Hunger affects more than 840 million people worldwide. More than 300 million of these people are in Africa. Poor nutrition is an obstacle to progress: It increases susceptibility to disease, hinders learning, and leaves a person weak, unable to work, and incapable of meeting family needs. This break in self-reliance inhibits developing economies and creates poverty.

Having a secure source of food is especially critical in times of disaster. Natural disasters such as flood and drought destroy crops and leave people vulnerable to starvation. Also, diseases such as HIV/AIDS seriously erode a household’s ability to secure food by incapacitating a person’s ability to work.

CWSEA’s Food Security program assists marginalized households and communities to ensure access to sufficient food at all times.

There are four main areas of focus in CWSEA’s Food Security Program:

Food Production - Partners train households to produce food in places where they previously had not been producing it. Training also focuses on increasing the quantity of food produced through good agronomic practices, appropriate technologies/skills, and the use of improved breeds, among other strategies.

Food Accessibility – Partners work with households to address issues relating to a household’s ability to access food. Issues of food accessibility may center around physical access, relating to the location, retrieval, and distribution of food; or economic access, relating a household’s ability to access food and materials through market that it itself does not produce. The program develops strategies to ensure that, in times of need, households are able to access the necessary food.

Food Utilization –Some households may have access to food but remain at risk of hunger due to either a community’s specific food preferences or a lack of technology/skills for food processing. Sessions on food utilization enable community members to use food in new ways, allowing them to produce food that is more palatable to the people.

Asset Creation – After the immediate food needs of households are met, partners work with households in projects designed to generate income and other assets in order to offset future threats relating to hunger. These assets may include the creation of a financial savings base, the purchase of household equipment, farms, and/or the formation of businesses and cooperatives. In the long term, these activities improve access to capital and increase income levels at the household level.