Food & Nutrition Security The World Health Organization considers food and nutrition security a top priority and basic human right. Without adequate food and nutrition, children are unable to reach their full development potential both physically and mentally. Nutrition deficiencies affect more than 2 billion people worldwide, causing a reduction in learning capabilities and livelihood development (WHO). Disease prevention and treatment, as well as ensuring proper nutrition, is critical to ensure adequate cognitive and physical development.    

Clean water and sanitation intervention for children and their families is crucial to prevent common illness. A child with a compromised immune system is at greater risk of poor nutritional status and developmental outcomes. Nearly 15,000 children under the age of 5 die every day due to preventable and treatable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria, with children under one month accounting for 46% of these deaths (WHO). Proper health for the child during the first 1,000 days —from conception to 2 years — is the most critical window of time to ensure the child develops to his or her potential, thus helping to break the cycle of poverty. When children are guaranteed proper health and sanitation measures, they are able to prevent and fight disease, which enables them to develop both physically and mentally into strong children who become contributing members of their communities

Education When it comes to education, every additional day, week, month, and year a child is in school is impactful and should be encouraged and valued. Through quality education, children gain essential knowledge, skills, and mindsets to become change agents within their own lives, throughout their communities, and out into the world. For girls, quality education remains one of the smartest investments and bring tremendous positive return for income and economic growth. Yet 132 million girls worldwide are out of school (2016) This includes 34.3 million girls of primary school age, 30 million girls of lower secondary school age, and 67.4 million girls of upper secondary school age.(UNESCO).

Poverty has many roots — government policies, gaps in education, disabilities, discrimination — but, by its definition it means living on $1.90 a day or less. The World Bank has identified fostering income growth in the bottom 40% of every country as one of its two main goals in the effort to end poverty. (World Bank). “Extreme poverty disproportionately affects children - 387 million, or 19.5% of the world’s children, live in extreme poverty (UNICEF)." So many of their families are caught in a cycle: living in poverty brings hunger, and living with hunger prolongs poverty. If people find better ways to earn a living, they have a better chance of moving out of poverty. A simple opportunity for parents to earn a living brings immediate relief, gives a sustaining sense of pride, and can ultimately stop the cycle of poverty for their kids. Economic empowerment can serve as an essential weapon against hunger.

In the USA/Domestic Food Programs,Education in the US,Essentials,Domestic disaster response. We believe in working together to end childhood hunger. That’s why Feed the Children works with a network of thousands of partner agencies in communities across the country. Our partner agencies include food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and churches. These agencies make sure the donated food and other essentials reach families in need in the U.S. — free of charge.

FEED in Action Hunger is a global problem and Feed the Children operates in areas where we can make the biggest impact. Use our interactive map to learn more about our work. Internationally, Feed the Children implements a Child-Focused Community Development (CFCD) approach, which includes program activities in the areas of food & nutrition, health & water, education, and livelihoods. We work with vulnerable and at-risk children, their caregivers, and communities to cultivate the social, economic, cultural, and environmental conditions needed for families to thrive. Internationally, our goal is to improve the food and nutrition security of mothers and children, which we believe can be achieved when: parents have the skills they need to raise well-nourished and thriving children; communities are clean and keep children healthy; children get the education they need to grow up to have good jobs and to raise healthy children themselves; and parents have the skills and resources they need to feed their families. Feed the Children’s international staff of more than 600 individuals has a diverse set of skills and expertise that ensure our programs are carried out with great dedication and bring positive impact to the families we serve. Over 98% of our international staff are nationals of the countries where they work, making sure our activities are culturally relevant and appropriate, involve community members as stakeholders, and can be sustained by the community. We seek relationships with organizations, public and private corporations, foundations, and individuals that share a passion for serving children. Feed the Children strategically engages the local government and community leaders to discuss the true need of the community and to develop a collaborative plan for action. The activities introduced are therefore built on joint participation and combine meeting immediate nutritional, health, and educational needs of children while promoting long-term sustainable change to children, their caregivers and communities.   El Salvador: Feed the Children began working in El Salvador in 1987 and currently works in 17 communities throughout the country. We strive to go beyond simply providing food, focusing on a more holistic development approach that incorporates community interventions in areas of food and nutrition, health and water, education, and livelihoods.

