An editorial by Mouna Fassi Daoudi, President of Stop Hunger
What makes this even more worrying is that the figure is on the rise, due to conflicts and climate change, exacerbated by the pandemic and its economic consequences.
Yet there are enough resources to feed the entire planet. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, a third of the food produced globally goes to waste! We are living in an alarming paradox.
It’s natural to be outraged, but action is crucial, now more than ever.
Stop Hunger has been taking action for 25 years. Drawing upon the vital support of Sodexo, our founding partner, we act to sustainably eradicate hunger and support women’s empowerment. Over the course of six years, 52 million people have benefited from our support.
First and foremost, I would like to pay tribute to our 41,000 volunteers across 54 countries, including thousands of Sodexo employees, who refuse to accept the status quo.
They continue to hope for a fairer world and are committed to tackling hunger alongside our local and international NGO partners.
I also pay homage to all the courageous women who often bear the brunt of hunger, but who also lead the way in lifting their families and communities out of extreme vulnerability. We have chosen to make it our priority to support and empower these women.
Over the past five years, Stop Hunger has invested US$6.5 million in women empowerment programs. Our actions have helped more than 30,000 women over the last two years.
Finally, I would like to thank Sodexo, our founding partner, as well as each one of our donors. We draw our strength from your support.
Everything is possible for those who dream, dare, act and never give up. And we continue to strive for a hunger-free world and a brighter future.
3 questions for Clodine Pincemin
After eight years at the helm of Stop Hunger, you’ve passed the baton to Mouna Fassi Daoudi this year.
Stop Hunger is an incredible collective human endeavor that has been going on for 25 years. I myself took over from women and men convinced that acting together for a world without hunger is about acting for a better quality of life in the long term. For eight years, Stop Hunger has helped support over 40 million beneficiaries –a number multiplied by 10!– and also empower more than 30,000 vulnerable women over the past two years alone.
But beyond the figures, these eight years have allowed me to accomplish a truly meaningful mission: to be at the service of the most disadvantaged, to give all my energy to help change their lives, to be useful, feel useful… it’s been an opportunity and honor of a lifetime.
In eight years, the number of volunteers has quadrupled. In over 50 countries, they have taken action and had a real impact on the ground alongside local partners. For two years now, an unprecedented food crisis has been surpassing the health crisis.
I urge all the Stop Hunger volunteers to keep at it, to stay mobilized in every way and to continue their extraordinary efforts of the last two years. They have proved that they could reinvent everything despite the health measures and engage those around them, their providers, their consumers and their customers.
Above all, don’t give up—we can eradicate hunger in the long run by going beyond food aid and by empowering women.
Stop Hunger in the world
The Food Crisis in 2021
Since 2020, the global health crisis and its social and economic repercussions have worsened food insecurity, and no country is spared. The health crisis is becoming a “crisis of inequality,” affecting the most disadvantaged, including the homeless, refugees, the elderly and low-income families. Job losses have pushed young people, women and employees on temporary, low-skilled or self-employed contracts into precarious situations. Women are particularly affected: according to the International Labour Organization, at least 65 million jobs held by women have been lost. Globally, only 43% of working age women will be employed in 2021, compared to 70% of working age men. As a result of this crisis, which poses a long-term threat to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, hunger is on the rise, affecting up to 811 million people worldwide—161 million more than in 2020.
Since the beginning of the pandemic and this unprecedented food crisis, Stop Hunger has distributed 8.5 million meals along with its volunteers, donors and founding partner Sodexo. In addition to food aid, Stop Hunger has made an exceptional donation of over US$4 million to provide immediate and effective support to 200 food banks (some of which are members of the international Global FoodBanking Network present in 44 countries), NGOs and associations in the most affected countries.
Food insecurity has no borders. In 2021, Stop Hunger continued to provide support: in France with the Restos du Cœur charity, in the United States with Share Our Strength, in Great Britain with FareShare, in Australia with Foodbank Australia. We also upped our support in Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines and India, where the poorest communities particularly suffered from lockdowns and the second wave of the pandemic. Through online fundraising, we helped provide emergency food aid to 19,200 beneficiaries of the India Food Banking Network, and helped improve the living conditions of 3,600 farmers and beekeepers in remote villages supported by UTMT – the Under the Mango Tree Society. In Brazil, nearly 330,000 people in need have benefited from a prepaid Stop Hunger card – a sort of digital food basket – which allows them to buy basic necessities from local merchants more easily and quickly.
