Acf-usa 2005 Annual Report

21 years of civil war have ravaged sudan, where two million people have been killed, and four million have been displaced.

30

Days is all it takes to save the life of a starving child. Through a rigorous set of nutritional and medical protocols, our pioneering work in the treatment of severe acute malnutrition can save people who are hours away from dying. Our Therapeutic Feeding Centers stabilize a patient’s physical deterioration, rehabilitate metabolic functions, and rebalance a patient’s physiology, preparing the way for recovery

2005 4 ACTION AGAINST HUNGER ANNUAL REPORT

Million people benefited from Action Against Hunger’s life-saving programs in 2005

The earthquake in Pakistan claimed over seventy thousand lives, injured more than a hundred thousand people, and caused the collapse of between sixty and one hundred percent of the buildings around the epicenter. As the Himalayan winter approached, the U.N. estimated that the number of people left homeless was

90 6,000 International and national staff work for ACF to ensure the success of our global programs

F100

Therapeutic milk formula, developed and left unpatented by ACF’s Scientific Committee, has revolutionized the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, slashing mortality rates and saving lives

Cents of every donated dollar directly funds our programs

680

Children were treated for severe and moderate malnutrition at ACF’s Therapeutic and Supplemental Feeding Centers each month during 2005

800 ,000 2.5 MILLION

Children were affected by the crises that hit Mali and Niger during 2005, suffering drought, reduced access to food, and losses of animals and livelihoods. In Mali alone, the malnutrition rate reached fifteen percent; rates of ten percent constitute an emergency. Such cyclical crises will only reoccur without investments in longer-term measures

21 years of civil war have ravaged sudan, where two million people have been killed, and four million have been displaced.

30

Days is all it takes to save the life of a starving child. Through a rigorous set of nutritional and medical protocols, our pioneering work in the treatment of severe acute malnutrition can save people who are hours away from dying. Our Therapeutic Feeding Centers stabilize a patient’s physical deterioration, rehabilitate metabolic functions, and rebalance a patient’s physiology, preparing the way for recovery

2005 4 ACTION AGAINST HUNGER ANNUAL REPORT

Million people benefited from Action Against Hunger’s life-saving programs in 2005

The earthquake in Pakistan claimed over seventy thousand lives, injured more than a hundred thousand people, and caused the collapse of between sixty and one hundred percent of the buildings around the epicenter. As the Himalayan winter approached, the U.N. estimated that the number of people left homeless was

90 6,000 International and national staff work for ACF to ensure the success of our global programs

F100

Therapeutic milk formula, developed and left unpatented by ACF’s Scientific Committee, has revolutionized the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, slashing mortality rates and saving lives

Cents of every donated dollar directly funds our programs

680

Children were treated for severe and moderate malnutrition at ACF’s Therapeutic and Supplemental Feeding Centers each month during 2005

800 ,000 2.5 MILLION

Children were affected by the crises that hit Mali and Niger during 2005, suffering drought, reduced access to food, and losses of animals and livelihoods. In Mali alone, the malnutrition rate reached fifteen percent; rates of ten percent constitute an emergency. Such cyclical crises will only reoccur without investments in longer-term measures

1200 2.6 ,

People in the Democratic Republic of Congo die every day, largely from disease and food shortages linked to six years of war and the subsequent collapse of the Congo’s health system and economy

43 5 26

Countries currently host Action Against Hunger relief and development programs

ACF Headquarters make up our International Network

Years of ACF Expertise in Humanitarian Action

Billion people lack basic sanitation today—an astounding forty-two percent of the world’s population. Unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene lead to a host of infectious diseases and chronic malnutrition that ultimately kill over two million children a year

396

852 3.9 Million people in the world suffer from malaria, which kills one million people each year, most of whom are children under the age of five. Simple, cost-effective solutions, however, exist for preventing the needless toll that malaria exacts on poor communities

Million people suffer from hunger around the world, in both its chronic and acute forms. Hunger and malnutrition kill over five million children every year, induce tremendous suffering, and cost poor countries billions of dollars in national income and lost productivity

1.1 BILLION

People lack access to safe water around the world, leaving them vulnerable to daily indignities and frightening rates of death and debilitation

