Increasing Food Security for Families in South Darfur

Posted on March 13, 2018 by | 1 comment

By Tricia Brick

BGR’s partnership project with Oxfam Sudan, “Increasing Household Food Security in South Darfur,” provides needed seeds, agricultural tools, and field training to people in the South Darfur region of Sudan, who for over a decade have endured devastating violence and human rights violations as well as climate-related agricultural disruptions. In 2014, a rash of violence by government forces led to the displacement of more than 100,000 people across the Darfur region, as well as to the destruction of water sources, food stores, and other essential infrastructure.

A 2016 Buddhist Global Relief grant enabled Oxfam Sudan to provide groundnut and sorghum seeds and hand tools to 510 farming households in seven villages in Belail Locality, South Darfur. The project also trained 150 farmers in water-harvesting practices.

Oxfam Sudan reported that many farmers participating in the project faced climate-related difficulties, including a combination of some flooding during the rainy season and drought during the September period of crop maturity. Furthermore, land disputes at times resulted in threats of violence, and some farmers harvested crops prematurely to prevent the grazing animals of nomadic pastoralists from consuming the plants.

Despite these challenges, Oxfam Sudan estimates that farmers produced enough sorghum and groundnuts to meet 60 to 70 percent of their families’ annual food requirements, on average, with surplus groundnuts to be sold at market, providing funds to be used for food, education, health care, clothing, and other needs.

Among the displaced persons who received support through the Oxfam–BGR partnership was Sumaiya Adam Ahamed, a farmer in Eshma village in South Darfur. With her family she spent two years in a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs). “All people of my village [were] displaced to Kalma IDPs camp and stayed there for two years without farming, and our children missed two years of education, especially my elder daughter, Ishraga Hassan,” she told an Oxfam Sudan team member as she harvested groundnuts with two of her daughters. She wore her youngest child, an infant, in a cloth carrier as she worked. “My family was selected by the Oxfam team for support, and we were given groundnut and sorghum seeds in addition to two hand tools. This enabled us to cultivate one acre of groundnuts and one of sorghum.” She estimated that the crops would feed her family of seven for five months; she also supports her family by raising chickens and livestock.

Tricia Brick is a writer and editor in the New York metropolitan area and a volunteer staff writer for Buddhist Global Relief.

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Posted in Agriculture, Ending global poverty, Engaged Buddhism, Food security, Global Hunger, Projects & programs

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Winning the Peace: Hunger and Instability

Posted on February 11, 2018 by | Comments Off on Winning the Peace: Hunger and Instability

Winning the peaceAn increasingly hungry world is increasingly unstable. A new report issued by the World Food Program USA—Winning the Peace: Hunger and Instability—presents an unprecedented view into the dynamics of the relationship between hunger and social instability.[1]

Based on exhaustive interdisciplinary queries of a database of 90,000,000 peer-reviewed journal articles, the report explores the underpinnings and drivers of humanitarian crises involving food insecurity and conflict.

The dominant driver of today’s humanitarian crises is armed conflict. Ten of the World Food Program’s thirteen “largest and most complex emergencies are driven by conflict”, and “responding to war and instability represents 80 percent of all humanitarian spending today … stretching humanitarian organizations beyond their limits.”[2] Ongoing conflict not only drives humanitarian crises, but complicates the ability of humanitarian organizations to reach those in need and to provide assistance.

Violence, conflict, and persecution have resulted in the displacement of 65,000,000 people, more than any other time since World War II.[3] The average length of displacement is seventeen years. In such circumstances, measures of food insecurity are nearly triple that found in other developing country settings.[4]

The current humanitarian situation confronts these stark realities:

  • For the first time in a decade, the number of hungry people in the world is on the rise. In 2016, 815 million people were undernourished, an increase of 38 million people from 2015. Almost 500 million of the world’s hungry live in countries affected by conflict.
  • The number of people who are acutely food-insecure (in need of emergency assistance) rose from 80 million in 2016 to 108 million in 2017—a 35 percent increase in a single year.
  • Over 65 million people are currently displaced because of violence, conflict and persecution—more than any other time since World War II.
  • For the first time in history, the world faces the prospect of four simultaneous famines in northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. Each of these crises is driven by conflict.
  • Increased migration and the spilling of conflicts beyond borders has led to a proliferation of “fragile states”—states defined by “the absence or breakdown of a social contract between people and their government.”
  • By 2030, between half and two-thirds of the world’s poor are expected to live in states classified as fragile. While a decade ago most fragile states were low-income countries, today almost half are middle-income countries.

