The global food crisis requires immediate and long-term responses. Right now, we are doing all we can to provide hungry children with nutritious food. We are also addressing the causes of the crisis, including challenging policies that contribute to global food insecurity.

Where families currently have no food, World Vision is providing life-saving therapeutic care and supplementary food rations. But we know that the only way to really address food shortages is to help the poorest communities either grow sufficient food or generate a reliable source of income so that they can pay for it, both now and in the future.

Preventative measures are needed to mitigate future food emergencies, to sustain and improve livelihoods, and to protect future generations.

World Vision’s Area Development Programs focus on helping sponsored children’s communities create long-term access to basic needs like food, healthcare, water and sanitation. This includes the introduction of sustainable farming practices, and promoting the cultivation of drought-resistant plants that can withstand the effects of severe climate change.

This grassroots work with communities goes hand in hand with lobbying and advocacy at national and international levels to reduce the impact of economic systems that disadvantage the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.

With other aid groups, we are calling on governments to act to prevent child hunger and under-nutrition by living up to the promises they have made through the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. We are also asking international bodies such as the G8, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation to more urgently address the structural causes of food insecurity.