US-India humanitarian partnership aims to expand school nutrition programmes globally

Washington, May 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) A new partnership between US anti-hunger organisation Share Our Strength and India-focused humanitarian groups is seeking to expand school nutrition programmes across India and other developing nations, with leaders on both sides calling child hunger a “solvable problem” that requires global collaboration and government engagement.

The initiative took centre stage during a “Purposeful Private Dinner” hosted in Washington by Share Our Strength and the One World One Family Mission, where philanthropists, chefs, entrepreneurs and social sector leaders discussed ways to tackle morning hunger among children.

Speaking at the event, Billy Shore, founder and executive chair of Share Our Strength, said the organisation’s work in India had expanded rapidly over the past few years.

“So to date, we have reach about 600,000 kids in India with 30 million meals, I believe. And just in the last two and a half, three years by doing this work,” Shore said.

Shore said the organisation had moved beyond small grants and was now building a broader network in India through culinary events, partnerships and advocacy.

“One of the reasons why we chose India to work in primarily is because government supports school meals. There's a growing strong culinary industry. It's a strong economy,” he said.

The Washington gathering brought together Sri Madhusudan Sai, founder of the One World One Family Mission; Rahul Vinod, co-founder of Indian restaurant chain RASA DC; and award-winning chef Erik Bruner-Yang of Maketto.

Sai, whose organisation runs free nutrition, healthcare and education initiatives across several countries, said hunger could only be solved if governments, businesses and civil society acted together.

“I truly believe it's not the government who should make this happen. It is not a huge organisation that make it happen. It is people who can make this happen,” Sai said.

The Indian spiritual leader and former banker described hunger and inequality as consequences of “human selfishness” and called for “incremental good” from individuals and institutions alike.

“Every day a little more good than the previous day. The incremental good is my measure of success,” he said.

Sai also urged stronger engagement with Indian state governments to scale school meal programmes.

“I would want you to join us in talking to the state governments in India,” he said, addressing Share Our Strength leaders.

During the discussion, Share Our Strength announced plans to incubate a separate international-focused entity called “Strength Global” over the next 18 months.

“Share our strength is going to incubate over the next 18 months, a sister organisation we're gonna call it Strength Global,” Shore said.

The organisation said the new entity would focus on India and international partnerships while Share Our Strength continues its domestic anti-hunger work in the United States.

According to event materials, One World One Family Mission operates integrated nutrition, healthcare and education programmes across 100 countries. The group’s Annapoorna Breakfast Programme serves free morning nutrition to more than 10 million school children across India, covering over 150,000 schools in 25 states and four Union Territories.

Share Our Strength, founded in 1984 in response to the Ethiopian famine, is best known in the United States for its “No Kid Hungry” campaign, which works to expand access to school meals and child nutrition programmes.

The collaboration also reflects growing India-US engagement in philanthropy, nutrition and social impact initiatives, particularly as food insecurity and child malnutrition remain major global concerns despite economic growth in many countries.

Source: IANS