Imagine you have been sent as a Peace Corps volunteer to a poor African nation experienceing widespread hunger. Design a strategy for assesing the needs of the people and for contacting appropriate sources for help.
What sources and organizations would you contact? How would you go about evaluating what was needed, and what was feasable in terms of aid? What would be the priorities?
I need to see specifics (organizations, etc.). You need to do your research, see what has been/is being done in similiar situations, and how can you apply that information?
Responses are due no later than Thursday Feb. 5th @ 11:59 p.m.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
24 comments:
My strategy for fighting hunger would proceed as follows. To begin, I would contact the organization called Action Against Hunger and cooperate with them to attempt to set up a program in whatever African country I was placed in. Action Against Hunger has on average 200 people per program for each specific country they are attempting to help, anywhere from 10,000-50,000 beneficiaries per country, and also is funded by ECHO, UNICEFF, OFDA, and DFID. These organizations such as UNICEFF are widely known throughout the world for their help in developing countries.
Because the end goal of helping a developing country is demographic transition. I would also contact a micro-lending company such as KIVA.org and form a partnership to help my country specifically. If a large number of citizens would receive even a small amount of money to start a business with not very much interest, demographic transition would be made much easier.
In general, my priorities for my program would be to first solve hunger and education problems. I believe that my job as a volunteer is to start demographic transition. Once I do so, it is up to the people of the country to either continue with this trend, or to reject it. It is impossible to make people make choices; you can only present the options.
As a volunteer of Peace Corps, helping to fight a poor African nation experienceing widespread hunger, I would follow numerous steps to fix such a problem. Starting off, I would contact organizations that would provide proper help to the people of Africa. These organizations would include ones like Network for Good; using this, people can make donations to the cause of fighting hunger, become a volunteer, and speak their opinion or voice ideas of other ways the famine problem could be helped. This program is perfect because it offers all the possible qualities you could want our of numerous different organizations--money, time, and ideas--all in one. Money would be very important, and could be used to buy food, to plant large food producing crops, to pay for the keeping of such crops, and education for the Afican people regarding how they could possibly increase the amount of food they obtain and produce. The volunteer aspect of the Network for Good would provide the people who put the money to use--they would pick out the crops, help plant the crops, and serve as educators. With these steps fulfilled and priotities set, the rest would fill in and this would be the start of resolving (or at least improving) the famine problem in the African nation.
My course of action is as follows:
1) Contact the African Development Foundation (ADF), an organization that combats hunger and also works to promote economic and social development.
2)Use both the medical service provided by the Peace Corps and work with Doctors Without Borders to provide the people of that area adaquete medical services.
3)Work with Global Partners for Development to create a larger supply of clean water.
4) Contact a micro lending company such as the Grameen Bank to help specifically with the wellfair of the people.
I think that my plan would both help to better improve the economic situation of that particular African nation, as well as improve the lives of the people of the said nation.
When I arrived in the African nation I would look for certain organizations that can help different causes. Because the famine would not start from only one problem, it would start from many. I would make sure to live within the community and become friend with the citizens. Becoming involved in the community would help me find the main problem more easily.
I would contact the international alliance against hunger. Their goal is to bring many groups together to make one single effort. I think this is very needed because without a variety of different people the problems wouldn't be solved as easily.
The priorities would be to make sure the famine is stopped and to promote sustainable farming techniques so that other causes of famine are also stopped. Stopping the famine problem is harder then just stopping one thing you must look farther than that and look for the small things that can effect large amounts of people.
People need their health to tackle any/all issues. As we look at the cases of developing nations, we see that the issue of health encompasses many other issues consisting of poverty, hunger, etc. In addressing these issues, however, we most focus on the most pivotal. I'd argue that would be health car in general.
The way in which developed nations address health care is on a reactive basis. When surgery is need, it is given. When sickness occurs, it is treated with antibiotics. Global aid can not be performed in this manner. There are not enough resources. Aid must be provided in a preventative manner.
