World Hunger Campaign

The World Hunger Campaign website is the key access point for students, teachers, and others who wish to access a variety of information and ideas about how to take everyday actions to combat global poverty and hunger. Freely available here, for instance, are education kits for students at different levels; they feature education tools and content to assist schools in the delivery of the new national teaching priority of Civics and Citizenship Education. The curriculum modules were developed in collaboration with the Victorian Association of Social Studies Teachers (VASST) and include CARE case studies relating to the critical causes, issues and long-term solutions to global hunger. Each module includes resources such as PowerPoint presentations, meant to be modified to suit particular users' specific teaching requirements. The development of these kits was motivated by the belief that the first step in effecting individual behaviour change - e.g., altruistic actions - is to educate children and youth about the problem of hunger, and to give them ideas about what they can do to help address it.

Along these lines, youth participation outside of the school setting is encouraged through a page on the project website that offers ideas for young people. CARE Australia deepens the tag line "use your voice to speak up for those who can't" by suggesting that youth write a letter to their local Member of Parliament (MP) or to the Prime Minister, urging their friends to do the same. Young advocates might also stage an event to draw attention to world hunger, contacting the CARE special events team for suggestions (such as ideas for how to engage the local media in covering the event). Another idea presented here is setting up a website focused on world hunger, and then asking family and friends to spread the word.

It is not only children and youth whose involvement is sought through this campaign; all members of the community are asked to "do without it and do a world of good". That is, people are encouraged to take daily steps by doing without small luxuries like snack foods and gourmet coffee, or MP3 downloads and ring tones for mobile phones - donating the money they saved to the World Hunger Campaign. A campaign guide, also available on the project website, offers other practical ways for companies, individuals, and community groups to get involved, to obtain and share information, and to spur participation.

Hunger, Overseas Development Assistance.

According to CARE Australia, there are 815 million people in developing countries experiencing hunger. The premise of this campaign is that, while the problem can seem overwhelmingly huge and impossible to tackle, every individual (including students) can make a difference by learning about the problem and then doing something about it.