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EspañolTHE HUNGER PROJECT
The Hunger Project describes itself as committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. In thirteen countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the organization implements programs that mobilize rural grassroots communities to achieve sustainable progress in health, education, nutrition and family income [1]. The Hunger Project has received recognition for its innovations in gender and development. Since its inception, it has also received criticism and is still controversial (see Public criticism below).
Current activities
Primary activities
In Africa (in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda) The Hunger Project carries out what it calls its "epicenter" strategy. The Project organizes clusters of 10 to 15 villages to establish and manage their own programs for rural banking, improved agriculture, food-processing, income-generation, adult functional literacy, food-security, and primary health-care (including the prevention of HIV/AIDS). A committee of villagers (with equal representation of women and men) manages each epicenter facility. A special program of microfinance, the African Woman Food Farmer Initiative, integrates with the epicenter strategy [2].
In 14 states of India, working in partnership with 90 local civil-society organizations, The Hunger Project focuses on the role of women elected to local village councils. It has trained 45,000 elected women as change-agents for solving problems of education, health and nutrition in their villages. It provides women with training in social and political citizenry, local governance and village-level planning, and provides them with links to existing government programs. The hunger project organizes women into federations in order to strengthen their ability to lobby for change.
In 450 clusters of villages spread over all 64 districts of Bangladesh, The Hunger Project has trained more than 60,000 village volunteer "animators" to strengthen the institutions of local democracy and to carry out campaigns to improve food-production, incomes, sanitation, nutrition and public health.
In Latin America, where poverty especially affects rural indigenous communities, The Hunger Project works with such communities to overcome their economic marginalization - particularly that of the indigenous women. The Hunger Project implements programs in indigenous communities of Bolivia, Peru and Mexico [3].
Observers, even while sympathetic to the stated goals of the Hunger Project, have noted an emphasis on semi-mystical allegations that world hunger will disappear through adoption of attitudes among us, with little hard evidence to support this claim. It has been remarked, too, that while the claimed activities abroad, as listed above, are admirable, the Hunger Project to win public confidence needs to produce more evidence, from impartial observers, that these benefits have actually been achieved.
Financial and accountability reports
The Hunger Project raises funds, via contributions, in the following countries Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. Approximately 70% of contributions are from the United States and the remaining 30% are from the remaining nine affiliated countries.
According to its online report retrieved February 2007, Charity Navigator reports that The Hunger Project's program costs in FY2005 were 80.2% of expenses, and administrative and fundraising costs were 19.8%.[1] Give.org/BBB reports that as of December 2006, the Project's program expenses were 77% of total, and administrative and fundraising costs 23% and meets all of its standards. Charity Navigator gives The Hunger Project four out of four stars, and the American Institute of Philanthropy gives it an A- rating.[2]
The Hunger Project met the standards to be listed on the 2004 Combined Federal Campaign National List[3] and the Commonwealth of Virginia 2005 Charity Application.[4]
History
Origins
The folksinger John Denver; Oberlin President Robert W. Fuller; and Werner Erhard, founder of Erhard Seminars Training (est), founded The Hunger Project in 1977 in close association with R. Buckminster Fuller, the environmentalist Dr. Donella Meadows, and the land-reform expert Professor Roy Prosterman. Joan Holmes, previously associated with Erhard Seminars Training as "consulting educational psychologist", has served as the CEO of the Hunger Project from its inception. Holmes had previously managed an independent study which later led to the book ''A look at est in education'', written by Robert W. Fuller and Zara Wallace, January 1, 1975, est, an educational corporation.
Evolution of programs
In 1977, the United States National Academy of Sciences World Food and Nutrition study identified the lack of "political will" to end hunger as an important factor in the field. Based on this conclusion, The Hunger Project launched programs of education and advocacy designed to mobilize a global constituency committed to the end of hunger.
In 1979, as the world initially failed to respond to a growing famine in Cambodia, The Hunger Project participated in generating a White House conference on the crisis and then carried out campaigns to raise funds for relief organizations. A similar campaign occurred for the Somalia famine of 1980. These conferences and campaigns revealed that hunger-response agencies lacked sufficient cooperation and coordination, and the Hunger Project launched a series of initiatives which contributed to the founding of InterAction in 1984 [4].
As famine swept across Africa in 1983-84, The Hunger Project met with Africans across the continent to gain a clearer understanding of the root causes of the crisis, concluding that the famine fundamentally represented a failure of leadership and a failure of policy. The Hunger Project launched initiatives in both these areas, as well as a research initiative to discover ways it might make a difference on the ground in developing countries.