Million Congolese have died as a result of conflict since 1998, mostly from hunger and disease

51,550 People were treated in ACF’s Therapeutic and Supplemental Feeding Centers in 2005, most of whom were on the brink of death when they arrived. ACF’s humanitarian interventions restore life, dignity, and self-sufficiency, uniquely bridging urgent relief with longer-term development

25 for more than

years Action Against Hunger has pursued its vision of a world without hunger, saving the lives of malnourished children and families while seeking long-term, sustainable solutions to hunger. Recognized as a world leader in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, Action Against Hunger specializes in responding to emergency situations of war, conflict, and natural disaster. Our innovative programs in nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, health care, and advocacy reach more than 4 million people in more than 40 countries, helping vulnerable populations regain their dignity, self-sufficiency, and independence. n



ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

Photographs (from left): Blazej Mikula; Richard Moss; Blazej Miluka; Blazej Miluka; Jean Lapegue, Agence Vu; James Pomerantz

CONTENTS 04 05 Letter from the Exeuctive Director

USA Headquarters Staff

08 Highlights

16

Food Security: Farming In Bags

22

In-Kind Contributions

Letter from the President

06

Our Programs

07

Where We Work

Board of Directors/ Advisory Council

10

12

17

18

23

24

Emergency Response

Health: We Advocate Breastfeeding

Financials

Nutrition

Advocacy: Working In Politically Charged Zimbabwe

ACF International Network

Photographs (from left): ACF-Sudan; Burger/Phanie; Claudine Doury, Agence Vu; ACF-Pakistan; Stephanie Bouaziz; ACF-Pakistan; Burger/Phanie

14

Water and Sanitation in Haiti and Guatemala

20

Contributors

25

ACF’s International Charter of Principles

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT



letter from the executive director

A

major event in 2005 for Action Against Hunger was the launching of programs in Pakistan in response to the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck in October. A primary reason that we were able to accomplish this so quickly and so well is due to our experienced and motivated staff. Action Against Hunger transferred international staff to Pakistan from throughout its international network, especially those who had worked in previous disasters including the recent tsunami in Asia. In addition, we found a large pool of skilled Pakistanis ready and willing to join us. With our team in place, we were able to inaugurate programs quickly that provided food, shelter, and water to tens of thousands of earthquake victims and to continue providing that assistance throughout the harsh winter even while our staff lived in tents pitched in six feet of snow and two feet of mud. Our staff comes in many shapes and forms: headquarters, international, national, and volunteer; administrative, technical, supervisory, finance, and general; fulltime and part-time. Our staff comes from all over the world: USA, France, Italy, Congo, Kenya, Cambodia, and more. Our staff includes water engineers, nurses, MBAs, agriculturalists, and logisticians. Our staff hones its skills in the field, sometimes rising through our ranks to become program directors or to work as part of our international staff. Our staff also includes volunteers who provide necessary pro bono work at our headquarters. What ties them all together is their belief in the need to end hunger in the world, their dedication, and their professionalism. Put this together with our 26 years of experience fighting hunger in the field and you get well-run programs that are adapted to the specific needs of beneficiaries living in a variety of environments and under many different conditions. Everyone’s exemplary and frequently selfless performance explains how our modest resources assist more than 4 million beneficiaries every year.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

USA Headquarters staff

Board of Directors

Advisory Council

Cathy Skoula Executive Director

Burton K. Haimes, Chair Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Christian Blanckaert Président Directeur Général, Hermès

Raymond Debbane, Vice Chair President, The Invus Group, LLC

Harold A. Bornstein Vice President, Charles H. Greenthal & Co.

