FACTS & FIGURES
The following information can be found on the reverse side of the
Hunger Map:
MANY CAUSES
There is enough food in the world to feed everyone. Yet, malnutrition
and hunger still afflict one out of every seven people on earth.
Why?
- Many poor people do not have the money to buy enough food.
- Some people live in such remote places that the food market
is too far away or there is no road or means of getting there.
- Other poor people do not have the land, seeds or the proper
tools to cultivate crops.
- For those who can grow food, insects, drought, floods and war
often destroy crops.
- Many people don’t understand the importance of a balanced diet
of cereals, vegetables, meats, dairy products and other items.
MANY SOLUTIONS
Just as there is no single cause of hunger, there is no single solution.
Aid organisations around the world try to prevent and alleviate
hunger in a variety of ways, including:
- Protecting people from famine by giving food to them in emergencies;
- Reducing poverty through economic development. Helping poor
people find and hold jobs or training them for jobs where they
can make money;
- Providing information to people about the necessity of a well-balanced
diet;
- Making farming more productive so that there will be more food
for the world’s growing population.
TACKLING HUNGER
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the United Nations’ frontline
agency in the fight against hunger.
- WFP acts quickly in emergencies, like war and drought, to prevent
people from slipping into starvation.
- WFP also attacks the root causes of hunger by helping people
improve their lives. WFP gives food aid payments to women and
men to make improvements in their communities, like building roads,
health clinics and planting trees.
- WFP also creates school feeding projects for children. Some
of these projects are aimed at encouraging parents to send girls
to school. By providng food, WFP makes it easier for hungry children
to learn. Some of these projects are aimed at encouraging parents
to send girls to school.
- WFP provides nutritional supplements such as high protein biscuits
to babies so they get a healthy start in life.
HOW TO HELP
- Does hunger exist in your community? Find out why and what
life is like for the hungry people living near you.
- As a class, visit a homeless shelter or volunteer to work in
a soup kitchen or start a hunger club.
- Promote hunger issues – raise awareness in your community or
school by establishing a hunger website which demonstrates the
plight of the world’s hungry.
- Call for change by writing or telephoning your local and national
political representatives and telling them your concerns about
the hungry.
- Start or join a group that helps the hungry. Contribute your
time or resources to a group or organisation that feeds the hungry.
ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION
Hunger is not just about food. Its about ordinary (and some extraordinary)
people in their daily struggle to care for their family. Behind
the statistics are many different faces. Thus, a variety of lesson
topics in geography, history, social studies and even maths or science
can be developed from the poster and its messages. These could include:
- Poverty—What does it mean to have no money? Could YOU
survive on $1 a day?
- Diets and Deities—Who eats what around the world, and
why? Ceremonial aspects of food through the ages. Food has religious
and cultural functions—its not just for chewing.
- Nutrition—What is the link between malnutrition and disease?
Malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, increases
the risk of disease and impairs productivity. It is particularly
harmful during pregnancy, lactation and adolescence, all of which
are periods associated with heightened nutritional needs.
- World Development—the role of the US in foreign assistance
and in tackling domestic hunger.
- Agriculture—how growing more food since the 1960s has
been possible. The debate between organic and high chemical production
methods. Compare farming in the 1890s (or Pennsylvania Dutch today),
and farming today.
- Population Growth—It means you and me. How many people,
where and why? Links with natural resources and food gaps.
- Food Basket Science—Math problems centred around calculations
of population growth, food needs, food production, and food aid.
- History and Politics—Irish Potato Famine was 150 years
ago. Ethiopian famine was 1985. Somalia famine was 1992. North
Korea famine was even more recent. Where do politics and food
come together?
- More than school meals - Why do you feel sleepy in school?
If it is about 10 - 11.00 a.m., you are probably experiencing
short-term hunger. Your energy supply is running low, especially
if you did not eat breakfast. Short-term hunger also makes it
hard for you to concentrate and learn. It may make you behave
badly too.
ONE APPROACH
Start by opening today’s newspaper and finding an article that
relates to one of more of the topics that have a link to hunger.
Read it to the class as if on TV, and explain why that particular
topic is in the news. Compare the importance of that article to
the headlines. Which is more interesting or important in their view?
It is important in such lessons to maintain a positive atmosphere
of learning. Some children may feel horror or guilt.
Use the blackboard to list key words or questions raised by the
class. Are these words or questions answered by the poster? If not,
they could form the basis of individual or group research projects.
You could guide them to the appropriate resources on the Internet
or in the library. They could also write stories about what it might
feel to face hunger everyday. Would life be different? A Hunger
Quiz might also be appropriate, based (but not limited to) questions
like those below:
HUNGER QUIZ
- If the world already produces enough food to feed all its people,
why can't hungry children get food? (Some reasons explained by
the poster are that parents are unaware of children's nutritional
needs, hard-working mothers haven't the time or money to feed
children properly).
- What are some of the successful ways of ending hunger?
- Are people in Asia and Africa hungry because they don’t know
how to grow food?
- Since the USA has so much food would shipping more of it to
hungry countries be the solution?
- Is there hunger in the USA? Where? What do we do to help people
who are hungry?
- Are there hungry people in your community? Why are they hungry?
- What are the United Nations agencies and what do they do?
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
The first step in helping end hunger is talking about it. As children
learn more they can help develop hunger workshops involving students
in other classes and other schools.
They could keep personal journals in which they record their feelings
about what they are discovering, and plan for class projects, compose
stories or poems. They can engage other teachers in your school
and help integrate hunger issues into other classes. They can share
information with the community by writing letters to newspaper editors
and local government officials. They can make a difference.
| More sources of information other
than www.wfp.org... |
 |
Human Development Report 2003
United Nations Development Programme, One United Nations Plaza,
New York, New York 10017, USA
www.undp.org
|
|
HungerWeb
Brown University, Box 1831, Providence,
RI 02912, USA www.brown.edu/Departments/World_Hunger_Program
|
|
The State of Food Insecurity
in the World 2003, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy
www.fao.org
|
|
The State of the World's
Children 2004 - Girls, Education and Development - UNICEF
UNICEF House,
3 United Nations Plaza,
New York 10017, USA
www.unicef.org
|
|
United Nations,
New York, New York 10017,
USA
www.un.org
|
|
UN Millennium Development
Goals (MDG)
www.un.org/millenniumgoals
|
|
World Health Organization
CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
www.who.org
|
|
World Resources Institute,
10 G Street, NE (Suite 800) Washington, DC
20002 USA
www.wri.org
|
|
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