During this exploration, members of its board felt the lack of a comprehensive, global strategic plan; however in 1989 the board came to see top-down planning not as the solution but as part of the problem. Beginning in 1990, The Hunger Project redirected all its efforts to pioneering decentralized, multi-sectoral bottom-up approaches to development – starting in India. By 1995 the Project had commenced activities in 10 states of India, 20 districts of Bangladesh, Senegal and Ghana.
In 1996, Unicef published a study, ''the Asian Enigma'', demonstrating that entrenched gender-inequality not only functioned as a major factor in hunger and poverty — as The Hunger Project had long emphasized — but actually served as the primary root cause for South Asia’s high rates of child-malnutrition. This led to the creation of new interventions designed to overcome gender-inequality in each developing region. These include the African Woman Food Farmer Initiative, the Panchayati Raj Campaign, the AIDS and Gender Inequality Campaign and National Girl Child Day and new strategies for the empowerment of indigenous women’s leadership in Latin America.
Public criticism
Since its inception, there has been criticism of The Hunger Project by the public and the press. This criticism has mainly focused on:
★ the organization's original ties to Werner Erhard, Erhard Seminars Training, and their philosophies;
★ the focus of the Project (1977-1990) on public education and advocacy, rather than providing food and other direct action;''The Hunger Project Refutes Innuendos'', May 2006, The Hunger Project, website, http://www.thp.org/overview/responses/ (On May 30, 1981 the board of directors of Oxfam Canada passed a resolution which stated they would not endorse any activities or programs sponsored by The Hunger Project, nor would they accept funds from the project.Bell, Daniel and Weston, Brendan (February 13, 1985). "Hunger Project feeds itself". ''McGill Daily'')
★ recent activity of The Hunger Project to remove critical articles from the Internet.Ross, Rick (April 9, 2004). "The Hunger Project attempts to purge criticism and history from the Internet". Rick Ross Institute. Retrieved September 2, 2006.
Project reaction against criticism
The Hunger Project has responded to articles it considers false and defamatory by sending letters threatening legal action, and in some instances undertaking legal proceedings, resulting, in some cases, in apologies, correction and payment of damages.
Mother Jones, the The Christian Century, the fifth estate, Carol Giambalvo, Rick Ross, and Jim Provenzano have all received complaints from The Hunger Project for publishing articles that The Hunger Project considered to be false and defamatory.
...the Hunger Project has reacted strongly against other reporters who have attempted to cover the group's activities. Pat Lynch, then an NBC News reporter, stated that the Hunger Project carried out a four-month campaign to discredit her while she was preparing what eventually became an ''NBC Evening News'' segment in 1980. And when Dan Noyes was asked by a radio station in 1983 to participate in a program with a Hunger Project spokesperson, the organization refused to appear. Instead they requested a tape of the program with Noyes alone for review by the group's lawyer.[5]
Timeline: media, commentator criticism
The timeline below shows some of these media articles, and ''The Hunger Project's'' responses. For a summary, see "The Hunger Project: A Historical Background, A News Summary".Ross, Rick (April 8, 2004). "The Hunger Project: A Historical Background, A News Summary", Retrieved August 26, 2006 a report compiled from public media sources. Events related to ''The Hunger Project's'' efforts to remove critical articles from the Internet are also included in the timeline.
★ 'August 28, 1978' - Diane K. Shah and Michael Reese, "Food for thought", ''Newsweek''[6]
★ 'December 1978' - Suzanne Gordon, "Let them eat est", ''Mother Jones''.[7]
★ 'May 2, 1979' - Dr. David Hoekema, "The Hunger Project, You can't eat words", ''Christian Century''[8] 2004: Withdrawn from Rick Ross (RRI) website by the publisher and here posted as part of copyright fair use law.
★ 'December 26, 1979' - Dr. David Hoekema, "The Hunger Project and EST: close ties", ''Christian Century''.[9] 2004: Withdrawn from RRI website by the publisher and here posted as part of fair use copyright law.
★ 'April 19, 1980' - Kevin Garvey, "Hunger Project: Erhard's est laboratory", for ''Our Town'' (a West Chester, NY newspaper).[10]
★ 'June 15, 1981' - Eileen Keerdoja, Mary Lord, and Pamela Abramson, "The Hunger Project feeds its coffers", ''Newsweek''.[11]
★ 'April 17, 1983' - Suzanne Gordon, "Feeding on Narcissism in the Name of the World's Hungry", ''Los Angeles Times''.[12]
★ 'December 1984' - Jack Clark and Jim Chapin. "It Doesn't Add Up". ''Seeds Magazine''.