Operations

Human Resources

David Blanc Program Director

Philippe Rosen Human Resources Director

Roger Persichino Desk Officer

Kiera Downes-Vogel Human Resources Coordinator

Marie-Sophie Simon Nutrition Coordinator

Sarah Favorite Human Resources Administrator

Devrig Velly Food Security Coordinator

Brendan Tronconi Office Manager/ Human Resources Assistant

Jeanette Bailey Office Assistant/ Operations Assistant Finance Patrick Mouton Finance Director Nelger Rios Accountant Hamouta Yattara Field Comptroller

Development and Communications Randall Chamberlain Development and Communications Director John Sauer Communications Manager James Phelan Website and Database Manager Erica Sackin Development and Communications Coordinator

Joseph G. Audi, Treasurer President and CEO, InterAudi Bank Alexis Azria Writer Henri Barguirdjian President, Graff USA Cristina Enriquez-Bocobo President, Enriquez-Bocobo Constructs Yves-André Istel Senior Advisor, Rothschild, Inc. Ketty Maisonrouge President, Ketty Maisonrouge & Company, Inc. Daniel Py President, Medical-Instill Technologies Patrick Siegler-Lathrop PSL Conseil Cathy Skoula, Secretary (ex-oficio) Executive Director, Action Against Hunger USA

Prof. Michael Golden Professor Emeritus, Aberdeen University Iman Impala Inc.–Iman Cosmetics Frank McCourt Author Achim Moeller Achim Moeller Fine Art Robert W. Rudzki President, KIBAN Corporation Edward M. Sermier Vice President, CAO and Corporate Secretary, Carnegie Corporation of New York Rick Smilow President, The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) Dr. Ronald Waldman Professor, School of Public Health, Columbia University

Wendy C. Weiler Partner, Argosy Partners

Action Against Hunger’s programs ensure effective assistance by targeting the most vulnerable and working directly with communities to develop strategies that restore dignity and self-sufficiency for the long term.

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

Sabine Cassel

Jessica Weber President, Jessica Weber Design

Cathy Skoula Executive Director



Olivier Cassegrain Managing Director, Longchamp

t

he year 2005 was a year of growth for Action Against Hunger in our efforts to eliminate hunger in the world. And the year put us to the test with a seemingly endless series of natural disasters. We were on the frontlines racing to beat the arrival of winter following the major earthquake that struck Pakistan in October. We provided food, tents, and water to those rendered homeless by the magnitude 7.6 quake. We continued our efforts to rebuild in Sri Lanka and Indonesia after the December 2004 tsunami, moving to the rehabilitation phase in which we’re providing the tools necessary to restart fishing and farming activities. And we warned the world of impending droughts in Mali, Niger, and the Horn of Africa through our early warning systems that constantly monitor water, crop, and nutrition status. These activities—demonstrating our improved emergency response capacity—were a result of the cooperative efforts of the ACF International Network, comprised of headquarters in New York, London, Paris, Madrid, and, as of August 2005, in Montreal. The five headquarters work together to maximize our efforts by pooling resources across borders. In Pakistan, for example, led by the New York headquarters, we were able to bring in staff variously overseen by our New York, Paris, London, and Montreal offices; monetary resources from New York, Paris, and Madrid; and supplies from Paris and New York. The result: We were on the ground delivering assistance within 48 hours of the earthquake. During 2005, we also saw positive changes in the countries where we work that enabled us to grow. The Democratic Republic of the Congo prepared for elections scheduled for July 2006; the accompanying peace allowed us access to more areas of the country that were previously insecure and permitted us to shift the emphasis in some of our programs from lifesaving to life rebuilding. Similar changes are happening in southern Sudan with the signing of a peace accord in January 2006; refugees are returning to their homes, some of whom have not seen their native land in 10 to 20 years. Most will need our help to rebuild their lives. By rebuilding lives we will truly beat hunger—attacking its causes through our programs in nutrition, water and sanitation, food security, basic health care, and advocacy. These provide the tools and training to save lives, to restart livelihoods, and to restore dignity to more than 4 million beneficiaries every year.

Photographs (from left): Blazej Mikula, Burger/Phanie, Burger/Phanie, ACF-France

Nina S. Zagat Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Zagat Survey Tim Zagat Co-founder, Co-Chair & CEO, Zagat Survey

Burton K. Haimes President

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT



our programs

London Headquarters

North Caucasus

Paris Headquarters Montreal Headquarters

Georgia

Madrid Headquarters

Azerbaijan

New York Headquarters

Action Against Hunger’s programs reach more than 4 million people each year. Yet with an estimated 852 million people suffering from hunger and some 1.1 billion people lacking sufficient drinking water, much work remains to be done. Action Against Hunger’s innovative approach integrates nutrition, water and sanitation, food security, basic health care, and advocacy programs.

