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 - August 3, 2005
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Field Notes: 

Donor Fatigue, Fading Attention, Persistent Problems

Dear Action Against Hunger Team Member,

In recent years, donorsboth public and privatehave shown signs of fatigue. This may seem surprising given that we received more than $1 million, unsolicited, specifically for tsunami relief. That's more than the sum of all our private donations during the previous 12 months. Yet in this age of instant gratification, people expect that the problems of the world will be solved simply and quickly.

This isn't the case. For example, tsunami survivors will need our help for at least another two years, and contributions targeted for tsunami aid are tapering off. Money is always available when the media swarm over some new crisis. But too often, donations stop when it's time to tackle the causes of a crisis. And nearly always, if the media ignore a crisis, donors do too.

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

New from US Headquarter: 

Director of Hotel Rwanda to Attend ACF USA's Gala

As we reported several issues back, on Friday, November 11, our annual World Food Day Gala will honor Nobel Prize-winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Now we're happy to announce further that Terry George, director of the film Hotel Rwanda, will attend the Gala to introduce him.

A native of Northern Ireland, George grew up immersed in political strife, and his films often portray ordinary civilians drawn reluctantly into factional struggles. His screenplays include In the Name of the Father, which was nominated for an Academy Award, and The Boxer, starring Daniel Day Lewis. George's directorial debut, Some Mother's Son, won awards at the European Film Festival, Angers European First Film Festival, and the San Sebastian International Film Festival. George was named European Young Director of the Year in 1996.

He went on to direct A Bright and Shining Lie for HBO, and he created and produced the CBS drama series The District, the top rated Saturday night TV show for four years. Hotel Rwanda, a harrowing account of Paul Rusesabagina's efforts to save 1,268 targeted victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination for best motion picture.

Our two guests ensure that our Gala will be dazzling.

News from the field: 

ACF Responds to Looming Famine in Niger and Mali

Action Against Hunger and the United Nations have warned of a potential famine in Mali and Niger that could affect 2.5 million people-including 800,000 children. The crisis was caused by weak crop yields and poor pastures for cattle due to lack of rain coupled with an invasion of desert locusts at the end of last year. Even if this year's harvest is more bountiful, it won't arrive before October, which leaves millions of people vulnerable between then and now.

In Mali, we've begun distributing more than 4,000 tons of rice, oil, and flour to 15,000 beneficiaries who wander in search of water and grazing land for their animals. Already, one in three children younger than five in Mali suffers from severe malnutrition, so we're also setting up Therapeutic and Supplementary Feeding Centers.

In Niger, we have begun providing food for about 20,000 families and treating malnutrition in 27,000 children younger than five. We also plan to improve public water facilities.

Finally, we're calling on the international community to join us in support of the populations in Mali and Niger. We're doing all we can, but more is needed.

Read ACF's Latest Press Release on Mali and Niger

Person Profile: 

Profile Claude Banywesize

Some of us can't stop scratching the humanitarian itch. Consider, for instance, Claude Banywesize, whose commitment to humanitarian relief grew gradually. He was born in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, and left at age 13 to live with an aunt for two years in Lubumbashi. Then he moved to Uvira for two years and finally back to Bukavu for three. During this time he completed scientific studies that led a job as a physics teacher in Baraka at a Catholic college.

But after two years, Claude returned to Bukavu to study nutrition. As soon as he completed his coursework, Doctors Without Borders hired him to provide medical aid in Goma, where he helped in the emergency rescue of Rwandan refugees. When he completed that stint, he returned to Bukavu hoping to start his own non-governmental aid organization. Instead, now married and needing a salary, he set up the medical department at the Christian Center for Development to help children victimized by D.R. Congo's civil wars. Next, he moved to our mission in Bukavu as a program assistant in nutrition, and today he is nutrition coordinator for all the projects overseen by our Mission in DRC.

Today, Claude's family includes six children (including one adopted niece), but military instability in Bukavu has made him nervous for them. As a bystander, he survived vicious fighting in Uvira and Shabunda, taking the experiences in stride. But in each instance, his family was safe in Bukavu. When two weeks of fighting and ruthless abuse of civilians erupted last summer in Bukavu, his family was suddenly at risk. Though they escaped harm narrowly he now dreams of relocating them to a safer country, perhaps as far away as Canada. You can read about Claude's experiences and the terror in Bukavu in href="/news/response/issue_5/feature_danger, Issue #5.

If Claude manages to move his family overseas, however, he won't stay with them. He's dedicated to humanitarian relief, he says, and he won't abandon the kind of work he's doing, regardless of the danger he's in.