FEED places great value in education and works to make sure all children are able to enroll, feel safe, and complete a high-quality education.  We offer children a healthy meal each school day and provide supplies and backpacks so that they have the resources they need to succeed. 

For parents and caregivers, we offer literacy and tutoring classes as well as skills training in areas such as home and community gardening, livestock management, fish farming, baking, and tailoring.  These non-formal education and livelihood projects provide an important stepping-stone to becoming self-sustaining communities. For more information : https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/el-salvador/   Guatemala: 
For 25 years, Feed the Children has gone beyond simply providing Guatemalan children with food. We are creating brighter futures by teaching and empowering children and their communities through our programs. Nearly half the children under 5 in Guatemala are chronically malnourished. Feed the Children works closely with mothers and caregivers to help them make healthy decisions about what they are feeding their children and train them in low-cost solutions that can prevent many diseases caused by unclean water and unsafe hygiene practices. Our education programs support children by providing TOMS shoes, backpacks, and grade appropriate school supplies at the beginning of the school year so that children have the materials they need to further their education. For more information : https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/guatemala/ Haiti:  Feed the Children is making a difference in the lives of children and their families in 12 Haitian communities. Through our Child-Focused Community Development (CFCD) programs, we are able to do more than just provide food. We teach and empower children and their families to reverse and prevent malnutrition and end the cycle of poverty through efforts in food and nutrition, health and water, education, and livelihoods. We implement peer-to-peer Care Groups that help mothers of young children learn important topics related to food and nutrition as well as health and water. The Care Group approach serves as a model for a community-based and community-led approach to the issues of malnutrition & stunting among young children. We strive to prepare parents to be able to choose nutritious and diverse food items to use when cooking and to safely prepare food to prevent water-borne illnesses. Through Care Groups, more than 1,600 caregivers were trained in proper nutrition and health practices to better feed and care for their children. For more information: https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/haiti/ Honduras: In Honduras, Feed the Children works with children and their families in 18 communities to stop the cycle of poverty and encourage holistic community development. We implement livelihood projects that teach parents and caregivers ways to generate income by earning and saving their money. Our Village Savings and Loan (VSL) program encourages participants to save money and enables group members to take loans on an as-needed basis. The success of the VSL is a feeling of self-reliance and independence. We also offer vocational training in areas such as carpentry, welding, and woodworking. For more information: https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/honduras/   Kenya: In Kenya, Feed the Children works in both urban and rural settings throughout four counties, Turkana, Sambura, Kiambu, and Kajiado.  We implement activities in all four areas of our Child-Focused Community Development (CFCD) program areas. This includes meeting immediate and long-term needs of caregivers and their children in areas of food and nutrition, health and water, education, and livelihoods.  We use this programmatic approach to meet the needs of each individual community we serve.
We partner with the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide a hot and nutritious meal five days a week during the school year. In 2017, over 136,000 children benefited from our school meals program encouraging the students to attend school each day and help them stay focused on their studies.  