At the same time, the nature of conflict and the global system of governance are undergoing transitions that undermine the international community’s ability to address and reduce conflict. The report highlights the rise of non-state actors as powerful participants in armed conflict while also recognizing the significance of activities such as the weaponizing of information to undermine the legitimacy of traditional nation-state institutions.

The report also describes how threats such as food insecurity can drive recruitment for terrorists and rebels, worsening destabilization. (Report, p.7) Military strength cannot adequately address these kinds of threats. Rather, appropriate responses to such threats must address their actual nature. Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades will never be a long-term solution to food insecurity-driven instability. Recognition of this basic reality drives the use of so-called “smart power” in the form of foreign assistance, especially food assistance and agricultural development, to address the underlying causes of this instability. Continue reading →

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Posted in Agriculture, Climate change, Education, Emergency relief, Food insecurity, Global Hunger

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Tackling Maternal and Childhood Malnutrition in Cote d’Ivoire

Posted on February 8, 2018 by | Comments Off on Tackling Maternal and Childhood Malnutrition in Cote d’Ivoire

By BGR Staff

The following article is based on the final report for the first year of a three-year project being implemented by Helen Keller International (HKI), a long-time BGR partner. The project, which is being funded in its entirety by BGR, aims to improve nutrition for pregnant women, infants, and children in the Korhogo District of Cote d’Ivoire. Cote d’Ivoire is among the poorest countries in the world, ranking 172nd out of 188 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index. Estimated child mortality under five years is 195 per 1,000 live births and life expectancy is just 54 years. Malnutrition, including vitamin and micro-nutrient deficiencies, is a major contributing factor to the high rate of infant mortality. Chronic malnutrition affects about 33% of children under five. Together, HKI and BGR are doing something to address this problem.

With the support of Buddhist Global Relief, Helen Keller International has launched this project to tackle malnutrition in the Korhogo Health District, located in the Poro Region in the northern part of the country, where child malnutrition is most pronounced. The overall goal of the program is to reduce the incidence of malnutrition among women of childbearing age, expectant and breast-feeding mothers, and children during their first 1,000 days of life. This enables newborns to reach a healthy start in life, decreasing the incidence of stunting and improving children’s cognitive development.

The program utilizes the Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) framework, a package of proven, achievable interventions focused on expectant mothers and their newborn children during the first 1,000 days. Drawing on this framework, HKI is promoting optimal nutrition practices using all available platforms to reach mothers at the right time with the right message. The program promotes women’s nutrition, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, feeding the sick child, vitamin A and iodine supplementation, and the integrated control of anemia.

The project aims to train an average of five health workers at each of 77 clinics in the Korhogo Health District over a three-year period, for an estimated total of 385 health workers. HKI expects to provide approximately 77,000 expectant and nursing mothers and their children with nutrition education and services. It intends to increase the use of recommended ENA interventions—such as iron, zinc, oral rehydration salts, deworming tablets, and malaria prophylaxis—in every clinic involved in the project.

In September 2016, HKI contracted Mrs. Salimata Coulibaly to serve as master trainer in nutrition practices in the Korhogo Health District. Salimata benefited from special “train-the-trainer” sessions organized by HKI to build her capacity to reinforce health workers’ understanding of the ENA framework during a regional workshop organized for nutrition experts from French-speaking Africa.

Subsequently, Salimata trained 181 health workers in charge of nutrition at 76 health centers in Korhogo on the Essential Nutrition and Hygiene Actions during four training sessions organized at the Regional Hospital Center of Korhogo. The following topics were covered during the course: (1) nutrition of expectant and breastfeeding mothers; (2) exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a newborn’s life; (3) appropriate complementary feeding and continuation of breastfeeding for the first two years of a child’s life; (4) feeding the sick and malnourished child; (5) vitamin A, iron, iodine and zinc deficiency; and (6) essential actions in hygiene.

Over 34,000 expectant and breastfeeding mothers and their children benefited from nutrition coaching and cooking demonstrations. In addition, three-day coaching sessions were organized on a site-by-site basis in 32 health centers in Korhogo District in order to improve the community-based nutrition services provided. Two days were devoted to training the health workers, and one day of the training provided the health workers with an opportunity to practice their nutrition counseling skills with community members.

