Foreign assistance
Think of foreign assistance, and you might picture food relief or rebuilding towns following disasters. However, U.S. foreign assistance includes many long-term development programs to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.
Agricultural development programs, such as the Feed the Future initiative, help farmers grow more food with better resources. These programs help farmers earn more for their crops while providing more nutritious food for communities. Agriculture programs also connect farmers to markets where they can sell their crops and invest in efficient storage and transportation so the food doesn’t spoil before making it to the selling point.
Foreign-assistance programs also help communities invest in infrastructure and services, such as roads, education, health clinics, and financial services like loans and savings accounts. These building blocks strengthen people and communities, making them less likely to struggle with poverty and hunger. For example, when the Ebola crisis struck West Africa in 2014, many of the countries hit hardest had weak health systems that could not respond quickly and adequately to get the virus under control. Long-term investments in these building blocks will lessen the effects and make communities more able to bounce back from humanitarian emergencies .
Governments and nonprofit organizations have learned many lessons from decades of implementing foreign-assistance programs. One of the most valuable lessons is that to be effective, foreign assistance must be “country-led” — the country and its people taking ownership in a program. The people whom these programs are helping have the best understanding of their needs and the culture and environment these programs must work in. They must be a key partner in creating and implementing foreign-assistance programs. The U.S. must work in partnership with these countries so there is mutual understanding and also so progress continues when the U.S. transitions out of the program.
Transparency — making actions and data easily available — is also crucial to track progress. This also holds U.S. and foreign governments accountable to ensure money and resources are used well. Having data and results accessible allows different agencies and organizations to learn from each other’s successes and lessons. In this way, we can keep foreign assistance programs modernized and efficient so they can have the largest possible impact.
Tools
from our Resource Library
For Education
The Nourishing Effect
Hunger and food insecurity add at least $160 billion a year to U.S. healthcare costs.
The U.S. Contribution to Ending Global Malnutrition
We have a new opportunity in 2017 to speed up global progress against malnutrition among pregnant women and young children. Worldwide, maternal and child malnutrition causes millions of deaths each year. In some countries, it holds entire generations back from reaching their economic potential....
Fact Sheet: Nutrition During Famine
Famine means that 20 percent or more of the households in an area have “an extreme lack of food and other basic needs where starvation, death, and destitution are evident.”
Famine has been declared in two counties of South Sudan, while other areas of South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and...
For Faith
The Bible on Health as a Hunger Issue
A brief examination of the biblical approach to health as a hunger issue.
Includes an introduction to the issue, a Scriptural reflection, practical actions you can take, and a prayer.
Bread Newsletter January 2016
In this issue: Another Great Year for Bread; Catholics Begin Observance of Holy Year of Mercy; Serving on ‘God’s Wave Length’ for 39 Years; and more.
Interfaith Religious Leaders’ Pledge to End Hunger
A wide array of the nation’s faith leaders have come together on the eve of Pope Francis’ arrival in the United States to commit ourselves to encourage our communities to work for the end of hunger by 2030 and, toward that end, for a shift in U.S. national priorities.
We are deeply pleased...
For Advocacy
Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit
A set of how-to sheets for carrying out advocacy and fact sheets on the current issues Bread for the World is working on.
For new and current Bread grassroots hunger activists.
Ideal as a starter toolkit for new Bread activists or as a set of updates for current activists.
...
The State of Black Poverty: A Pan-African Millennial Perspective on Ending Hunger by 2030
Over the past year and a half, about two-dozen young adults from the United States and countries in Africa and the Caribbean, have gathered virtually and in person to reflect on the effects of hunger and poverty in black communities. The working group has been considering socio-political and...
Fact Sheet: The Hunger-Medicaid Connection
Congress is considering proposals that would jeopardize healthcare coverage for millions of poor and near-poor adults and children.
The bill under consideration, the American Health Care Act, would gut...