For more information: https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/kenya/ Malawi: At Feed the Children, we believe mothers are best qualified to create community improvements in the important areas of early childhood education, nutrition, and health. Through our Early Childhood Development centers, and with our Care Group model, we promote proper nutrition, safe water, sanitation, and hygiene practices, and encourage clean play areas so that children are able to grow to their potential. In Malawi, we implement our Child-Focused Community Development (CFCD) model as well as a large government funded program called Tiwalere II. As part of these projects, we are able to do much more than just provide food. We address and implement key activities related to food and nutrition, health and water, education, and livelihoods. More than 1.04 million individuals benefit from our work in Malawi. Feed the Children partners with multiple private and public partners in Malawi. We work with Proctor & Gamble to promote the use of ‘Purifier of Water’ sachets and teach caregivers how to prevent common water-borne illnesses through proper water, sanitation, and hygiene practices. In 2017, our health and water activities reached 99,500 individuals. Additionally, we partner with non-profit organizations such as World Relief and Total Land Care to utilize their technical expertise and experience implementing activities that address health messaging for adolescent girls and innovative agriculture inputs to enhance our livelihood work. For more information: https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/malawi/ Nicaragua: Feed the Children has worked in Nicaragua for more than 20 years and is currently active in 20 different communities. Through community fruit tree nurseries, provisions of small livestock as well as community gardens and school gardens, families in Nicaragua are encouraged to seek sustainable sources of income to provide for their families. More than 2,500 households have participated in our community fruit tree nurseries and were able to sell fruit to local markets. Hunger and a lack of adequate learning materials can affect a child’s ability to focus in the classroom. Since education is important, we provide children with school meals as well as additional supplies to help their growth each day at school. Feed the Children teaches children simple sanitation techniques to prevent water-borne diseases. In fact, thousands of students have received water, sanitation, and hygiene lessons in school. For more information: https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/nicaragua/ Philippines:  Feed the Children has worked in the Philippines since 1984.  We currently implement our Child-Focused Community Development (CFCD) approach to meet immediate and long-term needs of children, their families and communities. We reach more than 283,000 individuals throughout 38 communities with our food and nutrition, health and water, education, and livelihood activities. This includes working in both rural and urban communities and making sure families have everything they need to raise healthy children. For more information:https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/philippines/ Tanzania: Through our work in Tanzania, children in more than 30 schools are empowered to defeat hunger and poverty. Feed the Children has incorporated school-based income generating activities such as a dairy cow project, poultry keeping and beekeeping. Through these projects, students learn livestock skills in a practical way, which is knowledge that can be taken home to share with their families. Students also learn how nutrition can help them stay healthy and increase their attendance at school. We work with local communities to create Village Savings and Loan (VSL) groups (locally called VICOBAs) and have trained field officers to become VICOBA promoters to extend this approach to more communities. Last year, more than 1,000 caregivers participated in these groups, increasing access to capital through group savings and administering loans to group members. These members also garnered important skills in financial management, learned market strategies, and gained knowledge on how to start small businesses. These VSL groups focus on women and offer members a safe place to save money and take loans where formal banks may otherwise not be available. For more information: https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/tanzania/   Uganda: Feed the Children works in the Gulu and Amuru districts of Northern Uganda where we implement activities in our four pillar areas, which include food and nutrition, health and water, education, and livelihoods. Through the Care Group approach, we help mothers provide better care to their children by facilitating training sessions about nutrition and illness. During this process, we help mothers monitor the growth of their children to ensure the child is receiving the proper nutrition for healthy growth.
Important messages have included immediate breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age, and age-appropriate complementary feeding. Since starting these education activities for mothers, the percent of children admitted each month into the supplementary feeding program at the local health centers fell from 60% to 30%. Through deworming medications and vitamin supplements, we help make sure children are protected from preventable diseases.   For more information: https://www.feedthechildren.org/our-work/around-the-world/uganda/          

