The famine in Africa is in the news again, with severe conditions ravaging so much of the Eastern part of the continent. The pain is real, the crisis pronounced. By most estimates, 13 million people are starving.
The famine has many good nonprofits rushing to help. Much of that work is marvelous. In particular, we love the organization Action Against Hunger, which is effective and efficient.
But let's make sure we understand what's really happening here. While this is a natural disaster in the short term, the bigger problem is the long-term crisis of empowerment and self-reliance. As our friends at The Hunger Project wrote in a note to investors today,
The difference between chronic hunger and famine. Famine is a very specific term, defined by the UN as occurring when malnutrition rates exceed 30 percent, more than two people per 10,000 people are dying each day, and there is a severe lack of food access for large population. Yet, more than 90 percent of hungry people — nearly one billion people or one in six — are experiencing chronic, persistent hunger; they are not getting enough food every day to be healthy and lead an active life.
THP is not a humanitarian response organization — simply put, we are not equipped to deliver emergency food aid. Our mission is to achieve the sustainable end of world hunger…it is a long-term goal and requires a different type of action.
So, let's address the short term; let's help the people in need, now. But let's not take our eye off the real issue, that we can stand with people as they end their own hunger and poverty. That's the long-term solution, brought about through the empowerment of women and men as they build their own sustainable futures. That's true progress.
+04.21.2011 - A word from the students at ...
+02.10.2010 - How should we respond?
+02.11.2010 - I love this article
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