Freedom from Hunger
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| Non-profit | |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Headquarters | Davis, California, United States |
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Area served
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Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Togo |
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Key people
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Steve Hollingworth |
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Number of employees
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45 (2010) |
| Website | www |
Freedom from Hunger (established in 1946) is an international development organization working in nineteen different countries. Freedom from Hunger is a nonprofit, nongovernmental, nonsectarian organization classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charity.
It was first known as Meals for Millions, the organization that developed and introduced Multi-Purpose Food, a high-protein powdered food supplement still used today in relief efforts around the world. In the 1970s, Freedom from Hunger began implementing Applied Nutrition Programs, focusing on the health and nutrition of mothers and children. In 1988, Freedom from Hunger developed the world's first integrated microcredit health and nutrition education program. As of December 2009, 1,304,802 women were participating in Credit with Education in 15 countries. This number has more than tripled since 2005.
In comparison to institution-building microfinance organizations that only provide financial services, Freedom From Hunger supplements its financial services with education and health initiatives designed to improve living standards for the poor. In addition, Freedom From Hunger concentrates on serving the poor in the most rural areas.
Freedom from Hunger works with local partners to offer microcredit loans to poor women in rural areas. The loans, which can vary from as little as $5 to as much as $400, allow the women to become entrepreneurs who run home-based businesses, such as making food products or crafts to sell. The key difference between Credit with Education and similar programs is the emphasis on providing education to the women at their weekly meetings. The women learn about health, nutrition, hygiene, family planning and sound business practices. In combination with their additional business income, the women act on this knowledge and begin to break the cycle of chronic hunger and poverty. Providing access to these resources in a single integrated program simultaneously teaches women how to help her children and earn the money they need to act on their knowledge.
Saving for Change is a low cost and highly replicable methodology for self-managed saving and lending groups that bring basic financial services to areas that are typically beyond the reach of microfinance institutions. Saving for Change helps the very poor to better manage their money, by building useful lump sums for predictable needs through regular saving, with the opportunity to take out loans when they need them. The self-managed groups are extremely adaptable and responsive to member needs. Saving for Change creates sustainable, cohesive groups that tackle financial and social issues facing their members and their communities. Program growth is accelerated by the initiative of replicators—group members who in turn form other savings groups in their communities. With special training and support provided by field agents, replicators greatly expand the number of Saving for Change groups at comparable quality.
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Wikipedia