As a Peace Corps volunteer I'd focus on implementing preventative health care techniques so the citizens of the poor African nation I was serving could use their health to personally improve other avenues of their lives.
Whenever you set out to do something major – go to college, buy a house, wage war, or deal with a hunger crisis, you need to have a plan of action. In terms of dealing with a hunger crisis in an impoverished African country, this means that we need to know which agencies we will be cooperating with, how are we planning to procure the food, what our priorities will be in resolving the crisis. To that end, we will cooperate with the WFP, seek donations from the developed world, seek help from the UN for evaluating the current situation, and , and focus on both immediate food distribution, and developing an infrastructure for long-term food production.
In terms of governmental, and non-governmental agencies and organizations to cooperate with, there is one that we must work with. That is the WFP (World Food Program), a body under the auspices of the United Nations. This body has dealt with such situations in the past, and not only has the experience to aid us, it also has the resources that we need. Now, assuming that the WFP is not already involved in the impoverished African nation that we are dealing with, we will deploy an envoy to consult with them, and suggest unto them the possibility of a joint mission. If they accept, then we will work within their structure, and we will merely provide the manpower. If however, for some reason such mission is not possible, we will graciously accept any advice which they will give us, and proceed on wards as outlined further down.
Many missions often fail, because they have no idea of what they are they are trying to achieve. To that end, our first order of business would be seeking the assessment of the situation within the country from the WFP. If they are unable to provide such an assessment for whatever reason, then we will try to undertake the research by ourselves. Specifically, we will be searching for areas where the hunger crisis is more severe. In terms of procuring supplies, we would appeal to the US to turn over any surplus agricultural products, as opposed to paying farmers not to sow crops. To help convince them, we will pay for the cost of pick-up and transportation. In addition, we would seek global monetary donations. If at all possible, we will involve nationally based organizations, like St. Vincent de Paul in the US to help with this fundraising effort. Thus, we have a plan of action that will allow us to move forward.
When beginning such a mission, it is wise to learn from those who already have experience in a given field. In this case, the best source for us are evaluations of their own programs by the WFP. As part of the preparation for this mission, we have taken the time to review several of their more recent mission evaluations. There are several conclusions that we have drawn. First of all, a program can’t be merely short-term in its focus. In many of these countries, the infrastructure for growing food is either under-developed, or entirely non-existent. Secondly, cooperation with other agencies is always preferable. Third, programs must be tightly focused, and should not overextend themselves. For example, in the case of Indonesia, even though it’s program was successful, the WFP had overextended itself, and therefore it had to cut back. While there are some who would say that we should try to help everyone who is in need, it is far better to help those who we can, and extend our efforts from there, as opposed to overextending, and then being forced to cut back. This lends us a thought as to priorities.
Our priorities in this mission are twofold. First of all, we will seek to distribute 90% of our food donations, while reserving 10% as a reserve in case of emergencies. We will start our efforts by focusing on two villages. For every thousand additional pounds of food that we receive, or $10,000 dollars in donations, we will add one more village to the list of those we service. In addition, 50% of cash reserves will be put into efforts to help those same villages develop sustainable agricultural practices. We would seek help from microlending organizations, and focus on crops that are suitable for the ecosystem, as opposed to investing in cash crops. We will also contact the WHO, and see if they can help with an immunization program, although this is a secondary goal, that we will only focus on, if the two prior goals have been reached. These are our key priorities, and lends us a thought to conclude on.
Some would say that this whole program is over-ambitious, and will never work. That is not so. This program is actually focused on goals that can be achieved, and it is not simply full of short-term solutions. True, it is based on optimistic assumptions about how much funds can be raised, but unless we have basic faith in human decency and goodness, then why undertake such an endeavor at all? No, before we can give aid to our fellow man, we must first believe in our fellow man, and trust him enough to do such a thing. Therefore, let us move forward boldly, and have faith that with goodwill and hard work on our part, all this will come to a success.