What’s next? Now more than ever, it’s clear that providing people with food is not enough to end hunger. Stop Hunger has invested in women’s socioeconomic empowerment by supporting 54 programs in 31 countries, to help today’s underprivileged local communities make real, positive and sustainable change for tomorrow.
8
MILLION US DOLLARS RAISED
IN 2021
52
MILLION BENEFICIARIES
SUPPORTED IN THE LAST 6 YEARS
WITH MORE THAN A QUARTER
DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS
30000+
WOMEN SUPPORTED
OVER THE PAST
2 YEARS
8.5
MILLION MEALS DISTRIBUTED
DURING THE
COVID-19 CRISIS
41000
VOLUNTEERS MOBILIZED
DURING THE
COVID-19 CRISIS
54
COUNTRIES
Every year, the Stop Hunger Servathon is a major global event, mobilizing Stop Hunger volunteers between spring and summer.
In 2021, thousands of volunteers came together across 32 countries, spurred by their energy, commitment and desire to help those most in need.
In many cases, new kinds of fundraising activities replaced the traditional food drives and soup kitchens.
Despite the health restrictions, our volunteers raised US$249,000 to support more than 218,000 local beneficiaries – 21% more than the amount raised in 2019! A great result, thanks to our collective spirit.
Our volunteers were able to organize food drives and soup kitchens in the United States, Colombia, Mexico, Romania, Poland, Kuwait, South Africa, Australia and some others… Everywhere else, Stop Hunger volunteers got creative and transformed the Stop Hunger Servathon into a 2.0 version.
The pandemic forced them all to think outside the box to find new actions whilst keeping them friendly, generous and collaborative. 2021 marked a real creative shift in the Servathon, with new “generosity games” to raise money.
Whatever the country, the desire and joy in acting together for a good cause, as well as a taste for challenge and competition, were the real winners!
We also can’t forget the online donation drives held via a mobile app in Germany and online in France, Portugal and the United States, as well as the payroll donations made by Sodexo employees in the Czech Republic, Germany and Luxembourg.
In Australia, every online sale of the gourmet recipe book created by Sodexo chefs donates 20 meals to Foodbank Australia.
In Brazil, 141 volunteers took part in the second annual fundraising run, and Club Athletico Paranaense donated an official jersey, signed by players from the professional soccer team, to be auctioned off.
In Canada, 208 participants across 36 teams took on the Stop Hunger Challenge for a month. The results: They raised nearly US$26,000 to provide over 11,500 breakfasts to children receiving support from their national partner, Breakfast Club of Canada.
In northeast China, in partnership with China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF), a local NGO, volunteers planted the “Garden of Hope” to provide nutritious food to children at Ta Huangqi Primary School in Hebei province. In southern China, they walked nearly five miles through the parks of Guangzhou to raise money for the local NGO Green Food Bank.
In Congo, a group of 72 market gardeners received agricultural tools, seeds, and practical advice on food quality and safety.
In Singapore, the competitive spirit of our volunteers raised over US$3,000 for the local food bank by breaking the record of 11,767,983 steps!
From Melbourne to Oman, the United Arab Emirates to the United States and Turkey: all over the world, food drives and soup kitchens have been organized, whenever possible, in compliance with local health restrictions.
Volunteering at the heart of what we do
On May 5, 1996, 17 Sodexo employees took part in the Boston Walk for Hunger, one of the most popular and traditional fundraising events in Massachusetts. On the ground, their actions made a real difference: they served free meals to underprivileged schoolchildren during the holidays when schools are closed, meaning children are usually deprived of their only meal of the day. And so Stop Hunger was born. Supported by its founding partner, Sodexo, and its unique global ecosystem – counting 412,000 employees, 100 million daily consumers and thousands of clients, shareholders and suppliers – Stop Hunger is now a global non-profit network active in 54 countries.
