SUN CSN coordinator participation in The Hunger Project - Rethink World Hunger events - New York, US

When John Coonrod from The Hunger Project invited me to take part in their Weekend events around Rethinking World Hunger as a transformative leader, I was both humbled and surprised.

Image taken from http://thp.org/news/transformative-leadership-action/.

The events took place over the weekend on October 18 and 19, 2014 in New York. I was fortunate to present and participate in panel discussion - A Framework for the Future: The Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, speak as a transformative leader at the Gala Dinner and Reception and lead discussions at a table on nutrition for a The End of Hunger: A Dialogue with Leaders Brunch.

Participants included transformative leaders, The Hunger Project staff and partners and of course investors and potential investors.

The weekend was energising and hugely inspiring. Meeting young leaders like Mpule Kwelagobe, Botswana-born, former Miss Universe and CEO of the Institute for Endogenous Development shaping Africa’s transformation (www.mpule.com) and an inspirational role model for young women and leader for change in Africa was truly exhilarating. It was also exciting to meet leaders like Rajiv Joshi, Managing Director of the B Team (www.bteam.org) and transformative leader for rethinking business within the boundaries set by nature towards sustainability and Manisha Bhinge, Senior Program Manager BRAC USA and true champion for grassroots women and adolescent girls empowerment. Altogether, an impressive well-rounded team of young transformative leaders for health, nutrition, corporate partnerships, water, women empowerment, youth engagement and leadership, food systems, agriculture and food security, environment, education and government partnerships.

What stroke me was the level of engagement of The Hunger Project Family and the values by which they work and principles that guide their efforts on the ground:

• Human Dignity

• Gender equality

• Empowerment

• Leverage

• Interconectedness

• Sustainability

• Social transformation

• Holistic approach

• Decentralization

• Transformative leadership

The Hunger Project efforts are very much aligned with the SUN Movement and I believe that as a members, The Hunger Project can bring huge added value to our network including around participatory democracy, data by the people for the people, active citizenry and decentralization. It is great that The Hunger Project is engaged in most SUN CSAs. Engagement in SUN CSAs will also enable The Hunger Project to bring some key messages and evidence promoting local efforts and bottom-up approaches to scaling up nutrition to multi-stakeholder platforms for the multiple stakeholders to take on board when designing, prioritising, financing, implementing and evaluating national nutrition plans and information nutrition systems. The Hunger Project is just one of the examples of how civil society and its huge presence on the ground as representatives of the local populations and society can play a crucial role in scaling up nutrition efforts through changing mindsets for sustainable human development.

Inspired by one of the greatest transformative leaders of our time, Albert Einstein, I truly believe The Hunger Project and many if not all of the 1500 CSOs currently engaged in the SUN movement, can lead the way in shaping a paradigm to transcend issues created in the current paradigm through which we currently work and operate. I also believe the SUN movement provides a great space to rethink and reinvent a paradigm where positive change happens through empowerment to unlock assets and potential of each and every human being to own and shape our future.

I would like to encourage all readers of this blog to go to The Hunger Project website and read about the event as well as watch their videos on their youtube channel. The Hunger Project State of Participatory Democracy report and their Annual reports are also worth a read. Some highlights on specific SUN countries may be of interest to our CSAs.

Some messages heard during the weekend:

• Change needs to happen at the local level as this is the only way for change to be sustainable as grounded on participatory approaches, interconnectedness and cutting through complexity often experienced at regional and national levels, empowerment and ownership by the community with people at the forefront and fostering sustainable change in mindsets that leads to positive impact for human development and environmental sustainability.

• This needs to happen in close collaboration between all stakeholders involved in these efforts including governments and businesses amongst others.

• THP programmes and efforts on the ground all seem to integrate resilience and leadership skill building

• What is required for ending hunger by 2030 is BOLD LEADERSHIP.

• The “data by the people for the people” efforts empowering people to collect and use data can really add value to the Community of Practice 3 of the SUN movement Capacity to Deliver effort.

• Key ingredients for success of THP approach from the Brunch discussions

• PARTNERSHIPS

• DEMOCRACY

• LEADERSHIP

• ACTIVE CITIZENRY

Following these energising meetings and events, as a SUN CSN coordinator, I really feel we should reach out to and engage CS efforts like those of Men engage, Feeding the 5 K, Slow Food Movement, Feel Good and the Food Tank, amongst others.

I will certainly stay closely connected with our group of transformative leaders.

Many thanks to the Hunger Project for providing that opportunity.

Claire Blanchard, SUN CSN coordinator