During life, there are always problems that need to be overcome in order to succeed. Some of these can be menial tasks (such as taking the garbage out every week), and some can be much more major. The difficulties involving a lack of food in poor countries in Africa, the Middle East and some parts of the former Soviet Communist bloc are not solvable by just making change; history has shown that trying to change world problems has never been accomplished just by convincing people to change their ways. It takes more drive - namely, a plan-, to solve these problems. As far as assessing the food shortages in an African country, I would need to employ aid from several different volunteer organizations. However, even with help, it would still be difficult to accomplish all of the intended goals, so a plan is needed in order to hopefully make changes as smooth as possible.
For starters, I would contact the WHO (World Health Organization) and the IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) to give me information about the food shortages and the subsequent problems in the population, and to give me data as the project goes along. By having statistical data present during the project, I would be able to check to see how my ideas were working in the general populace, and see what needs to be improved on or included in the overall project. this is a spot where other projects can fail; there isn't updated data present that can spot errors before the end of the project, where it is discovered that a mistake was made but cannot be fixed because of something else. Having data of this kind is crucial in being able to make changes and correct mistakes quickly before they get out of hand. Also, information on progress would give me the opportunity to see what kinds of processes would be feasible in the given situation; when I find something that is feasible, I could contact other groups to help carry out the project.
To carry out the process that is determined to be feasible, I would contact the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) to check how they are making progress towards coming up with their own solutions on how to reduce hunger from that country, and see if they will help me in my project. Also, I would contact researchers who are experimenting with various "mutant" food and ask them what kinds of foods with added nutrients would be beneficial in the country, thanks to the information gotten from the WHO and IFPRI. By deciding what kinds of problems that the people of the country are suffering from, then I can base the agrictultural help plan for that country to involve foods that contain extra nutrients that the people currently lack. Although some woudl consider these "Frankenfoods' to be dangerous, I would consider them a good option because of the tremendous upside, especially in an impoverished area like the African nation I would be working in.
As far as a plan to reduce hunger, I woudl start out with raising tariffs on imported food a little. Although this hurts the "feel-good" food exports from the United states, for example, it also allows farmers in poor countries to be able to compete and maybe be able to get ahead. Although the prices for food will be higher, more people will be able to eat more food and have more money on hand in case there is a drought or other event that reduces crop yields significantly. Once a more stable market economy can be established, then it is time to start spending money on makign the process more sustainable. By having the market alredy benefitting from the increased output, then there will hopefully be less shortage when the more-sustainable practices start to go into effect on farms. In order to not tip the balance and send the economy into a downward death spiral, however, only a few farms at a time can be refitted with more sustainable equipment and the farmers taught how to be more sustainable. Being "Green" is difficult; by startign small and building up from there, then there is a greater chance for the program to succeed.
I am not against imported food, but since it can hurt the farmers because of lower prices than what they can sell their products for, imported foods need to be reduced in order for the economy to become more stable. Some imports need to be kept in reserve, in case a famine or drought occurs; then, there is a buffer that will help out the people for some time, which hopefully would allow the crop yields to get back on track. At that point, then imported foods woudl be given out at a very small rate, as then it gives farmers a chance to make a living for themselves.
Despite a plan that sounds good in all aspects, the road would still be long and very tedious. It is not possible to make change happen overnight; these ideas may fail, and then the country will be stuck in the mud again. However, by trying to execute feasible plans, what once was a hopeless-looking situation can be somewhat solved, and hunger can be reduced. The idea of eliminating hunger is not possible; there is always going to be a percentage of the global population that will not get enough food to eat. By reducing that percentage, then there is hope in the future for millions of impoverished people aroudn the world.
One of my first actions in assessing the needs of a poverty-stricken region would be to identify the core problems that are contributing to the impoverished state. Testing soil quality could prove to be very important in understanding (the lack of) agricultural output in the area and could provide valuable information that would allow farmers to gain further understanding of their soil’s scientific imbalances. Through “Tree Nation International” it’s possible to request native trees and other plants which regenerate soil and promote healthier soil quality. In turn, this will allow for one of the most vital industries – farming – to produce in a productive manner and greatly help raise communities out of a vicious poverty-plagued cycle of poor crops/starvation.