Volunteering is one of Stop Hunger’s strengths and powerful means of action. As world hunger increases, we support and encourage volunteering and skill-based sponsorship more than ever. With 8.5 million meals distributed since the beginning of the social and health crisis and US$8 million raised this year, the role of Stop Hunger volunteers is clear. The actions of our volunteers make a real difference in the field, alongside 400 partner NGOs. To help promote volunteering, the Company Volunteering Policy offers Sodexo employees one paid day a year to volunteer for Stop Hunger. In addition, we are also rolling out the Goodness Platform, which allows volunteers and partner charities to quickly and easily connect in just one click. Finally, with the YEAH missions (Your Engagement Against Hunger), 71 Sodexo experts have already carried out 490 days of field actions supporting good causes around the world, including the World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger, CARE Haiti and the GoodPlanet Foundation in Ladakh, north of India.
2021 Women Stop Hunger Awards
Vegetable gardens ripe for the future in Bolivia.
The vocation of Darlen Velasco Torrez began very early, at the age of seven, when she discovered the first school vegetable garden in her town. 20 years later, as an agronomist, she started working for Entre Ríos’ city council, in the center of Bolivia. She succeeded in creating and rehabilitating 56 vegetable gardens in the schools of her community, 50% of which thanks to the World Food Programme. By developing school feeding, she contributed to the health and education of children, especially girls. This also allowed their mothers to be trained in sustainable gardening technics helping them reach food self-sufficiency. Darlen has recently been elected to represent her community in the Parliament of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, where she will continue to defend women and her community.
A win-win food program in Haiti.
In the west of Haiti, Rytshlande Rivière is a young rice producer as well as the Secretary General of IMAD (Union Militante d’Abraham pour le Développement), an agricultural cooperative of 42 members – including 32 women – that supplies locally grown rice to schools in the area. Rytshlande and 945 other women sell their rice and other fresh products directly to schools supported by the World Food Programme. This stable market allows 2,200 farmers to increase their income and provide for their needs: food, schooling for children, health costs… In this region, 29,000 school children benefit from 100% locally sourced meals. The result: dynamic local production, improved health and better school attendance rates, especially for girls.
Employment and gender equality for social cohesion.
In Jordan, like 800 other participants, Wardeh Aloush benefited from a vast training program intended to reinforce people’s self-sufficiency, while promoting social cohesion between Syrians and Jordanians. It was co-created by the World Food Programme and NAJMAH (National Alliance against Hunger & Malnutrition). By investing in skills, this initiative promotes local economic opportunities and also guarantees gender equality. With this training, Wardeh has gained expertise in home improvement and created her company NOJOOM. In a cultural and social context where the employment of women is very low, NOJOOM allows its six employees – including four women – to earn a living with dignity, while participating in the renovation of public places. In doing that, Wardeh promotes the work of women, their image and their role in society.
Canteens that got it right in Madagascar.
Émilienne Ranotsinjo leads the MIRAY HINA organization. Founded in 2018 in the south of Madagascar, the agricultural cooperative of 35 women contributes to feeding 700 school kids, thanks to the development of cafeterias and vegetable gardens. Émilienne diversified the cooperative’s production and income with cassava flour, smoked fish and chickens, jams, red cactus sweets, honey and soap… as well as goats for their milk and cheese. The cooperative also works to promote women’s rights and their social, economic and collective role. Émilienne and her cooperative improve the life of the community, transform the lives of women and change mindsets in a positive and sustainable way. They also organize various events in the local market square to alert and train women on sexual harassment, rape, early and forced marriages and transgenerational violence.
Women empowerment
In developing countries, half of farmers are women who produce up to 80% of the food. If they had access to the same productive resources as men (training, cultivable land, seeds, equipment, financing, markets, etc.), the yields of their farms would increase by 20 to 30%. And up to 150 million more people could be fed.
On the other hand, on average, 90% of women’s income is spent on food, health care and education for their families.
So the more girls go to school, the better educated they are, the higher their income, and the more food security and well-being for their households.
In order to give girls and women access to education, training and employment, to develop their productive assets and financial resources, Stop Hunger has invested US$6.5 million over the past five years.
Today, more than 30,000 women benefit from development initiatives in 31 countries. In addition, we present the Stop Hunger Women Awards each year to individuals who are leading outstanding local projects.
Because schooling is the first step toward employment and setting girls on the right path, we support the Toutes à l’école association in Cambodia and the school feeding programs of the United Nations World Food Programme, which is active in over 65 countries.
Everywhere, education and training are fundamental: they allow people to develop skills in order to find a job or to acquire good practices to diversify and improve crops in rural areas. Ultimately, it means better income and a better quality of life.