Tajikistan

Palestinian Territories Afghanistan

Iran

Pakistan

Nepal

Myanmar Haiti

Mali

Niger

North Sudan

Our Therapeutic Feeding Centers save the lives of severely malnourished children and adults who may be just hours away from death. Action Against Hunger developed, field tested, and pioneered the now widely used therapeutic milk formula F100, which has decreased the mortality rate of severely malnourished children under the age of 5 from as high as 25 percent to as low as 5 percent. We also operate Supplemental Feeding Centers, distributing nutritionally balanced food supplies to treat malnutrition before it becomes life-threatening.

Laos Cambodia

Chad Philippines

Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua

Nutrition

Mongolia

Armenia

South Sudan

Somalia

Ethiopia

Sri Lanka

Colombia Ivory Coast Liberia Sierra Leone Guinea

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kenya Indonesia Uganda Burundi Malawi

Angola Zambia Bolivia Zimbabwe

WATER AND SANITATION Every year, 2.2 million people, most of them children, die from diseases associated with unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. Action Against Hunger provides access to safe drinking water by tapping springs, drilling wells, and installing water systems. We also teach the importance of water and sanitation in preventing disease, and train local teams to maintain water and sanitation equipment.

Argentina

WHERE WE WORK

food security Treating malnutrition is only the beginning. Action Against Hunger combines emergency relief with programs that develop dependable sources of food and income. By providing seeds, tools, and training programs for income-generating activities such as farming, gardening, animal breeding, fishing, small-scale retailing, and food conservation, we work to help communities attain longterm self-sufficiency.

4

Million people benefited from Action Against Hunger’s life-saving programs in 2005



ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

852

million people suffer from hunger

1.1

health

THE ACF INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

Hunger and disease are inextricably linked. Action Against Hunger’s staff includes experts on the medical aspects of malnutrition, tailoring our treatment to ensure that malnourished children and their families receive not only the food they need to regain their health but also medical treatment for diseases associated with malnutrition. We also integrate health initiatives into all of our other programs, and are on the cutting edge of research on the links between HIV/AIDS and hunger.

Action Against Hunger USA is part of the ACF International Network, named for the original member of the network, Action contre la Faim, or ACF, founded in 1979 in Paris. Today, the network consists of five independent organizations: Action Against Hunger USA (ACF-USA) in New York; Action contre La Faim (ACF-France) in Paris; Acción contra el Hambre (ACF-Spain) in Madrid; Action Against Hunger UK (ACF-UK) in London; and Action Contre la Faim/Action Against Hunger Canada (ACF-Canada) in Montréal. The network shares an overall vision of a world without hunger, and the five member organizations collaborate closely, sharing human resources, logistics, and technical capacity. Each country program is managed by one of the five member organizations.

advocacy Action Against Hunger continually analyzes the fundamental causes of hunger and publicizes our findings to government officials, international organizations, and the public. Our advocacy and public awareness efforts aim to effect institutional and cultural changes to help create a world without hunger.

Our comprehensive, cost-effective approach to global hunger delivers a range of communitycentered solutions to populations in crisis

billion people lack sufficient drinking water

Photograph: Burger/Phanie

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT



HIGHLIGHTS: 2005 Responding to Devastation in Pakistan

Our Programs Rescued Thousands from Starvation

Action Against Hunger’s most daunting challenge during 2005 was the launching of programs in Pakistan at a time of extreme urgency. On October 8, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed an estimated 73,000 people and leveled villages across Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan, with Pakistan the most affected by far. The United Nations estimated that 4 million people were affected, whereas 2.5 million were left homeless in Pakistan. Their needs were vast, including blankets, drinking water, food, and winterized tents. Complicating the emergency was a Himalayan winter expected to arrive in full force at any moment. Within a week we had established program headquarters in Islamabad and had flown 30 tons of food and water supplies to desperate beneficiaries. During the next few months we distributed shelter items (blankets, tents) and hygiene kits (soap, toothpaste) and established emergency water routes to more than 33,000 people in hard-hit and difficult-to-access areas surrounding Battagram and Bala Kot. Meanwhile, temperatures in Pakistan hovered between -2 and 10 degrees Celsius, the ground alternated between frozen solidity and mud, snow fell heavily, and cases of pneumonia among the displaced tripled. Landslides blocked roads, so our team used helicopters to reach remote villages in Allai and Kahgan Valleys where we distributed 25 tons of food per day throughout the winter. Some refugees managed to reach camps at lower altitudes where we installed latrines and sanitation facilities. At year-end, our efforts continued.