The project has so far been very successful. As a result of project activities, health workers are better equipped and aware of nutritional advice to provide to expectant and breastfeeding mothers, and are better prepared to provide community trainings on improved nutrition practices.

Here are a few testimonies HKI collected from health workers in the Korhogo Health District:

“The training has enabled us to start providing nutrition education, screenings for malnutrition, and treatment of moderate malnutrition cases. In the past, we were not providing those services. Following the training, we tasked a nurse from our center to implement Essential Nutrition Actions. We set up a weighing calendar for children. The women who attend our newly established cooking demonstrations are very satisfied and continue bringing their children to be weighed and measured at our center.” Dr. Traore, Lead Doctor, PMI Clinic, Korhogo

 “The training was very helpful. Since we received the training, our center has started providing regular cooking demonstrations and nutrition counseling sessions to expectant and breastfeeding mothers. However, we hope to be able to better treat moderately malnourished children with the support of our partner HKI through the supply of improved porridges.” Mr. Adingra, Monitoring and Evaluation Director, Social Center 2, Korhogo.

 “From the day I received the awareness training, I understood that the number of meals and the quality of food I eat plays a very important role in the health of the mother and her child. We don’t necessarily need a lot of money to eat well. Also, now I pay attention to what I eat.” Mrs. Cisse, expectant mother.

“After the awareness session in the center, I understood that because of my misunderstanding of the nutritional composition of food, I lost my first child who I did not breastfeed because I thought my own milk wasn’t good. I didn’t have enough money to buy milk powder in the pharmacy, and so I gave my child cow’s milk and porridge I bought in the market. Now I understand that for the sake of this child, I must eat well myself in order to produce milk, and I learned how to make porridge that is good for my baby.” Ouattara Karidja, breastfeeding mother.

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Posted in Engaged Buddhism, Global Hunger, Global poverty, Projects & programs

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BGR Provides Emergency Grants to the World Food Program USA

Posted on January 15, 2018 by | Comments Off on BGR Provides Emergency Grants to the World Food Program USA

By BGR Staff

 This past week Buddhist Global Relief provided emergency grants totaling $12,000 to the World Food Program USA for three projects–in Yemen, South Sudan, and among the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in Bangladesh. The contribution is to be divided evenly among them, with $4,000 going to each project. While this is just a tiny fraction of the aid needed, given the dire conditions all of these peoples are facing, every little bit–as an expression of compassion and concern–will be welcome

Yemen

In Yemen two and a half years of violence and conflict have pushed two-thirds of the population to the brink of famine. Limited access to ports has hindered the ability of the World Food Programme to deliver aid and at present some 17 million people across the country do not know where their next meal is coming from. What’s worse, the collapse of government services and a shortage of potable water has led to a cholera epidemic. Despite the obstacles, WFP implements general food assistance in 19 of Yemen’s 22 districts, including some of Yemen’s most hard-to-reach areas. The program’s targeting strategy assists the districts with the highest levels of food insecurity and global acute malnutrition rates. To ensure that the programs are thoroughly monitored, WFP contracts third-party monitoring companies to conduct on-site distribution monitoring and post-distribution monitoring. 60 Minutes aired a segment on Yemen in November that featured WFP’s intervention there. The clip can be viewed here.

South Sudan

A second grant will go to South Sudan, where continued conflict is driving the country towards famine and leaving an estimated 6 million people with acute levels of hunger. Because of the ongoing fighting and the breakdown of virtually all infrastructure, WFP has turned to airdrops to deliver aid. Airdrops are generally more expensive and more time-consuming than ground level delivery, but they become necessary when there are no alternatives to providing life-saving food.

The Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar

A third grant will go assist the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, who have sought safety in neighboring Bangladesh. At present approximately 650,000 refugees have fled their homes in Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh; more than 80% of them need food assistance. WFP has been rapidly expanding its emergency nutrition programs there to stave off malnutrition in young children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Its funding shortfall for aid is currently at about $32 million.

Silke Buhr, a communications officer with the World Food Programme (WFP), describes the situation in the refugee camps thus: “The squalor of the camps around Cox’s Bazar is hard to imagine, the nervous energy, the pressing masses of people, the mud and the grit and the smell. Surely every form of human tragedy can be found here.”