★ 'February 13, 1985' - Daniel Bell and Brendan Weston, "Hunger Project feeds itself", ''McGill Daily.
★ 'June 1985' - John Tanner, "Hungry for Converts", ''New Internationalist''[13]
★ 'November 18, 1985' - Richard Behar and Ralph King, Jr., "Fuzzy, but fervent", ''Forbes''[14]
★ 'October 23, 1986' - documentary "Hyping Hunger" aired on ''the fifth estate'' television program, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Carol Giambalvo interviewed.[15]
★ 'February 20, 1987' - Caitlin Kelly, "The Hunger Project involves no food, just a taste of 'commitment' ", ''The Gazette (Montreal)''.[16]
★ 'November 19, 1987' - Bill Redden, "The dumb EST plan to end hunger", ''Willamette Week''.[17]
★ 'January, 1988' - Carol Giambalvo, "The Hunger Project: Inside out", ''SCP Journal''.Giambalvo, Carol (January, 1988). " The Hunger Project: Inside out". ''Spiritual Counterfeits Project (SCP) Journal''. Vol. 8, No. 1. Retrieved August 26, 2006.
★ 'June 3, 1999' - Jim Provenzano, "Devotion Over Dollars", ''Bay Area Reporter.''[18]
★ 'February 5, 2003' - John Coonrod, COO & VP of ''The Hunger Project'', wrote letter to Carol Giambalvo, stating: "''The Hunger Project'' has never denied that Werner Erhard was one of the founders of ''The Hunger Project'' or that, in the late 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Erhard encouraged participants in his programs to support ''The Hunger Project''." Dr. Coonrod also asked Ms. Giambalvo to remove a published article she had authored from her website.
★ 'April 2, 2003' - AOL cancelled Carol Giambalvo's website without notice after receiving a complaint from ''The Hunger Project''. Website later restored with article deleted.
★ 'October 2003' - Christian Century requested that Rick Ross remove Hoekema articles from website. The articles were removed and replaced with a "news summary" referencing them. In November 2003, ''The Hunger Project'' also requested the removal of the news summary, and it was replaced on April 8, 2004.
★ 'April 8, 2004' - Rick Ross, "The Hunger Project: a historical background, a news summary", published in response to ''Christian Century'' 's request to remove Hoekema articles and ''The Hunger Project's'' subsequent request to remove "news summary" from website.
★ 'April 9, 2004' - Rick Ross, "The Hunger Project attempts to purge criticism and history from the internet".
★ 'April 12, 2004' - the official response of ''The Hunger Project'' to Carol Giambalvo's 1987 article.
★ 'April 19, 2004' - Austin Cline, "The Hunger Project: going after critics", About.com[19]
★ 'May 2006' - "Hunger Project refutes innuendos", an article posted on ''The Hunger Project's'' website, includes information regarding Werner Erhard's relationship to ''The Hunger Project''
★ 'June 2006' - "Rebuttal to the notion that The Hunger Project attempts to purge criticism and history from the internet", an article posted on ''The Hunger Project's'' website[20]
★ 'July 4, 2006' - John Coonrod, ''The Hunger Project'', wrote to author Jim Provenzano asking that he remove a published article he had written on ''The Hunger Project'' from his website.[18]
Governance & administration
Executive staff
[5]
★ Joan Holmes, President; previously 'consulting educational psychologist', Erhard Seminars Training.
★ John Coonrod, Vice President and COO
★ Fitigu Tadesse, Vice President for Africa
★ Badiul Alam Majumdar, Vice President and head of Bangladesh programs
Board membership
★ Joan Holmes, President, The Hunger Project
★ Peter Bourne, Chair
★ Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique
★ V. Mohini Giri, former Chair of the National Commission for Women in India
★ Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, former Vice-President and Minister of Agriculture in Uganda
★ Cecilia Loría Saviñón, Former Director of Indesol in Mexico
★ George Mathew
★ Queen Noor of Jordan (honorary)
★ Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian diplomat, fifth Secretary-General of the United Nations (honorary)
★ Amartya Sen, economist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics (honorary)
★ Steven J. Sherwood
★ George Weiss
★ M. S. Swaminathan, Chair Emeritus (heads the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation)
★ Charles Deull, Secretary[22]
See also
Individuals
★ Lynne Twist, founding executive, past director of global funding
★ Ellis Duell, past Chairman of the Board of Directors
★ Steven Pressman
★ Carol Giambalvo
Organizations/Concepts
★ Food and Agriculture Organization
★ Food sovereignty
★ Starvation
★ Thirst
★ Humanitarian aid
★ Sustainable agriculture
★ World Food Day
★ World Food Conference
★ Make Poverty History
References
1. "The Hunger Project". Charity Navigator.
