Event: Resilience in Global Hunger Hotspots
Bread for the World’s Policy and Research Institute continued its Hunger Hotspots briefing series in June 2024 during the annual InterAction Forum.
Our session was entitled, “Resilience Building in Hunger Hotspots: The Cases of Sudan, Gaza, and Haiti.”
As many Bread members are aware, the ongoing global hunger crisis threatens the lives of people in dozens of countries. For the period June through October 2024, humanitarian agencies have designated five Hunger Hotspots as “of highest concern.”
Three of these were represented at our briefing: Sudan, where 27 million people need humanitarian assistance and an estimated 10 million have been displaced; Gaza, where 1 million people face famine conditions and nearly the entire population has been displaced; and Haiti, where 1.6 million people are on the verge of famine and gangs control most areas of the country. The other two Hunger Hotspots of highest concern are South Sudan and Mali.
A roomful of people listened as panelists discussed their work in and on behalf of Haiti, Gaza, and Sudan. —Dr. Lesly Michaud, M.D., Program Director for Haiti, World Vision, joining us remotely from Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Hiba Tibi, Program Director for the West Bank and Gaza, CARE International; Barrett Alexander, Director of Sudan Programs, Mercy Corps; and Kelsey Coolidge, Director of the War Prevention Initiative of the Jubitz Family Foundation.
A prominent theme was the need to enable people to strengthen their livelihoods and networks so they can meet their family’s needs, even in extremely difficult circumstances. They also need support for their efforts to build their own and their community’s resilience, which simply means being as well-prepared as possible for whatever may happen in the future.
Bread will continue to advocate for the needs of people caught in hunger emergencies. We also highlight the importance of respecting people’s individual agency and dignity in their efforts to survive and move forward.