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Posted in Buddhist social ethics, Emergency relief, Engaged Buddhism, Food shortages, Projects & programs

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Poverty Is Both a Political and a Moral Choice

Posted on January 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on Poverty Is Both a Political and a Moral Choice

By Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

The UN Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty reports that “the American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion.” Isn’t it time to wake up, discard both dreams and illusions, and act on the basis of the truth?

Embed from Getty Images

A woman walks through the streets of Manhattan with her belongings on December 14, 2017 in New York City. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, New York City’s homeless population expanded by about 4 percent in 2017 as the number of homeless people nationwide grew to about 553,000.

The U.S. views itself as the exceptional nation, the beacon of freedom and justice for the world. In the popular imagination, it is the land of plenty where everyone can thrive, the land of opportunity where anybody who works hard enough can realize the dreams of their heart. But is this really so or just a comforting illusion?

For two weeks this past autumn, Professor Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, sought to find out, traveling over the U.S. to assess the state of extreme poverty in this country and its impact on human rights. His travels brought him to California, Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., as well as Puerto Rico. His report, published in mid-December by the Office of the UN’s High Commissioner of Human Rights, pulls the curtains on the illusions this country cherishes about itself and reveals the startling truth about where we stand and where we are headed. Although the extent of poverty and income inequality in the U.S. has been documented several times in the past, it is still telling that the UN Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty would undertake such an investigation in America, of all places, and expose the U.S. as an outlier among the economically advanced countries.
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Posted in Buddhist social ethics, Engaged Buddhism, Hunger in America, Poverty in America, Social justice

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My Visit to Kenya’s Grow Biointensive Agriculture Center

Posted on December 29, 2017 by | Comments Off on My Visit to Kenya’s Grow Biointensive Agriculture Center

By Daniel Blake

Woman trainee with her son

“Poverty starts with the stomach.” These words, spoken to me by Samuel Ndiritu, the co-founder and director of Grow Biointensive Agriculture Center of Kenya (GBIACK), encapsulate the truth of BGR’s core mission. This past November, I was fortunate enough to make a remarkable visit to GBIACK, where I was hosted for an afternoon by Samuel and his wife and GBIACK co-founder, Peris Ndiritu. Their work is quietly transforming local agricultural practices in Kenya and beyond, one farmer and one acre at a time.

Built in 2009, GBIACK is situated about 50 kilometers east of Nairobi in the small but bustling village of Thika. Sitting upon the 1.5 acre farm is a dormitory for trainees, a front office, a seed bank, a kitchen and dining hall, a sewing classroom fully equipped with machines, a library, and a charming gift shop where crafts made by residents are sold to the public. The center serves as a model for the kinds of Grow Biointensive (GB) techniques that Samuel and Peris (with support from BGR through our partner, Ecology Action in California) hope to impart to program participants. The potential of the GB system to help local farmers lies in its being a “closed loop” system, where farmers preserve and bank the seeds yielded by crops, while carefully cultivating healthy compost to treat the soil. In this way farmers can become self-sufficient and can subsist without purchasing products such as genetically modified seeds or chemical fertilizers.
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The World Reverses Progress on Global Hunger

Posted on November 2, 2017 by | 1 comment

By Charles W. Elliott

The newest U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (“FAO”) Annual Report on food security sends a “clear warning signal” of a troubling trend that reverses a long period of progress combating world hunger.

After A Prolonged Decline, World Hunger and Food Insecurity Worsen

FAO 2017 Food Security Report Cover

The 132-page data-rich report, The State of Food Security And Nutrition In The World 2017: Building Resilience For Peace And Food Security [1] notes that for the first time in many years the number of chronically malnourished people across the globe—as well as those suffering from acute hunger—has increased from the prior year, reversing a prolonged historic decline in world hunger. The number of undernourished people jumped from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016. Every continent except Europe and North America has suffered an increase in prevalence of malnutrition. The report identifies a variety of causes for this reversal and highlights the interrelationships between global hunger, armed conflict, and climate change.

Emerging from the data is a stark picture of 44,000,000 more people now suffering from severe food insecurity than there were just two years ago. In fact, nearly one in ten people around the world, about 689 million people, now suffers from severe food insecurity. (see Report, Table 2). The people of Africa suffer the highest levels of severe food insecurity—27.4 percent of the population, four times that of any other continent.
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