangladesh skip meals, and children living in single-parent families are twice as likely to go without. That is something ten-year-old Al-Amin, who lives in Vasantec slum in Dhaka, experiences almost every day of his life. 

In Bangladesh, the World Food Programme is using the skills of a magician to help teach valuable life lessons on nutrition and hygiene among children attending WFP-supported schools and learning centres. WFP's Emamul Haque and Farina Noiret went along to find out more.

 Nine-year-old Naeem and his mother, who works in the textile industry, live by themselves in a tiny one-room shack in Dhaka’s Mirpur slum area.

Farmer Mohammed Golam Quddus sold several cows to meet his family's extra expenses. Fisherman Mantu Mandol sent his four-year-old daughter to live with her grandmother when he could not afford to feed her. And widow Zamdashi Shardar's children sometimes go to bed hungry.

Ghana, Guatemala, Bangladesh and Cape Verde are just a few of the countries where national governments, working with WFP and others, are taking effective steps to fight hunger themselves. WFP is marking World Food Day this year by spotlighting these successes and the importance of partnerships.

“Just a few months back I could never have imagined continuing to support my children’s education when I could hardly give them a mouthful of food. Thanks to WFP’s invaluable support, I am now the proud mother of an SSC graduate and can proudly call myself a bread-earner of the family alongside my husband who is very grateful for my cooperation.”

Speaking at the Bangladesh Food Security Investment Forum in Dhaka recently, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stressed that agricultural development must be accompanied by renewed efforts to tackle the problems of undernutrition and food access, if sustainable food security is to be achieved in Bangladesh.