Feed the Children Offers Hope and Help to Families Affected by Disasters Through our vast network of community partners, we provided immediate aid to those affected by Hurricanes Florence and Lane in 2018. Throughout our history, we have responded to hundreds of disasters and distributed millions of dollars in food and essentials to those in impacted areas.   Recent Disaster Relief Help The destruction left by Hurricane Florence continues to create challenges for the people of North and South Carolina. In Wilmington, 52% reported no fuel, and in the Greenville/New Bern/Washington area, fuel outages were reported at 38%. Feed the Children delivered over half a million pounds of food and essentials to community partners in vulnerable areas. Supplies included ready-to-eat food, soups, beverages, paper goods, cleaning supplies, cereal, snack items, flashlights, batteries, and protein bars. We provided food and supplies to over 2,000 people in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Feed the Children teamed up with several partner agencies in the affected areas, including 21 Reasons to Give, Operation Compassion, Christian Appalachian Project, Convoy of Hope, Harbor Light Worship Ministries, Reach Out American International, Midwest Food Bank, and Mankind United to Save African Children. Our Work with Hurricane Florence and Lane 2018: The storms, which had catastrophic flooding, had forced mandatory evacuations across the eastern seaboard affecting approximately 1.5 million people. More than a dozen shipments of supplies totaling approximately 355,000 pounds from Feed the Children were already on their way to help residents in North and South Carolina as well as Virginia before the storms arrived. Feed the Children was working hand-in-hand with local agencies such as Operation Compassion, Convoy of Hope, Mankind United to Save African Children, Harbor Light Worship Ministries, Reach Out American International, 21 Reasons to Give, Christian Appalachian Project and Midwest Food Bank-Bloomington to help with outreach efforts. As Hurricane Florence approached the coastline it was expected to make landfall by Fri., Sep. 14, Feed the Children worked diligently with corporate partners and local agencies to allocate shipments of food, water and disaster relief supplies for those who would be affected by the impending storm. Many long-time partners such as StarKist, Energizer, Niagra, Campbell Soup Company, BNRG, Treehouse Private Brands, FitJoy Nutrition, Post Consumer Brands, White Wave and Frito-Lay donated supplies in addition to their support to help displaced residents. “We are very dedicated to making sure the residents affected by Florence have the food and supplies they need to survive this potentially life-threatening storm,” said John Ricketts, Director of Disaster Services at Feed the Children. “We are working with our partners on the ground to distribute supplies. We are calling on communities and partners across the U.S to help our neighbors in their time of need.” In the event of a disaster, quick response times are crucial to relief efforts. At Feed the Children, we know how important it is to anticipate and immediately address damage caused by hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes — anything that leaves children and their families vulnerable. Feed the Children helps reduce the effects of a disaster to communities around the world by: Providing emergency response Distributing food, essentials, water and cleaning supplies to families in need Sending Kid’s Disaster Packs for children Assisting in rebuilding and recovery efforts Training in disaster-risk reduction Supplying personal hygiene kits  

