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 - July 6, 2005
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Field Notes: 


Dear Action Against Hunger Team Member,

Here's the 26th issue of Update Against Hunger. Enjoy!

ACF Field Notes
Adjustments in International Living

Those of us in emergency relief soon get comfortable with being earthy. So when ex-pat team members return from the field, I customarily conclude debriefings by epitomizing the difference between living in the field and living at home. I remind them that henceforth when they head to the bathroom, they no longer need to carry a pail of water or to deposit soiled tissues in a separate container. In fact, they can throw everything behind them and flush. Welcome home!

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

New from US Headquarter: 

Action Against Hunger Joins the ONE Campaign

Action Against Hunger recently joined the ONE Campaign, a coalition of 37 organizations including Care USA, InterAction, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam American and Save the Children. The Campaign hopes to "build a constituency of Americans who believe the U.S. should do more to fight global hunger, disease and poverty, and act on that belief."

The ONE Campaign was launched in 2002 with a tour of citizens and celebrities supporting a new U.S. initiative on global AIDS. Today, it is coordinated from Washington D.C. by Michelle Dixon. Its chief activity is drumming up support for its goals. ONE will do this "through an integrated campaign plan using paid and earned [i.e. free] media, local organizing, internet organizing, national special events, recruitment of opinion leaders, and outreach to existing constituents in order to build, nurture and deploy a constituency of committed and well-equipped volunteer advocates."

We expect to contribute our knowledge and expertise to the ONE Campaign's efforts, and in turn our participation amplifies the sound of our message.

To learn more about the ONE Campaign, go to www.actionagainsthunger.org/campaigns/one.html

News from the field: 

Emergency in Mali and Niger

Last week, Action Against Hunger issued a public statement calling on the United States and the other Group of 8 nations to intervene in an emergency in northern Mali and Niger. The rates of malnutrition and lack of access to grazing land and clean water have reached dangerously high levels in the two West African countries due to severe drought and an onslaught of locusts. According to Amador Goméz, Technical Director of ACF-Spain, "The nutritional state of the population is worrisome. We have confirmed that more than one in three children younger than five years old suffer from acute malnutrition. At this time when the most vulnerable families have limited access to grazing land for their animals, it is imperative that the international community get involved as soon as possible."

Mali is being considered for debt relief at the G8 conference in Scotland, and the United Nations classifies both Mali and Niger among the poorest countries in the world. Even so, when the United Nations World Food Program issued an appeal to the international community six months ago for $11 million to ease the food shortages, it received no response. A second appeal raised only 35% of the WFP's original request.

ACF has set up emergency intervention programs in both northern Mali and Niger, and we're trying to publicize the need for a long-term commitment. "We're hoping that the international community that reacted so quickly and generously to the tragedy of the tsunami will be able to step up to the plate again," says Cathy Skoula.

For more about the crisis in Mali and Niger, view our Press Release

Person Profile: 

Profile - Timothy Murungi

Timothy Murungi discovered international relief work when a high school teacher in his hometown, Karama, Kenya, taught him about the International Committee of the Red Cross. When a cousin told Tim about humanitarian needs in Lokichokio-"one of the most remote places in Kenya," says Tim-he looked for a job there and was hired by a local hotel. Soon, however, Doctors Without Borders announced it was looking for someone with computer knowledge and self-reliance to live in Lokichokio and be in charge of preparing and processing orders. Tim applied and was hired-his first job in relief.

When the local emergency was resolved, Doctors Without Borders moved on. Tim, however, stayed in Lokichokio, working for Catholic Relief Services in logistics and security. During his three years in the town, he married a woman from back home and had a daughter. But eventually he sent his wife and daughter back to their village in part, he explains, because Lokichokio's climate is hot and oppressive, but even more because his work required long, irregular, unpredictable hours and his family couldn't count on his presence when they wanted him. He explains that "it's less frustrating" for everyone to know that when he visits home he'll be wholly available, and at other times, his family knows they'll have to fend for themselves.

While Tim was in Lokichokio, ACF arrived to set up a project. When Tim had difficulty negotiating a new contract with CRS, he applied to work as a logistician with the ACF team. He was hired, and eventually we moved him to our offices in Nairobi. His family stays in Karama, however, because they feel Nairobi is too dangerous and because Tim's hours continue to be long and unpredictable. He returns home every two months, and every day he calls his wife and children (now he has two) via cell phone. He wants to continue working in relief, he says, because "your services can help beneficiaries so much." And he wants to see more of the world and work in the "most intense" areas he can find. He has told his wife that he might be away for as long as a year if he can find the right project. His wife knew his plans when she married him, Tim says, and she is as understanding and supportive as he is committed.