The major needs of impoverished African countries would be hunger, proper medical assistance, and education. With education the people can learn ways to keep themselves feed and clean. Education also allows more opertunities for children and adults to gain economic and humanitarian assistance.
CORAfrica (Children of Rural Africa)is a non profit organization that involves volunteers in providing education, economic, and humanitarian assistance to impoverished children and their families. The Little Flower Nursery Primary School was the most recent project completed by CORAfrica. The school will serve the surrounding villages of Okambi, Igwo, Bebuagbong, Bebuatsuan, Bebuabie, Begiaba, Kutiang and Akorshe Oweh, where majority of schools are mere business ventures. So far there are 60 children and 73 infants inrolled in the school.
With the help of CORAfrica as well as an organization called Volunteer 4 Africa I hope to build an adequate school. Volunteer 4 Africa is an inexpensive organization that sends people from all over the world to poor communities in Africa to involve them in conservation and development projects.
Last I would contact UNICEF to help supply the school with helpful nutritional tools as well as supply medical assistance, child safety, and government communication to help aid us.
I would keep the project strictly volunteer oriented to get the community we're helping involved. Without the involvement or permission of the communities you're trying to help development projects wouldn't be successful.
First touch base with an organization that fights hunger and also works to help with economic development.
Use the medical service provided by the Peace Corps and work with health professionals to help the people that need medical services.
Also work with some sort of organization to create a larger supply of drinkable/usable water.
Another thing would be to try and help some idividuals out with getting a loan and work that area a bit. I feel my plan would help economically and agriculturally.
Fighting hunger on such a large scale is difficult, considering all of the factors that contribute to it. The first thing I would do to tackle the situation would be to obtain information from the Food and Agricultural Organization, IFPRI and World Health Organization to get a better idea of what I was dealing with. World hunger is a many sided issue and there are multiple ways I could go about helping the problem. One of the ways could be through sustainable agriculture and farming; once these practices are taught, they continue to be passed on and contribute to higher food production and cause more awareness of how to manage resources. This could be implemented with the help of FARM, CGIAR, and KARI. Another factor affecting hunger is health; people who aren't provided with enough food are more susceptible to disease. The World Health Organization and UNICEF both could contribute to the overall health of the people.
For a hunger problem to be solved obviously one would think that the solution would be to give the hungry people food. Food is not infinite though, and supplying a poor country or community with food won't last; what will last is the knowledge needed to implement sustainable practices.
Such an undertaking would have to be a multistep process. My goals would be to stabilize the country through providing healthcare and food (food initially), analysis of the environment for sustainable means of food, education of how
to suistainably use resources from the land (education) and execution of programs to set in place ways for that country to grow food or make enough money to import food.
Providing Health care and food are very important and will facilitate the enactment of the other goals. None of the people are going to be willing to listen to farming methods if they are sick, starving, and dying. A good portion of the population must be brought to a healthy level at which they will respond to ideas, suggestion, and education. The World Food Program would be contacted first, as calories and general nutrition will help
with some of the disease due to weakness, starving will be dealt with on some level, and the death rate will decrease. One way to receive this food, as there are other starving countries out there, is that they will have to be willing to receive genetically modified food. This will allow for large amounts of food to be provided to as much of the population as possible. The people will have to realize that this is only temporary, and that the development of their countries agriculture and economy will mean that they don't have to rely on this food for long.
Once food is provided, organizations like Doctors without Borders will be asked for help to provide basic healthcare for as many people as possible. Not everyone will be reached due to limited doctors, but as much will be done as possible.
While food and health are being dealt with, an analysis should be done of the country to find whether there is land that can be used for agriculture, if there are resources that can be exploited sustainably, and if there is a substantial food source that can be used. The FAO and colleges around the world will be contacted to ask for help in the analysis of the land, as well as contacting any successful countries that have similar regions. Research will have to be done to determine what can be used. If possible, food security measures will be installed as soon as possible.
