MARCH 1998
Grassroots Animators
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An Indian graduate student asked the great grassroots
leader from Sri Lanka, Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, what he should do first when
entering a village - should he test the farmland? Should he weigh and
measure the children?
"The first thing you must do," Dr. Ariyaratne said, "is open your heart and extend loving-kindness."
Grassroots animator with villagers in Gujarat, India (top); and Gaibandha, Bangladesh. |
In The Hunger Project's catalytic role to mobilize committed leadership at
every level of society for the end of hunger, the leaders at the "front line"
are hundreds of grassroots animators - committed individuals who facilitate
hungry people to end their own hunger.
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P A R T N E R S H I P W I T H N G O S In India and Bangladesh, there are thousands of small nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), ranging from women's credit groups, to Gandhian social work groups, to farmers' associations. Wherever possible, the leaders of these groups are brought together within the movement of The Hunger Project. "We inspire them with the spirit of The Hunger Project," says Prof. Ramlal Parikh, chair of our council in Gujarat State, India. "For the first time, they are able to work together with a larger vision of a hunger-free society." P A R T N E R S H I P W I T H G O V E R N M E N T A top priority for animators is to connect hungry people to the billions of dollars of resources already available in government. Grassroots people are entitled to these resources - schools, health centers, skills training, loans - yet they have no idea how to obtain them. The Hunger Project educates its own animators, and those of other NGOs, on how to link up with these resources. In Karnataka State in India, Lalita Banavali organizes meetings that establish personal relationships between our village animators and the top government officials in the area. Once this relationship is established, villagers have real voice in getting what they need. |
T R A I N I N G A N I M A T O R S Existing NGOs, committed as they are, probably reach only 10 percent of the world's hungry people. The Hunger Project has pioneered intensive trainings to provide women and men with the leadership skills, confidence and knowledge they need to be effective animators. The first Hunger Project animator training took place in Bangladesh in 1993. Since then, more than 600 animators from 57 of the nation's 64 districts have been trained in a four-day workshop.
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(Top to bottom) Animators with Lalita Banavali (center), managing director,
The Hunger Project-India; leaders of women's groups in Burkina Faso; workshop for animators in
Karnataka, India; training for leaders of local self-help groups in Bangladesh.
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Go to the people. Live among them. Learn from them. Plan with them. Work with them. Start with what they know. Build on what they have. Teach by showing; learn by doing. Not a showcase, but a pattern. Not odds and ends, but a system. Not a piecemeal but an integrated approach. Not to conform, but to transform. Not relief, but release. - Credo of IIRR, a pioneering |
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W O M E N ' S I N I T I A T I V E F O R E N D I N G H U N G E R On 24-25 January, 31 women from North America, Europe and Australia met together in New York to inaugurate the Women's Initiative for Ending Hunger. The Women's Initiative recognizes that hunger persists in large measure because of the subjugation of women. It is designed to confront and transform the structures in society that hold the subjugation of women in place, and to enable women in The Hunger Project to find their own power and voice in the work of ending hunger. |
U P C O M I N G D A T E S I N T H E H U N G E R P R O J E C T
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