Read dynamic stories on the impact of our work, our partnerships and the stories of your donations directly affecting the lives of children and families around the world. How Saida Found Hope for Her Health: Saida was in fourth grade in Tanzania, and she hated school. She didn’t have shoes, so she had to walk barefoot in the dirt, and the dirt where she lives has worms — so Saida had them too. They made her sick, they made her scalp itch like fire and her classmates teased her for it every day. It’s hard to imagine which burned worse. No matter how well we feed them, if kids are sick with worms, that’s where the nutrition goes. The parasites steal the nutrition, and the children still go without. But hope came for Saida in a pair of new canvas shoes. Feed the Children partners with TOMS to give shoes to the children in the schools where we work. So now that her deworming treatment has kicked out the parasites that had been robbing Saida’s nutrition, she won’t get them again. She has shoes to protect her — not just from laughter, but from sickness,  and from starvation. How a Few Drops Save Lives: Nearly 4,500 Malawian children die every year from diarrhea — 90% of whom can be directly blamed on poor water and sanitation conditions. That is just too many children lost to a fixable problem. And we plan to fix it. With our corporate partner, Procter & Gamble, we’ve launched a 5-year effort with USAID to reach orphans and vulnerable children. We call the project “Let’s Raise Them Up” or “Tiwalere” in the local Chechewa dialect. Here’s how it works in Malawi: We identified the 170 areas where kids are most vulnerable to unclean drinking water. We worked with the government to build local Community-Based Child-Care Centers in those areas. There, we teach volunteers (who teach others) about health, hygiene, and water, and we give out the P&G packets. Building this network of volunteers allows us to reach 70,000 people with clean water by providing nearly 50 million liters of clean drinking water each year. P&G’s WaterGuard is easy to use and can save lives. Feed the Children makes sure it gets into the hands of people who desperately need it. How Elmer Is Getting Ahead of Hunger Nine-year-old Elmer lives in Sapang Palay, a resettlement area where the Philippine government relocates families who are economically disadvantaged from Metro Manila to outside of the city. These families get low-cost housing and a lot of land, which they pay at an affordable rate over a period of time. Elmer’s family owns their small row house but still rents the lot. His mother, Cristina, suffered a mild stroke, so she stays at home and does the limited house chores she can. Elmer and his three siblings all attend school, supported by their father, Oscar, who works as an electrician with a weekly income equal to $35. Oscar can barely pay for his family’s basic daily needs, including food and school expenses. Sometimes, the family can’t afford to have three meals a day. Without money for transportation, their third-grader has to walk the kilometer to school every day — but he loves to go. Elmer loves to read books, and last school year, he was awarded “best behaved” in his class. But Elmer is considered one of the most undernourished children at his school. In August, Feed the Children started a supplemental feeding program for malnourished children in Elmer’s school, a new site selected due to the depressed situation in Sapang Palay. His parents are thrilled that Elmer is enrolled in the program because they see it making a real difference. Even when he can’t get enough food at home, Elmer can count on his healthy school meal. So far, Elmer has gained 11 pounds and is on the way to recovering from malnutrition.   The Cure for Poverty: Douglas Smith knows what poverty looks like. Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia gave him firsthand experience with people in need. It also fueled his desire to be a man who helps where he can. Now a retired police officer, Douglas and his wife, Kimberly, have strong convictions about how a charity should operate: “I was looking for a Christian-based organization, and everything I learned about Feed the Children made me confident that you provide the majority of the funds you raise to those in need.” As a cancer survivor who understands what it’s like to rely on others to make it through difficult times, Douglas knows how important it is to come alongside people who really need some help. Through prayer and the support of his wife and church family, Douglas didn’t just want to treat his cancer — he wanted to be healed. And he was. Like the cancer wasn’t even there. That’s what he wants to help us do with poverty. Building Stronger Kids with Better Food: It seems pretty obvious how to feed kids, but there’s a lot more to it than just filling their bellies. So along with other women in her village, Doña María learned 7 different recipes using VitaMeal, fortified rice specially produced by Nu Skin for malnourished kids. VitaMeal is “more than a meal.” It does more than feed hungry bellies. VitaMeal builds strong bodies for lifelong health. Kids in villages like Doña María’s that struggle with poverty suffer from malnutrition because the food they eat is missing vitamins and nutrients that keep their bodies healthy. Their bones aren’t strong, and their immune systems are weak. With the help of Nu Skin, Feed the Children uses VitaMeal to help replace what’s missing in kids’ diets. Nu Skin donates an average of 100,000 to 120,000 bags of VitaMeal every month to support Feed the Children programs and partners. And through their Nourish the Children (NTC) Initiative, Nu Skin helps fight malnutrition. They work with experts who specialize in better nutrition for countries in the Global South, to make VitaMeal exactly what kids need. It builds bones, maintains muscle function and promotes brain development. And healthier food means healthier kids and healthier communities. Doña María learned how to feed kids better in her community — an opportunity she wouldn’t have had without Nu Skin’s donations of VitaMeal to Feed the Children. As Steve Lund, chairman of Nu Skin Enterprises’ board of directors and executive director of the Nourish the Children initiative, recognizes, Nu Skin is “a part of something so much bigger than ourselves.” Why Douglas Is Excited About Education: Thirteen-year-old Douglas from Nicaragua believes nothing can keep him from reaching his goals. Not the small salary his dad earns as a driver, barely enough to buy food. Not the home he lives in with the damaged, leaky roof. Not even the scarcity of drinkable water, which only reaches his family every 15 days. Douglas is an active and outgoing student who gets good grades and happily helps out at home. His spirit of determination allows him to move beyond the circumstances that could easily trap him in a cycle of poverty. A spirit like Douglas’s just needs to be given opportunity, and that’s exactly what he’s found through Feed the Children. Douglas was so excited for the chance to learn English, piano and computing. He asked his mom to sign him up for Feed the Children’s educational program right away, and since then he has thrived. “Today I can say that my dreams have come true: to study piano, computing and English, and to keep learning here at the Feed the Children program,” Douglas says. Douglas prays every day that he’ll keep getting opened doors of opportunity so he can achieve his goals. His sponsor has opened the first door, and that’s giving Douglas the skills, confidence and hope to run through the rest.