We believe a hunger free world is possible 

Conflict

Conflict is a cause and consequence of hunger. In 2021, conflict continued to be a primary driver of hunger, with 139 million people facing hunger as a direct consequence of conflict.

Conflict negatively affects almost every aspect of the food system from destruction of land, livestock and crops, to seizure of natural resources and displacement of people from their land. Conflict disrupts and restricts trade and movements of goods and services, affecting food availability in markets and leading to price increases for the basic everyday foods that families rely on.

Climate variability and extremes

Climate variability and extremes negatively affect agricultural productivity and food imports; they also create food price spikes, reducing access to food and negatively affecting the quantity, quality and dietary diversity of foods consumed.

Erratic rainfall and higher temperatures can jeopardise the quality and safety of food and increase outbreaks of pests and diseases. Nutrition is highly susceptible to changes in climate.

Economic Downturns

Economic downturns affect people’s access to food, including the affordability of healthy diets, as they lead to rises in unemployment and declines in incomes. In all countries, the poorest families spend the largest share of their income on food and depend on markets for a significant portion of their diets. They are therefore especially vulnerable to economic slowdowns and downturns. With reduced incomes, healthy diets become even more unaffordable for the poorest families.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated other drivers, widened inequalities, and exposed the structural vulnerabilities of food systems. It has had several impacts on hunger which will persist for many years:

- It increased hunger (through lost income in lockdowns, reduced access to and availability of foods and price increases)
- It made it harder to measure hunger
- It increased the gender gap in all regions of the world

Our Actions are our Future – a hunger free world is possible

The world currently produces enough food to feed more than 1.3 times the global population. Agricultural production has tripled worldwide over the past fifty years, due to advancements like drought resistant seeds and better fertiliser. But profound inequalities still exist:

• millions of people are hungry or undernourished
• smallholder farmers produce more than one-third of the world’s food, yet are amongst those worst affected by poverty and hunger.
• food systems are a major contributor to climate change, which in turn threatens food production in some of the world’s poorest areas.
• rampant food loss and waste exists, while people are relying on food banks or emergency food aid

Now more than ever, collective action is needed, to achieve a hunger free world.

Advocating for just policies, systems & safety nets

We collaborate with supporters, partners, decision makers and food-insecure communities to advocate for policy changes and solutions that deliver concrete improvements in food security, nutrition and the protection of the most vulnerable children and their families.

Amidst the increasing frequency and intensity of the affects from climate change, conflicts, forced migration and urbanisation, systems need to deliver enough of the right food, today and tomorrow. World Vision believes that national governments’ systems, structures and policies must:

• Invest new, flexible and sustainable funding for relief and development food assistance
• Scale-up social protection systems to save lives and protect livelihoods
• Support smallholder farmers to enhance climate smart agriculture
• Build long-term resilience to climate change and other shocks
• Rejuvenate investment in nutrition-sensitive food systems to build a hunger-free and nutrition-secure future.

Empowering families and communities

World Vision leverages immediate food assistance (if required) with proven long-term methods that enable families and communities to become self-sufficient, less dependent on short-term aid and more capable of withstanding unexpected disasters such as drought, floods and conflict.

This includes training communities on climate smart agriculture techniques, such as conservation farming, whereby farmers are trained to achieve maximum yields, while concurrently preserving the environment and ensuring soils remain productive in the long-term. Women are trained on setting up backyard gardens and income generating activities, helping them to increase their ability to access diverse foods. Families are also supported with important knowledge regarding balanced diets and through neighbourhood cooking demonstrations, where they see how they can make the best use of locally available nutrient dense foods.

Providing nutritious food and life-saving assistance

International food assistance is a critical ‘safety net’ for children and their families who are unable to meet their food and nutritional needs, often due to natural or human-made disasters. We use food assistance in response to emergency situations. World Vision is the UN World Food Programme’s largest implementing partner in delivering food to the most affected populations

While the World Food Programme provides emergency food like rice or grain, we partner with them to ensure that it gets to the people who need it most. In addition, World Vision also undertakes Cash Based Programming in appropriate contexts, equipping families with purchasing power to access food. This reduces logistical challenges, boosts local markets and restores a sense of dignity and control within families.

AIM Health Plus

World Vision's Irish Aid funded maternal and child health programme (AIM Health Plus) is currently being implemented in Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Mauritania. The communities we work with have been dealing with the affects of climate change with prolonged droughts and unpredictable rainfall impacting their harvests, livelihoods and ability to feed their children.

In response to this, we are working closely with local Ministries of Health, Ministries of Agriculture, local partners and communities to:

Train Community Health Workers to provide nutrition counselling to pregnant women, families and communities to improve their dietary intake.

Support community groups, such as Mother Support Groups, Care Groups and Nutrition Counselling Groups, with the skills and knowledge to develop backyard gardens and grow a variety of drought-resistant fruits and vegetables for their families to eat.

Provide farmers with the skills and tools to sustainably improve their agricultural yields.  

Organise cooking demonstrations to provide families with recipes and guidance on gaining the most from nutrient rich locally available food.

This is helping families to produce a wider variety of foods and provide their children with more nutritious meals every day.

Emergency Response Fund Scheme

Through the Emergency Response Fund Scheme, we work closely with Irish Aid, allowing us to take action rapidly, wherever it is needed most.

We have 70 years of experience working in this area. This gives us the learning, infrastructure and global network to help millions of vulnerable children in the world’s most dangerous places - especially in times of unexpected crisis

Over the last 2 years, we have provided direct cash assistance to families in South Sudan, provided training, support and resources to farmers experiencing drought and locust infestation, and supplied food relief to vulnerable communities in the Horn of Africa.

Food Systems Summit

2021 saw the launch of the first Food Systems Summit, aimed at drawing up a roadmap for a major shift in the way the world produces and consumes food. World Vision Ireland was glad to be part of this process by holding the first Food Systems Summit Independent Dialogue in Ireland. In this open dialogue the participants examined ways to improve and transform food systems, so that they could become more sustainable for people and planet. The recommendations were compiled into a formal report and submitted to the Food System Summit which took place in September 2021.

Small changes can make a difference

You can make changes in your own life. Small everyday changes can make a difference—at home, at work and in the community.

Reduce food waste - Buy only what you need and use it all! A third of all the world’s food is wasted each year.

Be conscious of where your food comes from and how it is produced - Try to choose healthy and sustainable produce. Eat seasonal local food when possible.

Stay informed and join the conversation - Whether on social media platforms or in your local communities, keep up to date on what is going on. Speak up and share knowledge and information and get more people to care about how our food is produced and how this affects our planet and its people.

Share social media content you find interesting so that others will see it. Use these hashtags:  #FoodHeroes #HungerFree, #ZeroHunger, #GlobalGoals, #SDG2.