Once ways to provide food, economic stability, or another sustainable resource exploitation are established, the people will be taught methods to produce these things at a high level. Information on how best to produce it will be provided, probably coming from agricultural schools throughout Africa (like Kenya for example) for the best and quickest information. Once information about how food or resources can be grow or used, family planning agencies like the International Planned Parenthood Federation will
be contacted to educate people on being sustainable in terms of reproduction. It must be emphasized that they (no one else) must control how many people there are in order to keep their country stable.
Micro lending agencies like Kiva.com will be contacted to provide small loans for farmers and other workers in order for them to have a way to start out. While all the programs are being implemented and carried out, food will continue to be provided,
and intermingled with the food the farmers produce. Once enough is being produced, the imported food will be decreased.
Healthcare will continue to be needed, and PeaceCorp will be contacted for volunteers to help on a minor scale.
This is just the start of what could take a long time to get the country to a sustainable level. Food, healthcare, analysis of exploitable resources, education, and micro lending all will help facilitate the stabilization of the country, but some much lies with whether or not the people are willing to help themselves.
My first step would be to contact hunger organizations that specifically focus on Africa. This would range from the Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA) or Food for the Hungry,( an organization which actively enters the country and supplies direct food aid), all the way to some of the LEGITIMATE internet aid groups, like the micro lending website of KIVA. I would choose Food for the Hungry primarily because it focuses attention on the people who are hungry; You are never going to be able to teach/help the people in the country as a whole if none of them can focus on anything but their hunger. Then, I would look towards the IEHA organization because it focuses on the small scale farming, which is the base of sustainable agriculture in a country, but also because it creates global partnerships with the governments of the countries it helps, pushing them to make sustainable decisions. Finally, microlending done by KIVA is just to help push the country back onto the track where they can move towards a demographic transition of their own, tell the lenders to focus mainly on people who are going to help develop the infrastructure of the country because the other aid organizations are already helping the farmers. This is the limit on which I can help the country, the rest is up to them. i would still oversee things and make sure there are no serious problems, and step in if there are. This way the people can become reliant on themselves.
It would be important to first assess the areas of living which demanded help fast. Everyone needs four basic things to survive: food, shelter, water (and air, if there are problems with the oxygen source, well then id have no idea where to even start). The DFID outlines the major issues faced by those in poverty; environment, agriculture, debt, conflict, education, water and sanitation. The DFID works to analyze the poverty levels and pinpoint areas which need the most help, I would ask them for help with identifying the most prominent of these hardships. Hunger has been pinpointed as the most omnious in this country and therefore “quick-fix” organizations should be contacted first, Transafrika Cultural Institutes and the The Ufosa Foundation and two of the many smaller groups which donate food items to places in need. Then the restructuring would need to begin. I would try to leave religiously affiliated groups out of this process, and encourage the people to hold onto their own culture, however agriculture would need to be properly introduced into their lifestyles, and perhaps animal husbandry should be discouraged as its less sustainable than plant food sources. The CEEPA is currently working with the Agriculture and Rural Development Program, the World Bank Institute and the Africa Region of the World Bank to understand the climate change’s impact on agriculture in Africa and is setting out to eventually work to solve the agricultural problems. They would be contacted and asked for support in this mission to help ease the widespread hunger. Beyond that, the education programs already in place would need further backing and farming techniques might need encouragement
As a Peace Corps volunteer in an African nation experiencing widespread hunger, I would first try to develop a plan to evaluate the needs of the community. It would be imperative to establish the source of the issue. In order to achieve this, I would raise these questions: 1) Are the people ill? 2) Is there a drought? 3) How is the water quality? 4) Do the people understand sustainable farming? Once I formulated my answers, I would then determine my course of action.
1) If I decided that the reason that people were starving was because they were suffering from diseases and were thus unable to provide for themselves, I would appeal pharmaceutical companies, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb who sometimes donate unused medications. Doctors Without Borders could be called upon to help heal people and administer treatments.
