Fight Hunger First Initiative

Realizing Rights & Potentials of India's Poor

"Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom." - Nelson Mandela

Welthungerhilfe initiates the ' Fight Hunger First Initiative ' as a rights based approach in the year 2011 to combat hunger and promote food and nutrition security among the rural poor in India.

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Sitaram Soren: A juicy tale

Sitaram Soren hails from the village Chamubera under Mohamadbazar block, Birbhum district of West Bengal, India and belongs to the Santhal community which comes under Scheduled Tribes (ST). Sitaram owns 80 decimals of land where he grows paddy during the monsoon, which caters to only three months of food requirement for his family of five. To provide for the remaining nine months, Sitaram and his wife worked as labourers with other farmers or in nearby stone quarries as daily wage earners. He also worked sporadically under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

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European Union strengthens its support to people in North and East Sri Lanka

The European Union strengthened its support towards improving the livelihoods of the people in the North and East of Sri Lanka. The European Union Support to Socio Economic Measures or "EU SEM" is a Programme aimed to support the sustainable development of Socio Economic Measures in North and East. Welthungerhilfe has been chosen as one of the partners to implement the project.

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News and Views

Now, Planning Commission lowers the poverty line

The Planning Commission on Monday released the latest poverty estimates for the country showing a decline in the incidence of poverty by 7.3 per cent over the past five years and stating that anyone with a daily consumption expenditure of Rs. 28.35 / 42 euro cent and Rs. 22.42/ 36 euro cent in urban and rural areas respectively is above the poverty line.

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Sugar for the future- Commerzbank foundation donates for Welthungerhilfe-VET programme

Welthungerhilfe Secretary General Dr. Wolfgang Jamann expresses his gratitude to the producers of palm sugar products in India trained under the VET programme

Bonn, 15.02.2012. Dr. W. Jamann, Secretary General of Welthungerhilfe, received a new cheque of 20.000 Euro from Dagmar Ritter, Director of the Commerzbank foundation Frankfurt and Volker Knickmann, Director of the Commerzbank, Cologne, Germany. In return Mr. Jamann thanked the palm sugar producers who are trained within the European Union sponsored Vocational and Education Training (VET) programme in India.

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"FAO recognition of traditional farming should keep GM away"

The traditional agricultural system of Koraput (Odisha) has been recognized by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Site (GIAHS) at the recently concluded 99th Science Congress. This recognition is for outstanding contribution to promoting food security, biodiversity, indigenous knowledge and cultural diversity for sustainable and equitable development. Living Farms is a non profit working in the Koraput region of Odisha with the tribal communities practicing the traditional form of agriculture. Debjeet Sarangi of Living Farms spoke the to The Environment Health Bulletin and explains what this recognition means for the region.

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