Our name informs the world that Action Against Hunger feeds beneficiaries—more than 4 million every year. But our most notable skill is giving life back to the dying victims of starvation through our internationally recognized protocols: our Therapeutic Feeding Centers (TFCs) provide an intensive month-long set of medical procedures and nutritional protocols designed for those desperately sick beneficiaries suffering from severe acute malnutrition; our Supplemental Feeding Centers (SFCs) are designed for the moderately malnourished and provide additional rations for those who need help but aren’t on the brink of death. In 2005, the TFCs and SFCs supervised by Action Against Hunger’s U.S. headquarters alone treated 51,550 patients. Some 84.2% of these beneficiaries were treated for moderate malnutrition. On average, we treated 680 children a month in our TFCs during 2005 and 11,000 in our SFCs. We operated 17 TFCs and 69 SFCs on average during the year in all seven countries where we work, and in March 2006 we opened several SFCs and baby-feeding tents in Pakistan. In 2005, the beneficiaries of our feeding centers were distributed as follows: Chad, 1%; D.R. Congo East, 15%; D.R. Congo West, 10%; Kenya, 20%; South Sudan, 1%; Tajikistan, 22%; Uganda, 31%

Our Invaluable Volunteers

Our Gala Honored Desmond Tutu

We are deeply grateful for the professional and general support we receive from our growing network of volunteers who help us in more ways than we can count. In 2005, for example:

On November 11, at our annual World Food Day Gala in New York City, producer/director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda) presented the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We honored the Nobel prize-winning archbishop for his efforts not only to achieve political equality but also to fulfill basic human needs such as adequate food, clean water, and healthcare. In addition to hearing from Archbishop Tutu and Mr. George, 350 attendees were entertained by World Music diva Angélique Kidjo and heard deeply felt, first-hand testimony about our programs in Africa from Action Against Hunger’s National Staff Member of the Year, Aimé Lukelo, our Food Security Coordinator in Kinshasa, D.R. Congo. The sold-out, glittering, formal evening raised more than $500,000 for our programs from ticket sales, an auction, and a wishing well that elicited specific donations for such essentials as drinking wells, medicines, and kits for farming and fishing activities.



• Diverse professionals gave us legal advice, while others kept our computers running. • Professional newscasters volunteered to assemble video reports on our operations in the field and managed to get their reports highlighted in media newscasts worldwide. • Other pros designed and edited our annual report, our brochures, our website, and our e-newsletters. They lent their expertise to our marketing and fundraising, helping us produce a 15-fold increase in our online donations between 2004 and 2005. • In January, restaurateurs volunteered a portion of their receipts in support of our rescue efforts in response to 2004’s tsunami that devastated Indonesia and Sri Lanka. • And general support volunteers arrived daily in our offices to assist us with such tedious chores as data entry and envelope stuffing.

During 2005, interest in helping our programs grew so intense that we initiated semi-monthly volunteer nights at which we describe our work and explain how newcomers can help us. The generosity of all our volunteers who contribute their time and labor was and continues to be of incalculable value.

The Media Focus on Our Global Efforts

51,550 Severely and moderately malnourished patients were treated at our therapeutic and supplementary feeding centers in 2005

These ‘before-and-after’ photos are of a little girl named Habiba who was treated for 30 days at an ACF therapeutic feeding center in Mandera, Kenya—a powerful visual illustration of the life-saving work our teams carry out every day.

Staff and beneficiary at an ACF Therapeutic Feeding Center in Kinshasa, Congo.

We Pioneer New Technology

Father and Daughter amid the aftermath of the earthquake in Pakistan.



ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

In 2002, the U.S. Agency for International Assistance (USAID), in collaboration with other agencies in the U.S. and Canada, initiated the SMART Initiative. SMART is an acronym for Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions. The idea behind SMART is to standardize measurements of humanitarian crises so that calls for aid will be seen as authoritative and so that donors can assess relative needs. In addition, as indicators of a crisis recede, the technology can signal that the emergency has passed. SMART software analyzes three measures of a troubled community: death rates, instances of malnutrition in children younger than five and levels of food security. In 2005, the creators of SMART asked Action Against Hunger to field-test its new software, and we helped refine the initiative’s technology in Chad. In doing so, we also helped create the protocol for using SMART, and now the creators want us to teach that protocol to other aid organizations.

Photographs (clockwise from left): James Pomerantz, Glenn Hughson (2)

In the summer of 2005, to avert a famine that the UN warned could affect a population of 2.5 million—including 800,000 children— Action Against Hunger distributed more than 4,000 tons of food in Mali and Niger. A prolonged drought had increased the vulnerability of pastoralists who wander in search of water and grazing land for their livestock. In addition, our international network set up Supplementary and Therapeutic Feeding Centers to treat severe infant malnutrition, and we constructed and rehabilitated water sources for people and animals. One of our longstanding volunteers, media consultant and TV news reporter Kiran Khalid, advised Action Against Hunger on our media strategy during the crisis. Working with Action Against Hunger’s Communications staff, it was decided that the crisis in Mali and Niger deserved a segment on TV newscasts, so Kiran volunteered to travel there as a reporter, paying her own way. Our network of volunteers led us to cameraman Richard Rowely, who signed up to travel with Kiran, bringing his own editing equipment so that he and Kiran could assemble segments in the field. As a result, for the first time we produced our own TV news spots. Ms. Khalid’s reports appeared on CNN International, and Reuters made them available to local TV stations around the world. After that, our intrepid news reporter and cameraman edited their footage into a short film, The Hunger Gap, which was honored by inclusion in the annual UN Film Festival in New York City in April 2006.

We rallied in Washington On October 15, we held a public exhibition at Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., in support of World Food Day, a UN designated day which brings attention to the issue of world hunger. Borrowing a tradition begun by our Paris office, volunteers set up 50 standing silhouettes in an open space. Then, beginning at noon and continuing until 3 p.m., every four seconds we sounded a gong, and a volunteer overturned one of the silhouettes. This symbolized the reality that a hunger-related death occurs every four seconds. After each of the 50 silhouettes had been toppled, they were set back up again, and the process was repeated. The Congressional Hunger Center, a bipartisan anti-hunger training and awareness organization co-chaired by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA), helped us arrange this event, and Rep. McGovern, a fifth-term Congressional veteran, spoke fervently at the rally about the challenge posed by world hunger.

Photographs (from left): Burger/Phanie, Tina Buckman

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT



Articles

150

emergency response

Metric tons of emergency supplies, water-sanitation equipment, and food rations were airlifted to Indonesia and Sri Lanka within 48 hours of the devastating 2004 tsunami

43

Countries currently host Action Against Hunger relief and development programs

276,000

After more than 25 years of responding to situations arising from war, conflict, and natural disaster, Action Against Hunger has learned that the most effective response to an emergency is to be there before it happens. Our International Network maintains an emergency response team with an array of capabilities in surveillance, rapid response, and emergency preparedness. Disasters often strike repeatedly in the same region, because of recurring weather patterns, political instability, poor infrastructure, and poverty. The most vulnerable and impoverished countries generally suffer the most from such emergencies. Through disaster surveillance and rapid response systems, we can monitor emergency hot spots, build buffer stocks of potential supplies, and put staff on the ground, often before a crisis hits. We carry out this monitoring in part with a Geographic Information System (GIS) that produces a computerized analysis of factors such as available pasture, agricultural production, population movements, market prices of staple foods, and water sources. GIS integrates this complex data into illustrative maps of our program areas. Cyclical Emergencies: Responding in Mali and Niger In late 2004 our GIS data warned us of a looming nutritional crisis in Mali, and by early 2005 we had alerted Mali’s government of trouble ahead. At the time, Action Against Hunger’s nutritional surveys found rates of global acute malnutrition at 15%. Internationally, a rate of 10%

