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ASH-BASED
C
INTERVENTIONS
Innovative Cash
Transfers Restore
Hope and Dignity
in Kenya
Providing
Clean, Safe
Water
ACF’s Vital WASH
Programs in
Myanmar, Uganda,
and D.R. Congo
POLITICAL
VIOLENCE
IN KENYA
Glenn Hughson
on Field Work and
the Importance
of Good Coffee
Plumpy’doz:
Ready-to-Use-
Foods Show
Promise in
Preventing
Malnutrition
in Kenya
Page 2
The truth
There are a lot of serious prob-
lems in the world that claim our
attention, but one in particular
is we know
stands out for its moral clar-
ity: the fact that an accident of birth
condemns as many as 5 million children
if we can
past two years, the total number of undernourished has grown by
more than 100 million. Yet these grim statistics don’t tell the whole
story: We’ve also seen significant progress in the fight against hunger.
reach them.
For example, new community-based models of treatment and
prevention are capable of reaching children on a far greater scale
than ever before, thanks in part to a range of new micronutrient-
dense Ready-to-Use-Foods (RUFs) that allow us to scale up the
impact and coverage of our programs. With the help of these highly
effective nutritional products—products such as Plumpy’doz (see p.
2)—we’re able to deploy new preventive strategies that could keep
millions of kids safe from the dangers of acute malnutrition.
Regional progress has also been made in the effective delivery of
assistance. As detailed in our lead article (see p. 8), Action Against
Hunger successfully introduced an innovative cash-based assistance
program in Kenya after last year’s post-electoral violence destroyed
homes and displaced thousands. In a pioneering collaboration with
a Kenyan bank, our teams crafted a carefully targeted assistance
program that restored livelihoods, economic independence, and a
sense of local empowerment.
Of course, our success depends in large part on the skill and
devotion of our field staff, and this issue profiles Glenn Hughson,
who opened our emergency base in Nakuru just days after ethnic
violence displaced thousands in Kenya. Thanks to the commitment
of humanitarian workers such as Glenn—staff who serve under very
difficult and dangerous conditions—Action Against Hunger is able
to help entire communities overcome hunger, restoring self-suffi-
ciency, independence, and dignity in the process.
Enjoy this edition of Response, share it with friends, and thanks
for your support!
Nan Dale
Executive Director
2 6 12
the torrential rains the situation. Soon, a new water point Ensuring Minimum
was under construction. Meanwhile,
of a tropical cyclone Action Against Hunger distributed sani-
Relief Standards
can leave millions of people without a tation kits, and began holding education
drop of clean water. When Cyclone Nar- sessions aimed at improving local water
gis ravaged coastal Myanmar—claiming and sanitation practices.
over 80,000 lives—survivors found that The team gave the people of Pakiya
their wells and rice paddies were badly a sustainable source of water, as well as
contaminated by brackish floodwaters. the knowledge needed to care for this
Safe drinking water was difficult to ob- precious resource. The significance was
tain; agriculture was nearly impossible. not lost on Mrs. Otto, who was eager to
join the newly-formed water committee.
CLEAN WATER IN “All I want is to maintain the new water
POST-NARGIS MYANMAR point like one of my children,” she said.
With half of its citizens already living In recognition of our decades of
below the poverty line, Myanmar would experience responding to disas-
CONGOLESE REFUGEES IN UGANDA
have had little chance of recovering from Although in Pakiya the Action Against ters around the world, Action
such sweeping destruction on its own. Hunger team knew what they were fac- Against Hunger has been invited
Fortunately, the world was watching. ing, the mission is not always so clear-cut. to help revise the latest edition
A generous outpouring of donations In late 2008, Congolese refugees fleeing of the Sphere Humanitarian Charter
enabled Action Against Hunger to join violence began crossing into western and Minimum Standards in Disaster
with other organizations in stopping Uganda. Action Against Hunger sent a Response—more commonly referred
the spread of hunger, dehydration, and Water and Sanitation team to prepare for to as the Sphere Handbook.
disease that often follow a disaster of this the influx expected at the Matanda camp.
magnitude. Soon after the skies cleared, Used by hundreds of relief orga-
Within just a few weeks time, there were
Action Against Hunger began airlifts 11,000 refugees living in the camp. nizations, the Sphere Handbook
into affected areas, bringing water puri- Matanda was intended as a transit provides a comprehensive set of
fication kits, pumps—and seasoned field center, meaning that people were sup- standards to ensure that benefi-
staff with the expertise needed to begin posed to stay for no more than one week ciaries receive the proper amount
the recovery. before they were resettled. However, of clean water, adequate nutrition,
Action Against Hunger’s water, sani- problems with the proposed resettlement safe shelter, and other necessities.
