When the pandemic began to reach the world’s most rural areas -- those communities living in poverty with limited access to healthcare and vital resources -- the international aid community sprung to action. Organizations launched their people into motion, sending droves of teams from countries with some of the highest COVID-19 case numbers into rural communities, having to work doubly as hard to limit potential spread of the virus. But one major international development organization didn't follow suit. It was practically designed to safely and quickly respond to a threat like COVID-19.

The Hunger Project (THP) has more than 40 years of experience flipping the traditional development framework on its head. Where many aid organizations send foreign staff and volunteers to respond to crises and lead development, THP trains local leaders and volunteers who activate local resources to meet community needs. The Hunger Project has mobilized over 500,000 trained, local leaders in 13 countries around the world to create COVID-Resilient Communities in each of the 14,000 villages where they work. 

Since implementing their COVID-19 response in late February 2020, Hunger Project local leaders and volunteers around the world have:

• Distributed more than 45,000 public health posters across nearly 600 villages in national or local languages;

• Reached more than 5 million listeners with radio broadcasts on food security and public health;

• Distributed over 76,000 kilograms of hand sanitizer and more than 214,000 kilograms of soap;

• Distributed over 217,000 food rations to struggling community members;

• Trained more than 100,000 men and women in WASH Education;

• Established 7,682 handwashing stations;

• Trained 34,802 additional volunteers;

• Made and distributed 278,361 face masks.

Latin America

As the pandemic began, Mexico faced an added challenge of ensuring that rural and indigenous communities could access accurate information about COVID-19, especially where the majority of people primarily speak indigenous languages. Local leaders in Chiapas and Oaxaca worked with The Hunger Project-Mexico and the World Health Organization to translate vital information from the Mexican government from Spanish into seven indigenous languages. One woman took it a step further, recognizing a greater need and launching her own program to save lives.

Spotlight on Women

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in Mexico, Liliana Martinez quickly recognized that all of the critical information coming from the Mexican government and international organizations about the virus was written in Spanish, a language that many in her indigenous community do not speak. Working closely with The Hunger Project and UNFPA, Liliana helped create posters in her native language, Mazateca. Knowing how vital the information was and that many in her community could not read, Liliana also made audio recordings for her community to share on WhatsApp and other platforms to ensure the information could reach everyone. These recordings proved to be a vital resource for her community. 

Africa

Countries throughout Africa have endured some of the toughest national lockdowns during the pandemic, disallowing many people from accessing basic necessities like medication. But that hasn’t stopped local leaders and The Hunger Project from ensuring that communities maintain access to important education opportunities, healthcare and critical resources. Aisha Nanfuka, a 45-year-old mother of four daughters in Uganda, activated an innovative network of women volunteers that arranged door-to-door delivery of contraceptives and antiretroviral therapy along with gynecological care for the people of their community throughout the lockdown. 

Spotlight on Women

As one of the strictest lockdowns on the continent of Africa fell into place, Aisha worked tirelessly to ensure that women in her community continued to access family planning services despite the pandemic. She spearheaded a family planning outreach in eight villages by mobilizing 16 of her fellow Hunger Project volunteers to make weekly rounds from Mpigi Epicenter’s health center. They collected data on the community’s health and ensured the continued distribution of oral contraceptive pills to women in the community who had previously registered for care and distributed antiretrovirals to HIV+ clients who couldn’t walk the long distances to the health center. Aisha’s team directly impacted 153 women with their medication delivery program, ensured that 22 women underwent cervical cancer screening,  and saw that one woman received a necessary surgery.

South Asia

In India and Bangladesh, The Hunger Project has been catalyzing change for more than two decades, bolstering the political participation of Elected Women Representatives, mobilizing people and resources at the grassroots level, and breaking down social barriers to ending hunger. On March 24, 2020, India announced a stringent lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19. The country came to a grinding halt with only select government departments, health services, public utilities and essential commodities permitted to function. A curfew-like situation took effect, restricting movement to the bare minimum. Leveraging a strong and capable cadre of Elected Women Representatives (current and former), partner organizations, adolescent girls and other collective networks, The Hunger Project-India rolled out a two-phased intervention shaped by the critical needs on the ground and the core tenets of the organization’s work: gender equality, social justice, human dignity, transparency and accountability. 

Eight thousand  Elected Women Representatives, trained by The Hunger Project-India, distributed vital information about COVID-19 via phone calls, text messages and WhatsApp to more than 500,000 people in the first three months of the pandemic alone. 

Spotlight on Women

In March 2020, Anju Anwara Moyna, a long-time volunteer community leader with The Hunger Project-Bangladesh, was determined to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in her district. She started by setting up handwashing stations in front of her own house and urged her community members to learn proper handwashing techniques. She helped set up additional stations in the surrounding villages and organized a group of volunteers to run a hygiene campaign, broadcasting key public health messages over loudspeakers and distributing leaflets. Realizing that many of the most vulnerable people in her community were going without, Anju organized a community philanthropy drive. She and her fellow volunteers collected nearly $8,500 of food and other necessities and distributed it to more than 1,500 families. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting life in every part of our world and we are seeing, first hand, how critical it is to leverage ingenuity and strength at the local level. Thanks to its long-term programs focused on community leadership, The Hunger Project has been able to swiftly activate the most important teams of all: local community members. The Hunger Project continues to pioneer community-led development mobilizing local people and local resources to change the world. 

Click here to learn more about The Hunger Project.