Finding Solutions Program
Finding Solutions to Hunger, Project Description
1) Name of Project: Finding Solutions to Hunger
2) Brief one-sentence description of project:
Participants research and discuss the root causes of hunger and poverty in the world and take meaningful actions to help create a more just and sustainable world.
3) Full description of Project:
Participants begin the study of hunger/ food justice by examining their own eating patterns. They will keep food diaries of the amounts and kinds of food they eat every day and research their calorie and nutrient intake. They will reflect on the importance of food in their own lives and where their food comes from. They will compare their own food diaries with students in classrooms around the world, to understand how different cultures eat different types of foods and consume different amounts of calories and nutrients.
After sharing food diaries and analyzing types and amounts of food consumed per person, students participate in activities to help understand how food and resources are distributed globally. (A good activity for this is the World Map Activity from Heifer International; Lesson 2 - Eating the Way the World Eats from Finding Solutions to Hunger – www.kidscanmakeadifference.org; OXFAM Banquet; etc.) They learn about the difference between famine and chronic hunger, understand the problems of obesity, and how big the hunger problem is.
The next area of study is to learn about why people are hungry. Food First, the Institute for Food and Development Policy, has an updated article “12 Myths About Hunger” based on Frances Moore Lappe’s World Hunger: 12 Myths, that is used as background material. Also, Finding Solutions to Hunger has great lessons to use. Here, students discover the problem is not scarcity, but distribution; they will look at issues of population growth, the legacy of colonialism, foreign aid, importance of female education, corporate vs. sustainable farming, lifestyles of industrial nations, and the impact of the media.
Finally, students become problem-solvers in working to end hunger. Participants create a service-learning project to educate their school/community about the issue of hunger and how people can effect change. They document their project through video or digital photography and share it online. We will create an online manual containing projects, lesson ideas, and resources that others can use to teach about hunger.
4) Age/level of project participants: 6 – 18 (Primary through secondary school)
5) Timetable for the project is ongoing.
6) Possible project/classroom activities:
Lessons available: Finding Solutions to Hunger (www.kidscanmakeadifference.org); Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger (www.feedingminds.org); The Good Garden website (www.thegoodgarden.org); Facing the Future (www.facingthefuture.org): OXFAM (www.oxfam.org.uk/education); Heifer International (www.heifer.org)
Activities: Organize a hunger fair in your school/community; organize a fundraiser for an organization or group working to end hunger; organize a talent show with a hunger/social justice theme; organize an International Dinner with displays, activities, and booths dealing with hunger and food security issues; write poems about hunger and host a poetry reading and share poems on the forum; host a “Farm to Plate” dinner to discover the origins of our food; do an “Art for a Cause” activity, such as Empty Bowls, to educate about food sovereignty/food security; create videos to educate others about food justice issues and share on the forum; host a school assembly with speaker about hunger issues ; host a hunger walk; research heroes/organizations that have made a contribution to ending hunger and poverty in the world and do a presentation or report – share on the forum; watch videos on hunger/food security and have online discussions about the video
7) Expected outcomes/products:
Participants will understand the root causes of hunger and poverty globally. They become informed and effective global citizens, convinced of their ability to make a difference in the world. Participants develop a service-learning project in their school/community and document this project with a video or slide show presentation to share online. Classrooms collaborate in creating an online manual with ideas, projects and resources to be used to educate and inspire others to become involved in finding solutions to ending hunger in our world.
8) Project contribution to others and the planet (How will the world be a better place as a result of this project being done?)
Participants become inspired with compassion and hope about finding solutions to hunger. They understand that hunger is not about scarcity, it’s about distribution. By working together, they can eliminate forces that undermine self-reliance and create a more just and sustainable world with equitable sharing of resources.
9) Project language(s): English
10) Curriculum area: Humanities and Social Sciences, Language Arts, History
12) Name of facilitator(s): Deanne McBeath, Larry Levine
13) Email of facilitator(s): kids@us.iearn.org, dmcbeath@villagecharter.org
14) iEARN Forum where it will take place or is taking place (if known): Finding Solutions to Hunger (http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/hunger/)
For additional information about the program and how you can participate, please contact kids@us.iearn.org
