How can Hunger be Overcome?

Finding Solutions for the Future

A lot of children suffer from malnutrition ©  WHHThrough those affected

The affected themselves are crucial in improving their own living conditions in the long-term. Specific programmes helping towards self-help and direct participation enables those affected to create their own jobs, generate income and develop prospects for the future. They work collectively to improve standards for their communities. In order to do so, however, they have to be given more opportunity to participate in the political decision-making processes which effect their lives.

Through the governments of developing nations

Farmers © WHH

Respective governments are primarily responsible in the fight against hunger and poverty in their own countries. With a responsible political agenda – so called "good governance" – they have to lay the foundations for better living conditions and stable economic growth, as well as upholding democratic structures. Governments must provide a basic social infrastructure for the population through targeted investments. This comprises education and training possibilities, basic health care, the provision of clean drinking water and sanitation facilities for all households. To secure sufficient food production at home, smallholder farmers need support and infrastructure and irrigation systems have to be extended into rural areas. Growth in the private sector boosts the economy and creates jobs. Existing farmland has to be protected against wind and water erosion and against chemical damage. In addition, farming and agricultural reforms are called for in many cases in order to secure women and the landless a right to resources like soil, water and credit.

People in the Democratic
Repubic of Congo. © WHHThrough industrialised nations

Industrialised nations can contribute to overcoming hunger and poverty through the transfer of knowledge and money, as well as through reforms of international trade agreements. It’s important that the wealthy nations cancel debt and cut back trade and customs barriers to help developing countries increase their export capacity and thereby raise their hard currency income. International economic organisations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation have to give universal food security greater priority than they have until now. Industrialised nations can also support farming in poorer countries through the transfer of knowledge and agricultural research, focussing on the needs of smallholder farmers and optimising production using environmentally friendly methods.

Four wheel drive of
Welthungerhilfe in
Afghanistan. © WHHThrough NGOs (non-governmental organisations)

Private, non-profit organisations, with their practice of helping towards self-help, are often the most effective players in the fight against poverty. They contribute to political awareness in their respective countries, bring independent targets for governments and other international institutions into discussion, and maintain pressure to ensure implementation and compliance. NGOs also act as an important corrective if state initiatives to alleviate hunger and poverty threaten to trail behind their promises. At the same time, NGOs can be highly effective if state development work faces a lack of public partners in troubled countries. Private relief organisations can fall back on a network of non-governmental partners and act independently. It remains a fact that in countries in which the state institutions are on the brink of collapse, hardship is often at it’s most acute.