ACF International Network
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Action Against Hunger has developed its water and sanitation expertise over nearly three decades of field work, advancing a number of solutions for populations at risk from water insecurity.
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Central to the targeting of malnutrition, Action Against Hunger extends water and sanitation improvements to communities with little or no access to proper sources.
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Action Against Hunger's programs are sustainable because of our commitment to community participation—to build local capacity and harnesses a population's energy and resources.
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Though strategies may vary, our food security interventions all share a common goal: to fight hunger by preserving and strengthening livelihoods in a sustainable and contextual manner.
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Action Against Hunger’s innovative food security programs offer a broad range of solutions for generating income, boosting food production, and strengthening livelihoods.
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Our comprehensive approach to hunger involves extending water and sanitation services to communities faced with water scarcity, unsafe drinking water, and inadequate sanitation.
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Action Against Hunger occupies a unique place among international organizations: our expertise encompasses emergency relief, longer-term development, and the terrain in between.
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We have developed an effective method to treat acute malnutrition that includes field-tested protocols and nutritional products backed by an international scientific advisory committee.
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Action Against Hunger helps rehabilitate and restock public health infrastructure, fields mobile health clinics, and trains local medical personnel on preventative and diagnostic care.
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Our comprehensive programs address the linkages between disease and malnutrition by coordinating with local expertise and strengthening existing public health systems.
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Where We Work

Update Against Hunger - September 28, 2005
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Field Notes: 

Celebrating our Upcoming World Food Day Gala

Dear Action Against Hunger Team Member,

I'm excited about our World Food Day Gala on November 11. Most fund-raising events for humanitarian organizations seem somehow divorced from the reality of the organizations' work. And yes, you can find it ironic that we're fighting hunger and poverty by serving a Lucullan feast prepared by the finest New York chefs to formally dressed diners in the swanky and exclusive Metropolitan Club.

But the glittering stars of our evening are all intensely involved with the essential field work that we do.

  • Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, our honoree, was instrumental in dismantling apartheid, and his new Desmond Tutu Peace Centre will work to resolve political conflicts in Africa and elsewhere that have fostered hunger, poverty, and fear.
  • Terry George, who will introduce Archbishop Tutu, is himself a product of political strife in Northern Ireland, and he co-wrote, directed, and produced Hotel Rwanda, which has helped publicize Africa's desperation.
  • Angélique Kidjo, who will entertain, has been a Grammy award nominee three times for her songs that combine the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk, and jazz, helping to spread familiarity with African culture around the world. She also returns to Africa frequently in support of humanitarian projects.
  • Aimé Lukelo, recipient of our first National Staff Member of the Year award, is our Food Security Coordinator in D.R. Congo. He has also initiated experimental gardens and developed mini projects that construct wells, rehabilitate markets and schools, establish mini stores for farmers and educate communities in healthy nutrition. He is wholly committed to our goals and works as hard to achieve them as anyone on our team.

I can't imagine a more appropriate roster to illustrate what we do and how effectively we do it.

Cathy Skoula
Executive Director,
Action Against Hunger (ACF) USA

New from US Headquarter: 

ACF Event in D.C. Symbolizes Consequences of Hunger

World Food Day commemorates the founding of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on October 16, 1945. The annual festivities provide an opportunity at local, national, and international levels to publicize the challenge of world hunger850 million people worldwide are malnourished, says FAOand to enhance solidarity among institutions working to eliminate it. This year, our contribution to the worldwide drumbeat will take place on Oct. 15 at Dupont Circle in Washington D.C.

Borrowing a tradition begun several years ago by our Paris headquarters, volunteers will set up 50 standing silhouettes in an open space. Then beginning at 1 p.m. and continuing until 3 p.m., every four seconds a gong will sound and a volunteer will overturn one of the silhouettes. This will symbolize the death every four seconds of another victim of starvation. After all 50 silhouettes have been knocked over, they'll be set up againthis will be repeated for three hours.

If you're in the D.C. area, we need volunteers to distribute literature, generate publicity, set up before the event, clean up after it, and help with the demonstration. We'd also like to borrow someone's speaker system so we can explain to passersby what we're doing and why. And even if you can't volunteer, please try to join the crowd of onlookers on the 15th.

For more information about World Food Day, go to: www.fao.org. To volunteer, e-mail esackin@actionagainsthunger.org.

News from the field: 

Malawi Hit by Food Crisis; 4.2 Million People Affected

As we all know, no sooner is an emergency resolved in one country than a new one challenges us elsewhere. We're now trying to help solve a recently arisen food crisis in Malawi that's affecting 4.2 million people, particularly in the central region of the country.

Agricultural production in Malawi this year has been the poorest in the past 10 years. According to Andrés Narros, our Chief of Mission there, a lack of fertilizer and low rainfall are responsible: "The rainy season, which normally lasts until April, ended in January, and this primarily had an adverse affect on corn production. In addition, after the fertilizer subsidies promised to farmers by the government were canceled, the last harvest suffered due to a lack of fertilizers." As a result, production is barely one-half of the 2.2 million tons of corn required for annual domestic consumption. Malawi's agricultural production can provide only 1,500 calories per person per day, while the minimum standard level is 2,100 calories, and in many regions of the country, market prices are up by 50%.

Says Neil Fisher, manager of our food security programs in Malawi: "The international community responded too late. Only one-half of the humanitarian assistance needed will be available during the critical January-February period, due to the financial and logistical problems of transporting the grain."

We have 48 nutrition centers in Malawi, and we're preparing our own food distributions as well as helping with distributions from the government and other organizations in the central region. We're also setting up agricultural recovery programs to distribute seeds and fertilizer. But as with Niger and Mali, if donors don't respond to this emergency, the human devastation will be significant.

Person Profile: 

Profile JOHN MAJALIWA

John Majaliwa is our Capital Medical/Nutritional Assistant in D.R. Congo, where he was born, raised, and educated. While studying nutrition at a university in Bukavu, John decided he wanted to work for an international NGO. In 1994, he went to work in refugee camps for Caritas and the United Methodist Committee on Relief. A year later, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees put him in charge of camps for Hutu/Tutsi "couples especials." These were inter-ethnic couples who were banned from regular camps to minimize hostilities. He managed their healthcare and food distributions during a time when many people, even some of his humanitarian colleagues, refused to help mixed ethnic couples.

In 1997, John worked as a nutritionist for Save the Children and conducted nutritional surveys until civil wars prevented him from working. He stayed in Bukavu with his family but was unemployed. Sometimes, his family shared food with other family members; sometimes they went hungry.

But in 1999, he returned to work for Caritas and then joined Action Against Hunger as a nutrition surveyor. Within two years, his skill and dependability convinced to put him in charge of training other surveyors. In 2003, he was promoted to his current position, in which he often donates his time to train nutritionists from other organizations in a true testament to collaboration and the humanitarian spirit. He also continues studying to increase his knowledge and skills.

John has never questioned the long, intense hours required by his work. He says that every time he sees the national protocol on health (which our organization wrote), he thinks: "This is one little part that Action Against Hunger has played in helping my country," and it gives him pride to be our colleague. To honor his effectiveness and dedication, his mission nominated John as National Staff Member of the Year.