2) In the case of a drought, I would work with organizations like OXFAM, who provide drought relief. The UN also sometimes provides money toward these issues.
3) Play Pumps can help to provide efficient water pumps for the people of this impoverished nation. They make it easier for people to have access to clean, safe water.
4) In the case of a lack of knowledge of sustainable farming, I would contact Heifer Project International, because they have knowledgeable volunteers to help the people understand how to provide for the animals they donate, as well as for themselves.
My first “background” step as a volunteer would be to ask a series of questions—what is causing the hunger? Poverty, war, drought, etc. Besides famine, what others issues are present? Is there also a severe lack of clean water or shelter? I would learn more about the agricultural areas of the country and see how agriculture in the country is successful, and what needs to be done to improve it. Although my main goal would be to get food and aid to the people right away, I would also work towards long term sustainable goals, like helping the people improve the agriculture in their country so they can continue to gain food sources.
When I had an idea of all the elements of the famine, I would begin contacting large, well known organizations that focus on ending famine. For example, the UN World Food Program (WFP) currently feeds 100 million people per year. They have five main goals: save lives and protect livelihoods, prepare for emergencies, restore and rebuild lives after emergencies, reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere, and strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger. One problem with contacting large companies is that although they may have a larger budget and more resources, they also have many operations active at one time and possibly may not have the money to focus or provide large amounts of aid to a new place.
I would also contact smaller, and more local Africa-specific organizations, like the Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA). The IEHA works with international donors, governments, private sectors and more local NGOs to break the cycle of famine by supporting sustainable agriculture. They focus on developing nutrition strategies and implementing community-based nutrition programs, helping countries analyze the impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture and reducing the vulnerability of the poor in emergencies.
Besides food organizations, I would contact organizations like UNICEF, which would help provide schools with nutritional tools and supply things like medical and child safety help.
I would hope that the organizations that I contacted would have many resources and be willing to work with me towards my goals of helping the country, both in the short term and the long term. When the country had been provided direct relief, I would also work towards the general improvement of the country, with things like healthcare and education. I think that none of the problems in developing countries that struggle with famine can be solved easily or extremely quickly, so I understand that this process would be a long and difficult one, but people need to be devoted to their cause, and in the long run hopefully they can begin to make a difference.
The fact is that millions of people go without food a day, and even though everyone knows this and they have set up various programs to try and eliminate the widespread of hunger and famine, it just can’t be done as soon as people would like. Just giving them food definitely helps, but only perpetuates the problem as well. We have to give them their own crops that they can plant and which can survive in the conditions that they live in as well. Teaching them how to achieve the greatest harvests from their crops is something that must be done as well, not just assuming that once we give them seeds, they can achieve the great crop yields that took us centuries to discover how to obtain. Money from other developed nations must go towards this goal too, as well as excess crops from farm harvests that could feed the starving in need most.
How I would first go about seeing what it was that was needed would be looking at their agricultural practices and see how improvement could be made there. Of course growing crops takes a while, so I’d want to get organizations out there that would help feed the malnourished and undernourished now. Special Programme for Food Security and the Food and Agricultural Organization could be the two major organizations that I would go about contacting. They would adequately help supply the country with what they need and help provide a sustainable future for them by increasing food production in order to decrease rates of hunger and malnutrition, while also focusing on the now as well.
Trying to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in a suffering African nation requires both short term relief and a long term plan. Food donations from charity organizations and other nations can work well for a short term fix. However, relying on donated food does nothing to help a nation in the long term and is in fact harmful to whatever shaky food production is still going on. Therefore, i would accept a limited amount of food and rely on it only as a back-up source as I worked to install several long term forms of assistance.
I would work with local people to put in requests to Heifer Project International and contact the program itself to encourage donations. I would also contact the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. They have a history of successful drip irrigation system installations in arid countries, such as Eritrea. Finally, i would contact Action Against Hunger, a large organization with many resources that has had several decades to hone an approach to famine relief.