A look back at this year’s the live event
Due to the health crisis, Stop Hunger had to adapt its annual fundraising event. Instead of the traditional dinner held at La Seine Musicale in the Paris region, Stop Hunger gathered its donors and partners around an exceptional online program, “United for a hunger-free world.” On the agenda of this special evening were on-stage discussions with key figures and exclusive reports filmed in Madagascar, Jordan, Haiti and Bolivia, where we met inspiring women committed to fighting hunger in their communities.
To our volunteers who take action in the field,
To our partners who bring hope to those most in need,
To our donors who enable us to nourish our hope for the future,
To all those who believe, as we do, that a hunger-free world is within reach.
To those of you who wish to donate to Stop Hunger, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Mouna is French-Moroccan. During her career at Sodexo, founding partner of Stop Hunger, she held diverse management roles in quality, marketing, strategy and development. In 2015, Mouna became CEO of Sodexo Morocco where she led an ambitious transformation project bringing together economic performance and social responsibility.
She has always been committed to initiatives supporting diversity, inclusion, mentoring, women’s progress and community development. Her leadership skills, collaborative mindset, strategic vision and can-do attitude will enable her to continue strengthening the impact of Stop Hunger’s initiatives, started 25 years ago.
Clodine Pincemin was born in July 20th, 1952 in Moulin (France). After graduating in Modern Literature, she began her career as Assistant to the Chairman of Sodexo who gave her soon new responsibilities: she became Head of Public Relations and Head of Communication for France and Europe (1974-91). She was then promoted Senior Vice President Group Communication (1991-2004), Global Chief Communication and Sustainable Development Officer (2004-06) and Global Chief Brand and Communication Officer (2007-12).
In 2012, she became President of ‘Stop Hunger’, a global non-profit network, that reflects her commitment for a hunger-free world and for the economic and social equality of women. And in 2021, Clodine handed over the reins of Stop Hunger to Mouna Fassi Daoudi.
In Canada, one in three disadvantaged children risk arriving at school on an empty stomach. To give them energy to learn, we have provided 11,500 nourishing breakfasts. How? Nearly US$26,000 was raised for “The Breakfast Club” thanks to the Stop Hunger Challenge, a sports event with more than 200 participants in 36 teams competing over the course of a month. A sporting challenge and act of solidarity all in one!
Each year, “Together We Bake” (TWB) gives a second chance to 50 disadvantaged women facing long-term unemployment, homelessness or involved in the criminal justice system. What is their recipe? TWB provides them with hands-on professional training in pastry making, quality and food safety and business management in their small socially engaged bakery in Alexandria, near Washington DC. A great way to build trust, self-confidence and real friendships to recreate social ties, find sustainable employment, stability and move toward self-sufficiency.
This past summer, Stop Hunger and Sodexo organized an inaugural charity event. Just over 400 people representing 215 sponsoring companies gathered to honor Sodexo’s Stephen J. Brady Scholars and Sodexo Heroes of Everyday Life, while also raising funds to sustain support for several non-profit organizations across the U.S.. Funds raised support more than 14 major non-profits working to provide both food aid and beyond food aid. Stop Hunger will also use funds to support three signature food aid programs – the Backpack, Food Pantry and Feeding Our Future Summer Feeding. Finally, funds raised will also help elevate awareness and support two new Stop Hunger grants focused on women empowerment – Together We Bake and Harlem Education Activities Fund.
We have partnered with Youth Service America for 11 years. YSA is a leading global non-profit that engages young people ages 5-25 to find their voice, take action and acquire powerful civic and 21st century skills as they solve problems facing their communities. With Stop Hunger’s support, YSA awards youth grants to support service-led projects. In 2021, youth helped to create and plant 318 school and community gardens. After 11 years of partnership, Stop Hunger and YSA, with the help of young volunteers, have reached over one million beneficiaries.
Bread rolls, bruschettas, pancakes, bread sticks and chocolate cakes… All are on the menu of the NGO Manos en Acción’s professional training in traditional baking. The aim is to help women in situations of poverty and vulnerability to acquire skills and become micro-entrepreneurs. In 2021, 67 women followed their courses via WhatsApp, supported by videos and educational documentation. The pandemic made it impossible to host them in the community kitchen (renovated and in the process of being certified) at Cafayate in Manzanares, Greater Buenos Aires. Stop Hunger has been supporting Manos en Acción for two years.