tation, and hygiene (WASH) programs areas meant that many refugees stayed at
played a crucial role in averting a second The latest revision of the Sphere
Matanda for months on end.
humanitarian catastrophe in post-cyclone Working against challenging sanita- Handbook will take into account
Myanmar. But the beneficiaries of our tion conditions and difficulties in the the issues of climate change,
programs are not always the victims of provision of water, Action Against Hun- risk reduction, and the “cluster
headline-grabbing tragedies. Our teams ger was able to adapt to the changing approach”—a method of respond-
travel to remote communities all over the mission at Matanda. “We were lucky that ing to an emergency that employs
world, assessing conditions and provid- we had skilled and dedicated staff,” said agencies based on their strengths
ing assistance to people whose urgent Naruth Phadungchai, Action Against and abilities.
needs might otherwise go unnoticed. Hunger’s Head of Base in the region.
Action Against Hunger is honored to
Conditions at the camp steadily im-
SUPPORTING RETURNEES IN proved as the refugees began to resettle at help improve the Sphere Handbook.
UGANDA Nakivale in mid-January. Together with respected organiza-
Mrs. Otto Rose, a mother of five from For many of us, clean water and tions around the world, we are
the Ugandan village of Pakiya, spent sanitary living conditions are the norm. committed to the principle that ev-
years in a displacement camp with her But to 1 to 2.6 billion people around the eryone deserves a life with dignity.
children. When the family was finally world, they are only ambitious dreams.
allowed to return home, they found that Whether responding to emergencies,
Pakiya’s only source of water was nearly improving conditions in isolated villages, Sphere Standards in Practice:
Addressing Cholera in Zimbabwe:
dry. The community did what it could or providing for thousands of refugees,
by digging new wells, but still the water www.actionagainsthunger.org/audio
Action Against Hunger’s Water and
would not flow. Sanitation programs improve the odds
for people in peril. A
What is G? We know
it’s the seventh letter
of the alphabet and a
family-friendly motion
picture rating. But
it’s also part of a new
initiative by Gatorade
called G Movement—
one that goes well
beyond the beverage.
To celebrate their
popular line of
rehydrating sports
drinks, Gatorade has
joined forces with
Action Against Hunger.
The goal? Use the
power of athletics to
fuel Action Against
Hunger’s mission to
prevent childhood
deaths from global
malnutrition.
Hands 4 Hunger The Youth Effect: Big Red Relief Concert, a campus-
wide concert to highlight the global
Students highlight global hunger Student Action food crisis and support Action Against
with “Hands 4 Hunger” project Against Hunger Hunger. “Action Against Hunger
doesn’t just give food away; it tries to
Students at Clinton Township Middle Cornell’s Big Red Relief make sure that those whose lives it
School in New Jersey created a poignant Concert embodies the touches are given the tools to ensure
learning activity on global hunger with a proj- creative engagement of their own well-being,” says student
ect called Hands 4 Hunger that symbolizes the students across the country organizer OreOluwa Badaki. “Big Red
25,000 people who die every day from hunger- Relief believes in this goal, and we look
related causes. Students created a collage of Students from all over the country
forward to helping make this a real-
2,500 colorful hand-shaped cutouts, each have responded to global hun-
ity.” The concert raised an impressive
representing 10 of these 25,000 fatalities. As a ger’s growing prominence in the
$4,350, but equally important is the
public display, the collage educates as well as news—global food riots, the spike in
example that Cornell students have set
impresses, providing facts about global hunger. food prices, and revised estimates that
by working to end global hunger.
“I thought it would be effective in spread- global hunger now affects over 1 billion
ing an important message, not to mention people (up from 854 million a couple of
fun,” explains Abbey Daudelin, eighth grade years ago). These headlines have moved
student and leader of the project. Enrichment America’s youth to take action in creative
Teacher Diane Cormican concurs: “It’s pretty ways, whether forming service learning
powerful when you see it.” clubs at school, holding educational
The Clinton Township eighth graders felt fundraisers such as ACF’s Fast for Aware-
compelled to educate others about global hun- ness, or taking individual action to raise
ger after learning about the crisis in Darfur, and awareness and funds by skating across
their efforts have not stopped there: they’ve also the U.S. for Action Against Hunger!
enrolled in the 2009 Race Against Hunger. Of remarkable note are the Cornell
University students who organized the
MAKE THIS AL GORE’S NEXT FILM: Ask Al Gore to make this film,
help end acute malnutrition, and save the lives of 5 million children
each year. View the Trailer, Sign the Petition: www.AskAlGore.org
Action Against Hunger receives top ratings from key charity watchdogs:
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