Not every charity that applied for funding received a McGovern-Dole grant. Catholic Relief Services did not receive grants for its three applications for Cambodia, Cameroon and Niger. Accepted applications still need to be put into action. In the case of Save the Children, a 2009 grant for school feeding in Yemen was never implemented because it could not conclude an agreement with USDA.
February 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
McGovern-Dole program uses school meals to fight world hunger
Friday, February 26, 2010
One Out Of Every Three Yemenis Faces Hunger This Year
According to a recent survey by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), one out of every three people in Yemen are facing food insecurity and undernutrition as they struggle to put food on the table. A significant funding shortfall for 2010 may exacerbate the situation as WFP is forced to cut back on its life-saving food assistance.
Yemen faces a variety of difficulties, not least of which is pervasive poverty. Over 45 percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day, and WFP estimates that 32 percent of the population suffers from chronic hunger. The country must also deal with conflict in the northern region and large numbers of refugees from the Horn of Africa.
Despite these challenges, WFP is currently providing critical food assistance to 1.5 million people in Yemen each month. Distressingly, that number may fall drastically in the near future. WFP faces a funding shortfall of 75 percent for its operations in Yemen and needs more than $45 million to operate through the end of June 2010 alone.
"We are very worried about the lack of funding," Pratibha Mehta, the United Nations' resident coordinator for Yemen, told Reuters AlertNet about the lack of overall funding for humanitarian operations in Yemen. "Most of the U.N. agencies will not have stock perhaps beyond June, and so instead of scaling up our response, we will be forced to scale down our response, which will be extremely damaging to people because these are essentially life-saving needs."
With proper funding, WFP can accomplish a great deal in Yemen. The agency provides food to over 24,000 undernourished children, pregnant and nursing women and tuberculosis and leprosy patients each year, and its Food for Education program helps keep about 96,000 female students in school by providing them with take-home rations for good attendance. Each year WFP also provides food assistance to over 50,000 Somalia refugees and some 100,000 Yemenis driven from their home by conflict. In 2009, WFP assisted over 1.6 million people with these programs and more.
You can help make a difference in Yemen. Donate today.
-Alli Bailey
Communications Assistant
Friends of WFP
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Today in history....in the fight against global hunger
Today, a type of "food ambassador" is the goal of the Roadmap to End Global Hunger legislation (H.R. 2817), which is still waiting on action from the Obama administration and Congress.
Just this week representatives Chellie Pingree, Lois Capps, and Zoe Lofgren all signed on to the Roadmap bill. The total number of supporters in the House now stands at 34 with hopefully more on the way.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Key Duo for Ending Global Hunger: School Feeding and Local Food Production
In sports we often hear of great duos, like Joe Montana hitting Jerry Rice for touchdowns time and time again for the San Francisco 49ers. In baseball, it’s Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine pitching the Atlanta Braves to over 350 victories, three of those coming in the 1995 World Series win.
But great duos transcend far beyond sports. They also exist in the realm of development and stability for impoverished nations. For example, one of the most important duos is school feeding combined with locally-produced food. This is a duo that can lead a country toward a path of self-sufficiency and stability, and ultimately end hunger within its borders.
keep reading....
WFP Committee of Gainesville "Hatha for Haiti" Event
Although there are many benefits to my role as a State Coordinator for the WFP Committee Program, one of my favorite aspects of working with committees across the state of Florida is seeing all the interesting ways they work towards raising awareness of global hunger within their own communities. I recently touched base with Margarita Torres, committee leader of the WFP of Gainesville, about the committee's recent Hatha for Haiti event.
When did you join the WFP Committee program?
I finished training in September of 2009.
Tell me about your event, Hatha for Haiti.
A good friend of mine used to teach yoga classes in Northeast Park in Gainesville every Saturday, but has since relocated. He was in town for a few weeks this month, so we decided to have a yoga class for old times' sake and for Haiti's sake as well. We held the event at Northeast Park on a Saturday morning and it was attended by former "yoga in the park" regulars as well as some of my friends.
The goal was simply to get people from Gainesville together for a yoga session dedicated to Haiti. My hope is that raising awareness of the problem in Haiti and how much help they need would keep the event in their minds and motivate participants to tell others that Haiti still needs our help. I did ask for a donation, but did not set a minimum. I mentioned that even being present there to dedicate their yoga practice to Haiti that morning would be a beautiful thing.
How did you come up with this idea?
My friend and I seized the opportunity of having the yoga teacher back in town and decided to combine two things that we hold close to our hearts - yoga and the people of Haiti.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to organize a similar event?
Unfortunately, we were working with a very limited time frame and were not able to spread the word as much as I would have liked. If you are able to plan this more than a month in advance, publish ads in community calendars/local publications such as Natural Awakenings and hang flyers at local yoga studios or natural food markets. I do think that not having a minimum donation was the right decision, as yoga practice is a very heartfelt process and offering healing energy to the people of Haiti is a beautiful donation in itself. Leaving it up to the participant whether he/she wanted to make a monetary donation is, in my opinion, adequate.
Why did you think it was important to organize an event like this to benefit the World Food Program?
Because of the great need, and also to keep Haiti in the community's mind and hearts. For the first month, the world had such a great response, but attention and awareness of the issue has dropped considerably. Therefore, monetary donations were not the primary goal, but instead raising community awareness that would hopefully spread by word of mouth was the goal.
For more information on how you can join the WFP Committee program, please read about the program here.
For the latest on WFP operations in Haiti, please visit: http://www.wfp.org/crisis/haiti
Angie Ross
State Coordinator for Florida
WFP Committee Program
150 million in military aid for Yemen but no funding to fight hunger
My recent interview with Jennifer Mizgata of the UN World Food Programme details the food crisis facing Yemen. The international community needs to step up to help now.
The Pentagon just approved 150 million in military aid for Yemen, so it can take on the Al Qaida presence in the country. What does this tell us? Yemen is a country that is critical to U.S. foreign policy; we do not want an Al Qaida presence there. Secretary Clinton has emphasized this in recent statements.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Conflict, hunger and national security interests in Yemen
U.S. approved 150 million in military aid for Yemen. Still nothing on food aid. No WFP school feeding distribution in Yemen since June.
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