• Link to Facebook
  • Link to X
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
  • Donate
  • Register Now
  • Contact Us
  • Volunteer Portal
  • e-Catalog
Call Us: 800-487-1074
Global Volunteers
  • Countries
    • International Partnerships
      • China
      • Cook Islands
      • Cuba
      • Greece
      • Italy (Sicily)
      • Malaysia
      • Nepal
      • Peru
      • Poland
      • St Lucia
      • Tanzania
      • Vietnam
    • USA Programs
      • Aguada – Puerto Rico
      • Blackfeet Reservation – Montana
      • Rio Grande Valley – Texas
  • Groups
      • Corporate Volunteers
      • College Student Volunteers
      • High School Student Volunteers
      • Professional Assocation Volunteers
  • Individuals
      • Retiree Volunteer
      • Solo Traveler Volunteer
      • Family Volunteers
      • Professional Volunteer
  • Projects
    • Community Work Projects
      • Delivering Essential Services
      • Teaching Conversational English
      • Supporting Community Development
      • Supplementing School-Based Curricula
      • View All Community Work Projects
  • Dates & Fees
    • Seasonal
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
      • Winter
    • Monthly
      • January
      • February
      • March
      • April
      • May
      • June
      • July
      • August
      • September
      • October
      • November
      • December
      • All Service Program Dates
  • Impact
      • How we Measure Impact
      • The Power of Giving Impact
      • One Child at a Time
      • RCP Program Documentary Film
      • Tanzania Food & Nutrition Center’s Impact Evaluation
      • ORG in Action
  • Support
    • Donation Opportunities
      • Donate Now
      • Changemakers Club – Monthly
      • Gift Catalog
      • Matching Gifts
      • More Ways to Give
    • Foundation Opportunities
      • Funding Opportunities for Philanthropic Partners
  • News
  • Request Information
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Donate
  • Gift Catalog
  • Register Now
  • Contact Us
  • –
  • Countries
    • International Partnerships
      • China
      • Cook Islands
      • Cuba
      • Greece
      • Italy (Sicily)
      • Malaysia
      • Nepal
      • Peru
      • Poland
      • St Lucia
      • Tanzania
      • Vietnam
    • USA Programs
      • Aguada – Puerto Rico
      • Blackfeet Reservation – Montana
      • Rio Grande Valley – Texas
  • Groups
    • Corporate Volunteers
    • College Student Volunteers
    • High School Student Volunteers
    • Professional Assocation Volunteers
  • Individuals
    • Retiree Volunteer
    • Solo Traveler Volunteer
    • Family Volunteers
    • Professional Volunteer
  • Projects
    • Delivering Essential Services
    • Teaching Conversational English
    • Supporting Community Development
    • Supplementing School-Based Curricula
    • View All Community Work Projects
  • Dates & Fees
    • Seasonal
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
      • Winter
    • Monthly
      • January
      • February
      • March
      • April
      • May
      • June
      • July
      • August
      • September
      • October
      • November
      • December
    • All Service Program Dates
  • Impact
    • How we Measure Impact
    • The Power of Giving Impact
    • One Child at a Time
    • RCP Program Documentary Film
    • Tanzania Food & Nutrition Center’s Impact Evaluation
    • ORG in Action
  • Support
    • Donate Now
    • Changemakers Club – Monthly
    • Gift Catalog
    • Matching Gifts
    • More Ways to Give
    • Funding Opportunities for Philanthropic Partners
  • News
  • Request Information
  • e-Catalog
  • Volunteer Portal
Reaching Children's Potential Tanzania

Worldwide Efforts Toward Zero Hunger – An Overview

Imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t know when your next meal will be. And, this would happen every day – day after day and week after week. That’s how one in nine of the people in the world live. And, it’s the reality for many people in our partner communities. Global Volunteers is committed to providing food to at-risk children and families worldwide in accordance to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the global community in 2015. Read on for a description of the problem and how Global Volunteers is working comprehensively in Tanzania.


The Food and Agriculture Organizaton estimates that 98 million children under five years of age – or about one in every six children – are underweight. Pervasive and persistent hunger creates a vicious cycle which people cannot easily escape. The long-term physical and mental impacts of hunger are numerous. Not enough, or the wrong food, results in less productive individuals, who suffer from poor health, rendering them unable to improve their livelihood through education and employment. Children who do not meet their nutritional needs during the key 1,000 days between conception and age two, experience life-long consequences – notably stunted growth and learning impairments.