At 8.30am on Saturday, August 14, 2021, southern Haiti was devastated by an earthquake and then the island was hit by a tropical depression. Besides the tens of thousands of victims and now-homeless survivors, the roads, bridges, hospitals and gardens destroyed led to shortages of essential products (food, water and medication), particularly in rural areas. Stop Hunger immediately made a donation to its partner CARE in order to distribute emergency humanitarian aid to 3,500 people living in Grand’Anse and to support women and girls, who are especially vulnerable in this ravaged region, where around 80% of the population lives below the poverty line.
How can we help hundreds of women from Lurin, a disadvantaged suburb in south Lima, prepare quality food without waste? By supporting “Cocinas Bondadosas,” a creative and eco-responsible food program, co-created by chef Palmiro Ocampo’s NGO “Ccori Cocina Óptima” and Sodexo. More than 330 women have already taken part in 70 culinary workshops, learning to prepare delicious, balanced meals on a limited budget by making the most of food and leftovers, without wasting even the peels.
In Paraisópolis, where housing and market gardening coexist, a new solidarity garden has been inaugurated, the fruit of a partnership with l’Instituto Escola do Povo (the People’s School Institute/G10 Favelas). “AgroFavela ReFazenda” is an urban farm of 900 square meters, where 60 different fresh vegetables grow vertically and horizontally above ground. For a year now, 140 women from the community have been going through training and receiving plants to grow their own vegetables at home, the sale of which will generate income for the family.
The impact of “Rooftop Gardens” (Horta na Laje), co-created in 2017 with the Women’s Association of Paraisópolis, has led us to support another NGO and its family gardens. The Carisma Social Center, in Osasco near São Paulo, trains women from underprivileged communities in hydroponics, a technique for growing plants above ground that uses a mix of water and nutrients. These mothers grow vegetables at a low cost in order to make healthy meals, selling any surplus to supplement their family income. And it works: 50 gardens in operation, 2 tons harvested, and 930 beneficiaries!
Catering, bakery, pastry-making… around the world, these dynamic fields offer jobs for the future, including for women in precarious situations. Training enables them to gain vocational skills, have a job, be independent and lead a decent life. This is the case in Brazil, where we have been supporting three programs for three years: AFESU (the Association of Women for Social and University Studies), the Anchieta Grajaú Institute, and the Electrolux Food Foundation, with whom we also partner on their back-to-work program in the food industry. In total, 107 women have benefited from this training since 2020.
For seven years, we have been supporting school meal initiatives implemented by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the world’s largest humanitarian organization fighting against hunger and the recipient of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. These free meals encourage school attendance for children – particularly girls. WFP’s School Connect app empowers users in 700 schools across Burundi to monitor food supplies in real time and better manage stock movements and meal quantities at the touch of a button. By providing financial support to the creation of School Connect, we have contributed to optimizing WFP’s school meal programs through digitization, helping ensure more children in vulnerable communities have the food they need to learn and thrive.
Established in France in 1983, Actions de Solidarité Internationale (Solidarity Actions International – A.S.I.) helps various vulnerable populations in several African countries. In the Republic of Congo, for nearly 15 years, A.S.I. has been taking care of girls aged 12 to 18 who are in a very precarious situation, separated from their families and becoming homeless. In partnership with Sodexo, Stop Hunger is providing more than 200 young women access to shelter, food and training in centers in Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. They are therefore able to start a new and decent life – in some cases with their children – far from the streets and from survival through prostitution. Their social and professional integration involves defining a life plan, developing literacy and apprenticeship.
Stop Hunger provides financial support to the World Food Programme’s emergency aid for more than one million Malagasy people, threatened by famine as a result of repeated droughts in the south of the country. Without rain, there have been no harvests in this region, where agriculture is the only resource for 95% of the population. However, climate change is not the only cause of this terrible crisis: deforestation and the economic recession related to the Covid-19 pandemic, which also led to school closures, must be taken into account in this country that is ranked 10th poorest in the world.
