1. Ensuring Food for All Unit 4

2. WILT:  Explore hunger in Canada  Examine how poverty is related to hunger  Understand the misconceptions and myths related to hunger  Explore ways to help with local food shortages

3. Types of Hunger  There are 2 kinds of hunger  Famine – caused by natural disasters, wars or by government policies. It is very serious but easy to recognize.  Chronic Hunger – Often goes unnoticed but accounts for 90% of deaths due to hunger. This kind of hunger destroys a person’s ability to function because they are not getting enough food  Food Security – people who are able to grow or purchase enough food  Food Insecurity – food is not available or people do not have money to buy it

4. What Causes Hunger?  When you have poverty – you have hunger! Economic Factors Social Factors Environmental Factors Political Factors Poverty Hunger

5. Factors Contribute to Poverty  Economic Factors – unemployment, low wages, landlessness, high food prices, and lack of access to credit  Social Factors – such as lack of adequate housing, safe water, health care, child care, and educational opportunities, discrimination, prejudice, and bullying; lack of access to information  Environmental Factors – lack of access to food outlets, living in a polluted or unsafe environment, inefficient use of land available to produce food, and the effects of climate change and natural disasters such as floods or drought  Political Factors – such as wars, having no power to change your circumstances, unequal distribution of food, whether the political leaders believed that food is a right, inadequate government social assistance programs, lack of transportation routes, and lack of health care

6. How Can We Eliminate Hunger?  Think about the times you have heard someone say, “My policy is…”  Often they are a plan or course of action based on a set of principles  Corporate Food Polices  Relate to the food that is produced  Decide which foods can be considered organic or how much packaging is used or treatment of employees or sponsoring local events  Public Food Policies  Decisions made by elected officials  These affect how food is produced, processed, distributed, purchased or recycled  It is important to remember that food policies that are put in place in one area, can directly affect food in another place

7. Micro Level Food Security  Micro-level food security is individual and household food security  Year round access to an adequate supply of nutritious and safe food to meet the needs of all family members  Some characteristics of household food insecurity include  Not enough money to buy adequate food  Running out of money by the end of the month or not having enough money for unexpected emergencies  Worrying about not having enough food  Feeling ashamed, frustrated or excluded from normal life events  Let’s look at Vanessa’s Story. As I read, highlight characteristics of food insecurity

8. Food Insecurity: Difficult Choices  When households are food insecure, they are often forced to make difficult choices:  Choosing between paying rent or buying food  Choosing healthy fruits and vegetables or cheaper, less nutritious foods that are more filling  Choosing who gets the food within the family, for example, mothers often go without so their children can eat.

9. Improving Household Food Insecurity  What are some ways we can improve food security in our community?  Food Banks  Soup Kitchens  Food Vouchers  Community Kitchens and/or Gardens  Nutrition and food literacy workshops for families  School food programs (breakfast club)  Planning that includes grocery stores or supermarkets in every community

10. Macro-Level Food Security  Macro-Level Food Security – Access to food at the national and global levels  These actions help ensure macro-level food security  Food safety inspections  Investing money in small-scale agriculture and food processing  Building and maintaining roads  Protecting local agricultural lands and fisheries  Spending money on health care, water and sewer systems, and food safety enforcement, education and training  Programs to generate employment opportunities and income  Making sure that food safety nets are in place to protect the most vulnerable people  Setting up trade agreements that are fair

11. Game: Myth or Reality?  One of the greatest obstacles to ending hunger is the way we thinking about it. By challenging some of the widely held myths about hunger, we can better identify the roots of hunger and work to end it  Time to decide: Myth or Reality!?

12. #1  There is not enough food to feed the world. Myth or Reality?  MYTH!  There IS enough food. Even some of the hungriest countries of the world produce enough food to feed everyone if it is distributed fairly  Unfortunately too many people do not have access to land to grow food and they are too poor to buy it  Up to 50% of the world’s food production is lost to spoilage, insect damage and inefficient storage and transportation  In Canada, 40% of food produced ends up in landfills!!

13. #2  Most of the world’s hungry live in Africa. Myth or Reality?  REALITY!  About 1 in 7 people in the world are hungry. Asia and the Pacific have the largest share of the world’s hungry people.  Many people do not realize the extent of hunger’s reach in Canada.  Close to 900,000 Canadians are assisted by food banks each month

14. #3  People are poor and hungry because they have too many children. Myth or Reality?  REALITY!  Contrary to popular belief, overpopulation is not the cause of hunger  It is usually the other way around – hunger is a cause of overpopulation  In a poor family, having more children increases the likelihood that some will survive to add to the family’s income and care for parents in their old age  High birth rates are a symptom of poverty. One of the best ways to lower population growth and reduce poverty is to provide education for both boys and girls

15. Strategies for Change  Food Security Continuum  Short Term Relief Strategies – immediate food needs but they do not help to solve the problem of ensuring access to food in a month or a year  Capacity-Building Strategies – Help provide nutritious food for a community in the longer term  Systems-Change Strategies – Ensuring people are paid fairly for the work they do can help ensure long-term food secuirty