Hacking Hunger

Hacking Hunger

Hidden, human stories about food on the front lines of hunger. Produced by World Food Program USA.

Episodes

July 1, 2020 18 mins
On this episode of Hacking Hunger, we spoke to Jonathan Rivers, who's team at the U.N. World Food Programme uses mobile technology to monitor food security in real time. He describes how this technology works, and the critical role it plays in emergency response.
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A passion project that began one summer on a fishing boat, The Borgen Project is now a nationwide campaign with volunteers in 931 cities. It advocates, mobilizes and educates to improve the living conditions of people living on less than a dollar a day.  

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Two years ago, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2417, a resolution recognizing the link between hunger and war. But two years later, too little has changed.

For this episode, we sat down with Matthew Hollingworth, United Nations World Food Programme's country director in South Sudan to reflect on the significance of the resolution and discuss the impact that the new coronavirus pandemic might have on peace and...

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How much of an impact on developing economies will COVID-19 really have? Why will food systems change prevent dire impacts from happening in the future? On this episode of Hacking Hunger, we talk to Johan Swinnen, a top economist and currently director general of The International Food Policy Re...

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Three months after Barron Segar joined WFP USA as president and CEO, disaster struck. COVID-19 hit and uprooted life as we knew, forcing Barron and WFP USA leadership to reimagine many of their plans. Barron is no stranger to crisis, so we sat down with him to ask about his background, goals and leading in the time of COVID-19.

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As the COVID-19 spreads, innovation and technology is needed more to reach people in need. In this episode of Hacking Hunger, Bernhard Kowatsch, head of WFP's Innovation Accelerator, explains how the program is working to support WFP's pandemic response.

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Danielle Nierenberg is a world-renowned researcher, speaker and advocate, she's spent her career fighting for food-systems change and is an expert on all things food and ag. On this episode, we talk to Danielle about her background, her current organization, Food Tank, and how COVID-19 will affect food systems going forward.

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Every major outbreak in recent memory—Ebola, SARS, MERS—has had both direct and indirect negative impacts on food security. On this episode, we speak to Chase Sova, our senior director of policy and research, to learn what the experts are saying about the likelihood and nature of such impacts from COVID-19.

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Hunger is cruel to everyone, but it's not completely blind. Women – especially in times of war, are more at risk to the suffering it bestows. Women are 60 percent more likely to suffer from hunger and its consequences. They eat last and least and are often forced to drop out of school or marry early when there is not enough.

Yemen is no exception to this rule, and as the nation's conflict drags into its fifth year, women find thems...

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Rick Steves is no stranger to exploration. The renown travel expert has built his career around investigating the nooks and crannies of Europe and sharing his discoveries with curious travelers. Recently, however, Rick ventured beyond Europe to explore one of the most pressing problems of...

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In the early 1990s, Abdi Nor Iftin was a child. Just like other children across the globe, he loved playing outdoors, bickered with his brother and dreamed of being a Hollywood star. Unlike most other children, however, Abdi was starving – simply because he was living in Somalia during a time of drought and civil war.

Abdi lived through the unthinkable, but he was one of the fortunate ones; he survived. Rescued from the brink by pe...

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In the last few years, Mohammed Ghanim has become all too familiar with the struggles of war. A program officer for WFP, Mohammed lives and works in Yemen, site of the world's worst humanitarian crisis. He is also from Yemen, born and raised – and like every other Yemeni, he has not been immune to the consequences of conflict. Yet, despite the tremendous hardship he continues to face, Mohammed remains dedicated to helping his neigh...

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ShareTheMeal is a WFP app that enables people to donate food with just a tap of their fingers. In episode 38 of Hacking Hunger, we sat down with Max Costa, head of ShareTheMeal, and Nishkam Mehta, a super user, to learn the impact the app has had, and what's in store for its future. 

 

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When Ebola spread through Western Africa in 2014, it killed more than 11,000 people. Now it's back – and the Democratic Republic of Congo is at its epicenter in a critical phase. We spoke to Jacques David, WFP communications officer, at how WFP is helping fight ebola with food. 

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The tale of the Dry Corridor is one that's becoming all too familiar. It's one of extreme weather and desperation, hunger, drought and rain.

The Dry Corridor is the nickname given to a region in Central America that's been suffering from erratic weather patterns fueled by climate change. For the past five years, it's been devastating crops, and driving migration and hunger.

In this podcast, we spoke with Elio Rujano, a WFP communic...

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For the fourth year in a row, hunger is on the rise globally. And one of the main reasons is climate change. The number of extreme climate-related disasters has doubled since the early 1990s, with an average of 213 of these events occurring every year.

One of the places where you can see the effects of climate change very clearly is Mongolia – a country new to W...

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On March 14, 2019, Cyclone Idai slammed into central Mozambique near the city of Beira. Its torrential winds and rains destroyed everything in its path, and left millions of people without the food, shelter and water they needed to survive. We spoke with one aid worker who was one of the first responders to this "apocalyptic" scene.

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Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh is home to the world's largest refugee camp. One million refugees live there – 80 percent are women and children. The camp is plagued by poor water, unsanitary conditions, and limited access to health services and food. We spoke with Tracy Dube, a WFP nutritionist in the camp, about the challenges that pregnant mothers, new moms and young children face in this pop-up city.

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Homegrown school feeding is not only transforming the lives of students, but entire communities. We sat down with Carmen 

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January 17, 2019 9 mins

Yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. WFP cameraman Marco Frattini recently traveled to the country to document the human impact of its four-year civil war. What he saw is

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