For a year now, we have supported MP Omatani, a charity which, together with a group of small farmers, has developed a quality agroecological peanut production in order to make and sell high quality, fair trade and nutritious peanut butter. It is an inexpensive source of protein which will be sold in local markets and food shops. By supporting MP Omatani, we bring a sustainable source of revenue to 15 rural women and, more widely, decent living conditions for a community of 65 people.
During the health crisis, Stop Hunger’s annual food drives in front of supermarkets gave way to innovative virtual fundraising. In Germany, Sodexo meal voucher users were invited to donate a meal, giving the equivalent of a meal voucher, either through a direct payroll deduction for Sodexo employees or by sending the word “OBDACHLOS” (HOMELESS) to a coded number. A quick and easy donation debited directly from their cellphone bill. This national online fundraising campaign provided hot meals to 173 homeless people at the Franciscan convent in Frankfurt.
For 17 years, Stop Hunger and founding partner Sodexo have built an impactful partnership with the charity Les Restos du Coeur, helping those facing long-term unemployment or social exclusion to get back into work.
In 2021 we supported the charity as it increased its food distribution in the streets, reaching even more people facing exclusion and precarity including the elderly, single parent families, students and more. We continue supporting Les Restos du Coeur to ensure their kitchens meet food safety standards. We also help them make fair and eco-responsible purchases from small local producers, so they can offer the poorest members of society food produced close to home.
This year Stop Hunger’s “Together for Tomorrow” program provided daily hot meals to extremely precarious mothers and children helped by the charity “Touched Romania”. Our founding partner, Sodexo, and seven of its clients contributed to this initiative, allowing restaurants to deliver more than 10,500 meals to the beneficiaries. This partnership was extended and 27 more women in very poor social and health situations received financial support to spend on basic items. In addition, this summer 40 Stop Hunger volunteers took part in lavender harvesting and 250 bouquets were created to be sold for the benefit of the families supported by Touched Romania.
During the pandemic, Sweden set a good example of solidarity and cooperation, reacting quickly and extending support as lockdown continued. Working in partnership with clients, Stop Hunger & its founding partner Sodexo orchestrated solidarity missions to support the most disadvantaged. For example, the municipality of Gävle maintained its school meals, which Sodexo provides and distributes to young students, and donated the surplus to those in need. In total, nearly 16,000 balanced meals were distributed, part of which generously donated to three charities located north of the capital.
Beginning on April 13 this year, the month of Ramadan brought generosity and hospitality. In partnership with the municipality of Şişli in Istanbul and its soup kitchen (also supported by the United Nations), Stop Hunger volunteers distributed hot soups and desserts to 2,000 people in need, between 1am and 3am, in the gardens of Şişli Hamidiye Etfal Hospital and Dr. Cemil Tascioglu Hospital Center, located north of the city. A short night full of solidarity!
In 2011, China launched the Free Lunch for Children (FLC) Initiative to improve children’s nutrition in remote poverty-stricken villages. The China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) has partnered with Stop Hunger and Sodexo for six years to develop eight “Hope Kitchens,” which builds or renovates school kitchens to meet sanitary standards, and “Hope Garden,” which plants gardens in schools to serve as a source of fresh produce. The result? Approximately 30,000 students in rural elementary schools eating healthy, nutritious meals on a daily basis. And every year, Stop Hunger volunteers run workshops in cooking, nutrition and food safety, in addition to planting gardens with students and teachers.
A second wave of Covid-19 hit India hard in the spring. To support the most disadvantaged populations, in particular day laborers and displaced workers, Stop Hunger and Sodexo ran an online fundraiser #Carethreefold together. An exceptional sum of US$70,000 supported both the emergency food aid distributed to 19,200 beneficiaries of the India Food Banking Network, and the key equipment for UTMT Society to protect the health of 3,600 farmers and beekeepers in remote areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in the center-west of the country.
Isolated mothers in rural areas face a chronic lack of food and money. Thanks to the NGO Under The Mango Tree Society (UTMTS), which we have been supporting for two years, we can see results. Villagers from Gujarat and Maharashtra, in western India, testify: “I’m able to meet my family’s expenses, including those for my children’s education”; “It’s the most sustainable solution in case of drought and the least costly.” UTMTS contributes to training 550 female farmers in beekeeping, eco-responsible market gardening and the rational use of water. The surplus sold in markets becomes a source of income. The long-term aim is to impact 8,250 people in 30 villages.
