On May 28, the global community joined The Hunger Project in honoring World Hunger Day to raise awareness about the 795 million people who suffer from chronic hunger worldwide.
The global involvement was outstanding this year, with #WorldHungerDay trending in both the United Kingdom and South Africa; #WorldHungerDay had more than 29 million impressions on social media between May 24th and 31st.
Thomson Reuters Foundation News published an article by Hunger Project President and CEO Åsa Skogström Feldt on World Hunger Day and Ghana’s self-reliance graduation. Huffington Post also featured an article on World Hunger Day, which garnered more than 100 Facebook likes. In addition, Global Citizen published an article and UK Independent featured on their website and shared on social media a map of the hungriest countries in the world. BBC III’s Clare O’Neill used World Hunger Day as a platform to speak on her personal experience working as a nurse in South Sudan.
For the first time, CCTV, a global media company, had extensive coverage on World Hunger Day, holding interviews with both Rita Sarin, Director of The Hunger Project in India, and Judith Pollock, Chair of The Hunger Project-UK board; a representative from the World Food Programme also joined.
The Scottish Government tweeted, “it’s unacceptable for anyone to be living in hunger.” AP Planner tweeted the day before, engaging in World Hunger Day for the first time. Pulitzer Prize tweeted and instagrammed about World Hunger Day to more than 15,000 followers. In addition, both Goldman Sachs and Feed the Future tweeted about World Hunger Day; PopSugar, a popular lifestyle brand, used #WorldHungerDay for its post on how to reduce food waste.
The Hunger Project-UK–in partnership with Ogilvy, Mather Japan, PAUL (a popular French bakery chain) and Olivier’s Bakery–implemented the #ShareBread campaign. “Share Bread” was displayed in PAUL stores in central London (Covent Garden) and Richmond, and Olivier’s Bakery creations were displayed at large, well-known markets such as Borough Market, Clapham Market and Chiswick Market as well as at Foodies Festival at Syon Park. The Hunger Project-UK also had a stand throughout the holiday weekend at the Foodies Festival advocating for World Hunger Day and educating people about our work to end hunger sustainably. In addition, Michael Vanheste, of the cookery school at the prestigious Northcote Hotel and Michelin starred restaurant, donated a #ShareBread tear-and-share cheese bread recipe. Cooking Class platform TryMyKitchen had a sweepstakes and pledged to donate £5 for every sign up for a class from May 13th to 28th in honor of the day.
The Hunger Project-Australia held a three-hour interactive Vision to Action workshop inspired by our Vision, Commitment and Action Workshops at Sydney’s VividFestival on World Hunger Day. The 23-day festival featured music and ideas featuring the world’s most important creative industry forums, a mesmerizing free public exhibition of outdoor lighting sculptures and installations and a cutting-edge contemporary music program.
Other international organizations participated on social media including Mercy Corps, Concern, Oxfam, Unicef, Helen Keller International and more.