This video,” Zero Hunger,” produced by The Global Goals describes the causes and impacts of hunger worldwide.

Work on the SDGs brought together national governments, private companies, and citizens to promote global prosperity while protecting the planet by 2030. Goal 2 of the 17 SDGs – Zero Hunger – pledges to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

 “Now is the time to work as partners and build a truly global movement to ensure the Right to Food for all and to build sustainable agriculture and food systems.”

Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General

Defining the Related Conditions of Hunger

For most people in developed countries, hunger is experienced as a nagging rumble in one’s stomach signaling breakfast, lunch or dinner time is near. But millions of people experience hunger as a chronic condition. Hungry people consume an insufficient amount of calories to sustain them, and are plagued by the mental uncertainty of future access to food. Hungry people are food insecure. Hunger refers to a personal, physical sensation of discomfort. Food insecurity indicates a lack of resources to acquire food at the household level. These conditions go hand-in-hand.

There are levels of hunger as well. The World Food Programme defines under-nutrition as “the lack of taking in enough calories to meet minimum physiological needs.” More than 150 million children worldwide are impacted this way. Malnutrition is caused by an inadequate intake of protein, energy and micro-nutrients that can lead to a susceptibility to and death from common infections such as diarrhea.

Illustration: World Food Programme. Eradication of hunger helps eliminate stunting. Protecting children from infectious disease, and providing education enables them to reach their potential and become contributing members of society.

Achieving zero hunger in the world, therefore, involves not just affording emergency food assistance, but in concerned with nutrition as well. Food security must be achieved, and food wastage must be ended along with providing access to nutritious food and promoting sustainable agriculture.

Why Do People Go Hungry?

Today the world produces enough to feed all its population. In the US only 40-50% of all food ready for harvest never gets eaten and from the food that does eventually reach households, some 14% is wasted. So why do people get hungry?

“In a world where we produce enough food to feed everyone, 690 million people – one in nine – still go to bed on an empty stomach each night.”

The World Food Programme

The problem lies in access and availability. Most hungry people live in poverty. The unavailability of food arises from insufficient financial resources, distance to markets, lack of transportation, and markets under-stocked with staples or nutritious foods.

Illustration: In a world that produces enough to provide everyone adequate food, 821 million people are going to sleep every night hungry.

Hunger and poverty are locked in a vicious cycle. Undernourished people can’t earn enough money to buy healthy food for themselves and their family. They may sell off their livestock or tools to supplement their income. This buys short-term relief, but perpetuates in inter-generational pattern of hunger and poverty.  Stunting results in reduced intellectual capacity and ill health; reduced intellectual capacity significantly lowers economic productivity; lower economic activity increases poverty. And the cycle continues. Many other related conditions such as droughts, political unrest, gender inequality, and flawed public policy contribute further.

Is Achieving Zero Hunger Still Possible? 

Everyone has a stake in achieving Zero Hunger. Its positive impact will be felt by all people. When we eliminate hunger, malnutrition, under-nutrition and stunting, our nations’ economies, health, education, equality and social development will grow. That’s a major impetus behind the Reaching Children’s Potential Program (RCP) currently being developed in Tanzania. The solutions to end hunger once and for all are not complex, but will only work with that special ingredient: you!

“We know that a peaceful world cannot long exist, one-third rich and two-thirds hungry.”

Jimmy Carter, President at Rise Against Hunger

In 2017, Global Volunteers initiated the RCP Tanzania Demonstration Program at the request of village leaders, government officials, and our 35-plus year partner, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). Working under the direction of local leaders in the in Ukwega Ward, Global Volunteers engages short-term volunteers to promote and implement behavioral and technology changes that significantly improve nutrition, health and cognition to decrease stunting in children. Our comprehensive approach is child-focused, parent-driven, family-centered, and community-led. Examples of the many essential services provided to improve food security and nutrition are fortified meal distributions, ongoing nutrition education, household container gardens, and chicken coops.