Here’s a delicious and creative idea to support those most in need! Check out this digital cookbook with recipes from iconic chefs at Sodexo, our founding partner. For each dollar donated, Foodbank Australia can distribute AUS$5 worth of food. In other words, buying this e-book online allows the food bank to give out 20 meals. Over the last 5 years, fundraising for Stop Hunger has enabled Foodbank Australia to distribute over 300,000 meals.
Saving lives and improving the nutrition of 0- to 5-year-old children from disadvantaged families is the priority for Stop Hunger’s second skills-based sponsorship mission for CARE Haiti.
Healthcare workers from Grand’Anse in southern Haiti, who have been trained in nutritional monitoring, will in turn train 500 colleagues on identifying vulnerable children at risk. The first mission of this kind was carried out in 2020 and focused on nutrition for babies, children, and pregnant and breastfeeding women. Overall, three dieticians, experts from Sodexo, Stop Hunger’s founding partner, trained 37 health care staff and spent more than 30 days preparing and running these nutrition workshops, which helped to enhance the professionalism of teams within the Grand’Anse health department and CARE Haiti.
Leveraging 20 different areas of expertise, our founding partner Sodexo has been working with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to help strengthen its operations in a variety of areas, including supply chain, logistics, nutrition, hygiene and food safety.
To date, 57 Sodexo experts have taken part in 398 days of Your Engagement Against Hunger – or YEAH – missions, working with WFP and other stakeholders to help ensure high-quality standards for school meals delivered to vulnerable children through WFP’s school feeding programmes.
In 2020 alone, WFP provided healthy, nutritious meals and snacks to 15 million schoolchildren around the world. School meals initiatives supported by the partnership help children access the nutrients they need to grow and thrive, while strengthening local food systems and economies – particularly by driving transformative opportunities to support women’s employment and empowerment.
Stop Hunger has partnered with Women in Africa (WIA) for four years. In particular, we support the WIA 54 program, promoting women entrepreneurship in Africa.
This year, Stop Hunger enlisted 14 experts from Sodexo, its founding partner, to share their skills with the 63 laureates of the WIA 54 program. The Sodexo volunteers took part in five virtual training workshops on the following topics: building a strategy, scaling up and managing growth, managing supplies, recruitment and performance management, and client relations. Stop Hunger also presented the Revelation Agriculture award to Ruramiso Mashumba and her organization MNANDI AFRICA in Zimbabwe, which delivers training and shares resources and equipment for the benefit of small producers, mostly women.
Elizandra Cerqueira has always been driven by a desire to change society’s perception of Brazilian favelas. At 33 years old, this young woman entrepreneur innovates and promotes the socioeconomic potential of her community in Paraisópolis, Brazil. “In Brazil, social inequalities have a race, gender and address. I believe in the role of women, both in society and in a more inclusive world free from hunger and poverty,” says Elizandra. Paraisópolis is the second largest favela in São Paulo and the fifth largest community in Brazil.
We would like to thank Denis Machuel, former Chairman of Stop Hunger. His personal commitment and unwavering support have contributed to the impact of Stop Hunger over the past four years.
In Grand’Anse, in the south of the island, where nearly 80% of the population lives below the poverty line, Stop Hunger has been supporting the NGO CARE and its program ASARANGA (Appui à la Sécurité Alimentaire, au Renforcement Agricole et à l’Amélioration Nutritionnelle dans la Grand’Anse – Support for Food Security, Agricultural Strengthening and Nutritional Improvement in Grand’Anse) for the past two years. The objective is to improve agricultural productivity and sources of income, by helping to create income-generating activities for women and ensuring gender equality. A wide range of training courses are held: sustainable cultivation and storage techniques, development of traditional seeds, improvement of irrigation systems, prevention of climatic risks and water management, administration of a cooperative, solidarity-based savings and management, nutrition, etc.
ASARANGA has already helped 2,500 women suffering from serious food insecurity and 2,400 vulnerable farmers, 44% of whom are women. “Thanks to the ASARANGA project supported by Stop Hunger, I have received training and a micro-loan to create a small business and do some livestock farming. I can raise my children and pay for their education,” explains Layette Lina, a mother of five.
