The Hunger Project and the People's Participation Initiative

The People's Participation Initiative was begun by a group of animators in from The Hunger Project Bangladesh.

The Hunger Project in Bangladesh is the largest volunteer-based development organization in the country. As of January 2004, more than 35,000 women and men across all 64 districts have become trained "animators" - mobilizing and empowering the people in their villages to build lives of self-reliance and dignity.

Since November 2001, the focus of this effort has been a 10-point women-centered, Union Parishad based strategy to strengthen local democracy. In 200 Union Parishad's, elected representatives have been trained in The Hunger Project principles of unleashing the human spirit for self-reliant development. These elected representatives have formed their own Self Government UP Advocacy Group to lobby Government to fulfill the spirit of the Constitution by transferring true decision-making power and resources to the grassroots level. These grassroots leaders are supported by a group of distinguished individuals who make up SHUJAN - formerly Citizens for Fair Elections and now a group more broadly committed to good governance, decentralization and an end to corruption and coercion.

These strategies are supported by a global movement of committed individuals known as The Hunger Project. In Asia, Africa and Latin America, The Hunger Project empowers people to achieve lasting progress in health, education, nutrition and family income. It is funded by committed individuals from all parts of the world, including the US, UK, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and other countries.