2. "Top Rated Charities". American Institute of Philanthropy. Retrieved September 17, 2006.
3. "2004 Combined Federal Campaign National List" (Word document, see "Global Hunger Project", item #1436). U. S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved September 16, 2006.
4. "CVC 2005 Charity Application Global Hunger Project". Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign. Retrieved September 17, 2006
5. Weir, David; Noyes, Dan; and Center for Investigative Reporting (1983). ''Raising Hell: How the Center for Investigative Reporting Gets the Story.'', pp.156., Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. ISBN 0-201-10858-5.
6. Shah, Diane K. and Reese, Michael (August 28, 1978). "Food for thought". ''Newsweek''. Vol. 92, No. 9, p. 78.
7. Gordon, Suzanne (December 1978). "Let them eat est". ''Mother Jones''. Vol. 3, No. 10, pp. 40-44, 49-50, 52-54
8. Hoekema, Dr. David (May 2, 1979). "You can't eat words. ''Christian Century''. 96, pp. 486-7. Retrieved August 25, 2006
9. Hoekema, Dr. David (December 26, 1979). "The Hunger Project and EST: close ties". ''Christian Century''. 96, pp. 1293-4. Retrieved August 26, 2006
10. Garvey, Kevin (April 19, 1980). "Hunger Project: Erhard's est laboratory". ''Our Town''
11. Keerdoja, Eileen; Lord, Mary; and Abramson, Pamela (June 15, 1981). "The Hunger Project feeds its coffers". ''Newsweek''. Vol. 97, No. 24, pp. 18, 21.
12. Gordon, Suzanne (April 17, 1983). "Feeding on Narcissism in the name of the world's hungry". ''Los Angeles Times''. pg. F5.
13. Tanner, John (June 1985). "Hungry for converts", ''New Internationalist''. 148. Retrieved August 26, 2006
14. Behar, Richard and King, Jr., Ralph (November 18, 1985). "Fuzzy, but fervent", sidebar to article "The Winds of Werner". ''Forbes''. 136, p. 44. Retrieved August 27, 2006
15. "Hyping Hunger" (October 23, 1986). ''the fifth estate'', Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 17 mins., 52 secs.
16. Kelly, Caitlin (February 20, 1987). "The Hunger Project involves no food, just a taste of 'commitment' ". ''The Gazette (Montreal)''. p. A1
17. Redden, Bill (November 19, 1987). "The dumb EST plan to end hunger". ''Willamette Week''. Vol. 14, No. 4, p. 4.
18. Provenzano, Jim (June 3, 1999). "Wheels of Fortune, Part Seven: Devotion Over Dollars". ''Bay Area Reporter''. Vol. 29, No. 22, Pp. 1, 12, 13, 23. Retrieved August 26, 2006
19. Cline, Austin (April 19, 2004). "The Hunger Project: going after critics". About.com. Retrieved August 26, 2006
20. Hunger Project, The (June 2006). "Rebuttal to the notion that The Hunger Project attempts to purge criticism and history from the internet". ''The Hunger Project'' website. Retrieved September 2, 2006.
21. Provenzano, Jim (June 3, 1999). "Wheels of Fortune, Part Seven: Devotion Over Dollars". ''Bay Area Reporter''. Vol. 29, No. 22, Pp. 1, 12, 13, 23. Retrieved August 26, 2006
22. "Global Board of Directors", The Hunger Project website, updated February 2006, accessed September 11, 2006
External links
Corporate websites
★ The Hunger Project official website
★ The Hunger Project Policy Briefings Site
Financial information
★ Combined Federal Campaign, Office of Personnel Management, (Word document, see "Global Hunger Project", item #1436)
★ CVC Charity Application from Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign
★ The Hunger Project Financial Statistics from Charity Navigator, FY2005
★ Global Hunger Project report from Give.org/BBB, December 2006
★ Better Business Bureau NY, Charity Report, 2003
Other
★ website, ''The Orange Papers'', see subsection, citations and article briefs on ''The Hunger Project''
★ The Brian Lehrer Show, COO & VP John Coonrod, being interviewed on The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC radio, July 5, 2005
★ Million Dollar Initiative to Help African Women Farmers By Thalif Deen, September 13, 1999
★ Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: What Really Works on the Ground ''OneWorld South Asia'', posted, November 8, 2005.
★ PanAfrica: Better Leadership Determines Our Future ''Concord Times'', Freetown, May 19, 2006.
★ Message from President Joan Holmes to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan griefandrenewal.com, Freetown, posted May 15, 2006.
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