As a partner of the charity, Stop Hunger has contributed to four years of reconstruction for a good cause: two nursery schools and three jobs have been created, allowing 40 mothers to be trained in sewing and to then create their own business thanks to a micro-loan for 22 of them. Most of these women live off their work, contributing to the family’s income and avoiding their husbands having to move to India, Qatar, Saudi Arabia or Dubai in order to earn a living. From one year to the next, it became necessary to create a structure that would allow the pooling of agricultural means and techniques, and to optimize income from sales.
This is how the “Sharing Seeds” cooperative was founded in 2020, with its permaculture market gardening, organic coffee growing and beekeeping activities, boosted by ecotourism. “Our village is self-sufficient and economically autonomous, giving women a place in the community,” says Claire Butez, founder of the Les Enfants de Kavresthali charity.
Stop Hunger and its founding partner Sodexo, allies of the Restaurants du Cœur for 17 years, joined forces with Les Tremplins du Cœur (Restaurants du Cœur’s vocational training arm) to create a training certificate. So far, 21 women have graduated, 20 of whom now have stable jobs, including eight in the Sodexo Group. “We’ve created a fast and safe Professional Qualification Certificate (PQC) course for culinary professions that lasts six months… These women are courageous and motivated; they fight every day to get by; they stick together and equip themselves to succeed and obtain this certificate which, for them, is the “Holy Grail” and the key to accessing employment,” explains Laure-Marie Planchon, coordinator of Les Tremplins.
“Having a job is the first step toward getting ahead,” says Nour Alkouri, a Syrian lady who arrived in France eight years ago and graduated in 2019. “I am 63 years old and I would like to work for as long as possible. With cooking, the future is here and now,” says Luz-Maria Hammerlé, a Peruvian who has been living in France for over 30 years. In addition to these training courses, other joint initiatives with Les Tremplins have been established, such as workshops and introductory courses in service professions such as childcare.
From school to working life, it enables them to grow up and become free, educated women who will contribute to the economic life of Cambodia in the future. As a partner for the past five years, Stop Hunger supports Happy Chandara’s ambition to be a responsible and green school, with the development of permaculture vegetable gardens and a network of small family producers.
This year, 16 metric tons of organic fruit and vegetables, from both the campus and the villagers, were served to 1,500 people every month (the equivalent of 48,800 meals). In this country, where the use of pesticides is a scourge, the support of Stop Hunger contributes to diversified school meals that come from a short supply chain. In addition to serving healthy and balanced meals and aiming for food self-sufficiency, these gardens provide a framework for training schoolgirls and local farmers in biodiversity and the transition to sustainable agriculture.
For most of them, crop diversification has increased their average monthly income by 20%. The “model farms” project in agroecology is on the way to empowering the community.
They struggle to cultivate an infertile plot of land subject to the elements, and live below the poverty line. In order to help these women, Stop Hunger has joined forces with its founding partner Sodexo to support the Under The Mango Tree Society (UTMTS) for the past two years. UTMTS is a non-profit organization that develops beekeeping and eco-responsible market gardening to increase indigenous bee populations, crops and community income in western India.
The aim of the program is to train 550 rural female family farmers in beekeeping, eco-responsible farming practices and efficient water use. The support consists of distributing seeds, seedlings and organic fertilizers with the aim of creating larger and more productive vegetable gardens, and diversifying and improving the harvest of fruit, vegetables and honey. Surpluses sold in local markets become a source of income: “I’m able to meet my family’s expenses, including the expenses of my children’s education. Whereas before I had to work as a laborer to feed my family,” says Jani Ishwar Vaghat, one of the villagers. “The presence of bees on my farm has also benefited my neighbors. They have even asked me to train them in beekeeping. For me, it’s motivating,” says Banuben Vaghat, another beneficiary.
In the Republic of Congo, for nearly 15 years, A.S.I. has been taking care of young girls between the ages of 12 and 18 who are in a very precarious situation, having broken away from their families and becoming homeless. In partnership with Sodexo, Stop Hunger is allowing more than 200 young women to be given shelter, food and training in centers in Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. They are, therefore, able to start a new and decent life – in some cases with their children – far from the streets and from survival through prostitution.
Their social and professional integration involves defining a life plan, developing literacy, and apprenticeships in trades such as hairdressing, mechanics and food services. In order to support the association, three skills-based sponsorship missions were carried out this year in partnership with Sodexo experts in areas as diverse as nutrition, training and business plan impacts, in order to add value to the future activities of these young women.