Growing the Movement to End Food Insecurity
From providing meals through school feeding programs to empowering communities through increased agricultural production and incomes to overcome food insecurity, our programs nourish lives one meal at a time in the fight against global food insecurity.
Social Safety Nets
Our Social Safety Nets program ensures the most marginalized and vulnerable communities, including the elderly, widows, orphans, and handicapped, receive the nourishment they need. This initiative coordinates with various government departments and organizes special camps where villagers are made aware of their social safety net entitlements and receive help to prepare documents for submission. This program provides:
- One bag containing 36 meal bags per month, including vegetables, fruits and spices.
- Connect every household with 1-2 govt safety nets, including Social Safety Nets, healthcare and job cards.
- Supports efforts to overcome malnourishment and pave the way toward food security.
First 1,000 Days
The First 1,000 Days, which includes conception and the first two years of life, are called “the first window of opportunity” or the “golden period.” This program boosts the nutritional status of mothers and children in pockets with high malnutrition rates. This program provides hot-cooked nutritious meals to mothers and children between 6-24 months to foster optimal growth and development in the early stages. Participants receive:
- Cooked daily meals for breakfast or lunch.
- Added ingredients include spices, potatoes, onion, garlic, papaya, tomato, beans, and eggplant locally harvested from local gardens or markets.
- Health and nutrition training and provided cooking inputs to ensure working scale and measuring.
Meals for Development
Partner with local villages to support and ensure they have access to quality food and nutrition through trust building. This program often focuses on infrastructure development, Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) and health-related improvements that benefit the entire village. Once the local government has approved the development status, an example includes the installation of water drainage to an identified community garden, the project can begin. This program also focuses on:
- Villagers receive one meal package per day per person.
- Improved nutrition, health and overall quality of life.
- Development positively impacts the entire village.
Nutrition Gardens
One of our newest programs includes Nutrion Gardens. These gardens include land preparation, planting methods, pest management, and improved access to nutrition. In partnership with local villagers, these gardens aim to improve nutritional diversity through locally procured vegetables, plants and fruits. By improving access to nourishing crops, families and their children’s well-being continue to improve. This program:
- Improves access to nourishing crops, including fruits and vegetables.
- Provides nutrition garden training to local villagers to harvest their own crops.
- Enhances overall health and well-being to alleviate malnutrition.
Seed Banking
The Seed Banking program focuses on indigenous, climate-resilient, and dietary-diverse seeds for local villagers to plant. This program includes a local variety of rice, pulses, vegetables, and maize, led by a seed banking committee that meets once a month in the villages. As a participant in this program, ag training demonstrations and displays provide villagers with proper techniques to ensure results.
- Hundreds of farmers are involved in this program in seven villages.
- Seed banking provides insight into ideal crops to harvest in the local village and improves nutrition.
Livelihood Support
The Livelihood Support program helps villages build trade skills to generate income. Through research, resource mapping, and market assessment, entrepreneurship training provides insight for local villagers on how to create a business plan and proper financial management. Villagers also receive training on product selection, development, and manufacturing. This program also focuses on:
- Environmental sustainability, including forest management.
- Market linkages for selling products and crops.
- Generating income for villagers to support themselves and their families.