  • Rise Against Hunger packaged meals distributed to families
  • Fortified meals at home
  • Food security
    Fortified porridge at school
  • Dentistry-volunteering-in-Africa
    Ongoing workshops on nutrition
  • Chickens and eggs for protein
  • Earthboxes for vegetables

Since 2017, through the implementation of the RCP Program in Tanzania, severe stunting decreased in participating villages from 24% at baseline to 12% at 6 months and 9% at 12 months. This demonstration proves that the whole-child method of addressing the multi-generational cycle of poverty and hunger works. RCP aims to improve the lives of generations, and is both replicable and scalable. Eventually, RCP will expand to other parts of Tanzania, throughout Africa, and across the globe – wherever we are invited. Help us reach our goal!

Donate Now
EarthBox® Project Improves Food Security in Tanzania

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
July 15, 2020/by Millie Pinakoulaki
https://globalvolunteers.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Tanzanian-children-2-1500x630-1.jpg 630 1500 Millie Pinakoulaki https://globalvolunteers.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2014-GlobalVolunteersLogo-Web.png Millie Pinakoulaki2020-07-15 19:15:562021-03-10 16:30:34Worldwide Efforts Toward Zero Hunger – An Overview
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Partner Communities

  • China (62)
  • Cook Islands (46)
  • Cuba (120)
  • Greece (75)
  • Italy (59)
  • Malaysia (3)
  • Montana (56)
  • Nepal (22)
  • Peru (120)
  • Poland (97)
  • Puerto Rico (5)
  • St Lucia (62)
  • Tanzania (253)
  • Texas (7)
  • Vietnam (33)

Categories

  • Classroom Assistance (13)
  • Conversational English (97)
  • Cultures and Traditions (125)
  • Development Impact (122)
  • Family Volunteering (54)
  • Free Time Options (63)
  • Group Volunteering (18)
  • Mental Health Projects (15)
  • News and Updates (145)
  • Partners' Stories (18)
  • Projects for Professionals (26)
  • Reaching Children's Potential (246)
  • Ripple Effect (7)
  • Service-Learning (50)
  • Staff Worldwide (27)
  • Volunteer Voices (618)
  • Why I Give (18)

Tags

American Indian culture Care for children Caribbean island College groups Conversational English Cook Islands Volunteer vacaion Cook Island Volunteers Cuba people-to-people Cuba volunteering programs Earthbox gardens Essential Services family volunteer abroad family volunters food insecurity Funding your fee gender equality Health and nutrition healthcare High school groups Island volunteers Labor projects live together in peace nursing retiree volunteers Spring break students volunteer student volunteer summer volunteer program support children Support women teaching children teaching english team leader volunteer volunteer abroad volunteer benefits Volunteer impact volunteer in Cuba volunteer in the Cook Islands volunteer vacation volunteer with seniors wage peace work on reservations Work with youth youth volunteering

Get Global Volunteers News Here!

Enter your email address to receive fresh new posts in your inbox.

  • About Us
  • Boards of Directors and Advisors
  • US and International Staff
  • Our Beginnings
  • Our Vision
  • Community Partners
  • Collaborators
  • Compare Us
  • Impact and Outcomes of Service
  • Donate to Global Volunteers
  • DEIB policy
  • Your Service Program Contribution
  • Discounts & Fundraising
  • Alumni Center
  • Volunteer Vacation FAQs
  • News/Media
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Agreements and Accountability
  • Travel Risks
  • Site Map
  • Volunteer Portal
  • Employment
Global Volunteers
375 East Little Canada Road
St. Paul, MN 55117-1628 USA
(800) 487-1074 | toll-free
(651) 482-0915 | fax
globalvolunteers.org
email@globalvolunteers.org
Federal EIN: 36-3352680

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST!

Subscribe to receive updates, new blog posts, and inspiring stories from our work around the world.

Global Volunteers - Partners in Development ® | © Copyright 2002 - Present Global Volunteers
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to X
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
  • Global Volunteers is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization. Our tax ID is 36-3352680. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent provided by the law.
  • Send feedback about this web site and its administration.
Link to: International Community Development Profile: Agness Tula Family in Tanzania Link to: International Community Development Profile: Agness Tula Family in Tanzania International Community Development Profile: Agness Tula Family in Tanzania Link to: International Community Development Profile: Sharon Kaywanga in Tanzania Link to: International Community Development Profile: Sharon Kaywanga in Tanzania International Community Development Profile: Sharon Kaywanga in Tanzania
Scroll to top