The final point in my strategy would be to keep looking for new solutions. There are many hunger relief agencies already in existence, with many different ideas on how to help. This does not mean that new ideas aren't still needed. Small organizations crop up all the time with fresh approaches. I would keep searching for new groups that want to help and continuously brainstorm with my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers for a new way to help.
First, above all, I would assess the issue. Rather than treating the "symptoms" of the problem, I would just go straight to the source. So therefore instead of just shipping in tons of food to help. I would facilitate the education and practice of things like sustainble farming and efficent measures of energy conservation. Thus hopefully nipping the problem in the bud and looking at the long run and forever fixing the issue.
From there, I would work on the people and community and the overall improvement of the quality of life. I would do so by clean water and irrigation practices (spread awareness and clean techiques of stream preservation and avoiding contamination through livestock etc.), ensure proper health practices (through the help of programs like CARE, UNICEFF, and Red Cross for the path to proper nutrition and medicine), and really focus on the sustainibility of the economy and success of the community (building from the bottom up through the people with help and contributions from foundations like KIVA and other microlenders). Mainly, the goal is to always look at the issue from the bottom up, assessing the problem in the most efficient and powerful degree, and prioritizing the issues of the country.
First of all, I would like to state that eradicating hunger/ famine, especially in a developing nation will be very difficult because you can't just give and give and give, you have to have the cooperation of the people. Often times, this is hard because education is either unavailable or unreliable, causing families to take up measures that not only do not meet their needs, but cannot be sustained and harm the surrounding environment (i.e. soil erosion, flood irrigation, etc.) So, in order to get people to cooperate and sustain the work of NGO's, certain organizations will do three things:
1.) Investigate the nature of the problem (World Health Organization.)
2.) Give citizens and residents of the region access to approved literature about sustainable farming, and conservation (AGORA, HINARI, etc.)
3.) Get citizens off to a head start with their farming (HEIFER, FAO.)
4.) If necessary, the World Bank can provide microlends to the areas that need it most, provided they repay it (IBRD, ICP.)
It may sound unsustainable, and only furthering the cycle of rescuing developing nations from their problems, but having NGO's show local citizens how they can grow their product in a harmless way, they will be inclined to use it and hopefully other members will follow.
2 other things must be addressed before we can say our work is done.
The first, appealing to the local or regional government, can help greatly. As we saw in Kerala, the local government took an understanding of the problem, and fixed it. The same must happen here. If the government is highly corrupt and/or does not have the will to aid the crisis, make a case and appeal to he U.N.
And secondly, it will be imperative that farmers make a connection between the kind of crop they're growing, and the land they are growing it on. Essentially, don't try to grow rice on rocky soil and don't use flood irrigation if you have limited water and/or erosion prone soil. Both can cause limited amounts of food to be produced and will cause hunger.
So, with these organizations and ideas in mind, it will be up to us to get the farmers off to a healthy start and provide them with the knowledge of the origin of their problem and how to ensure it's eradication. But it will be there job to take the knowledge and apply it so they can be models of how to restore the standard the health of their region at the same time protecting the environment and soil.
The first step in helping a developing nation overcome hunger is assessing the situation. What is causing the hunger? Is it due to war, poverty, drought, or other serious problems? In figuring out the answers to these question we can begin to solve the problem of hunger by getting to its core.
One way to begin fixing this problem is through micro-lending programs. This way people would be able to afford the tools and necessities for creating a sustainable business for themselves. Rather than just giving them money, we should give them supplies and if everyone begins to build communities around themselves, it will slow hunger because people will have money and crops to sell and eat.
Another way to asses the issue of hunger would be to create sustainable practices for the people of the nation. Not only will this allow them to farm and sell, they will be able to do it in a way that won't damage the environment over the long run.
Other programs that could be used are ones like Heifer International. In this program people may purchase animals and things such as cows, geese, or baskets to donate to people in third world countries. This way the people of the developing nations don't receive just money, but supplies to establish themselves in a sustainable way.
(Hey MacDicken my internet was down last night so i couldn't post this on time.)
Post a Comment