10

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

Beneficiaries assisted by ACF in Niger

(Clockwise from top) Malnourished children being treated at an ACF Therapeutic Feeding Center in Malawi; ACF staff prepare the pre-mix for the nutritional food at a Supplementary Feeding Center in Malawi; Boxes of the therapeutic F-100 milk arrive for beneficiaries in south Sudan; ACF airlifts vital supplies to earthquake-ravaged regions of Pakistan. Beneficiaries of ACF’s life-saving programs in Mali

constitutes an emergency. The “hunger gap,” a span of months between the depletion of last year’s harvest and the reaping of this year’s crops, is a chronic problem in Mali and many other countries. For Mali in 2005, the hunger gap began much earlier than usual, and Action Against Hunger joined other humanitarian organizations in calling on the international community to address the situation before it turned into a crisis. We’ve been present in Mali since 1996, and we responded to the growing malnutrition rates with programs in emergency nutrition and food security targeted at the most vulnerable populations in the regions of Gao and Kidal. We also expanded our emergency services in neighboring Niger, a country facing a similar nutritional crisis, far in advance of broad action by the international community. Our surveillance and response efforts helped successfully mitigate the impact of the crisis, and our emergency programs reached more than 276,000 beneficiaries. Catastrophic Emergencies: Tsunami-Affected Asia While some emergencies, such as a hunger gap, are cyclical and possible to anticipate, others arrive with no warning, often causing catastrophic damage. When disaster strikes, the most effective aid delivers immediate relief—the first 24 to 48 hours are critical for people displaced, injured, or otherwise affected by natural disasters and large-scale emergencies.

Photograph: Hedy Ip

With programs and staff in more than 40 countries, Action Against Hunger is wellpositioned to respond quickly. For example, when the catastrophic tsunami of 2004 ripped through South and Southeast Asia, killing hundreds of thousands and wreaking unprecedented destruction, our emergency teams arrived within 48 hours in the hardest-hit areas of Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In the first 15 days, we dispatched five aircraft that delivered 150 tons of supplies. Our waterand-sanitation teams helped restore water supplies by providing emergency fresh water as well as cleaning water sources polluted by the tsunami waves. We also established disaster preparedness programs in Aceh designed to reduce the vulnerability of Indonesians to future floods. Rapid Response Capabilities: Post-Earthquake Pakistan With emergency teams on call, and essential supplies stored at staging grounds

in Europe, we can travel swiftly to anywhere in the world when the need arises. Our emergency response team is made up of highly trained professionals, experts in disaster relief and rapid response. Our team members are on-call 24/7, ready to act as soon as they’re needed. Once dispatched to an emergency, the response team undertakes rapid assessments, defining where and how to distribute relief, and to evaluate what kind of aid is most needed. Action Against Hunger tested its emergency response capabilities following the devastating 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Pakistan in October 2005. Within hours, we dispatched a surveyor to the scene and began assembling a team to assist the estimated 2.5 million Pakistanis in need of aid to feed themselves and to survive the severe Himalayan winter. The team first embarked on an assessment of two areas within the damaged region. Answering logistical questions, such as how to transport food aid, supplies, and staff, as well as how

Photographs (clockwise from top): Atwood/Agence Vu (2), Blaze j Mikula, Richard Moss

to coordinate information and resources with other aid organizations working in the region, is central to the implementation of effective, efficient programs. Through an assessment of the damaged region, our team of experts identified the hard-hit and difficultto-access areas surrounding Battagram and Bala Kot and the mountain valleys of Allai and Kaghan as most appropriate for our emergency relief programs. Our logistics coordinators had to determine the fastest, safest way to transport food and supplies to desperate beneficiaries. With the rugged, mountainous terrain further compromised by landslides and other earthquake fallout and many of our target areas far from roads and unreachable by truck in the best circumstances, helicopters proved the best option to carry out shortterm distributions. We distributed emergency hygiene kits, blankets, and tents, in addition to food and water supplies. Like the choice of helicopters for transport, our emergency response team had to use the results of their assessments and expert knowledge to make swift decisions in all aspects of program formation, a process that usually requires months of careful planning under non-emergency circumstances. Action Against Hunger’s emergency response initiatives proved to be a significant part of our work in 2005. Disaster surveillance, rapid-response mechanisms, and emergency preparedness capabilities place Action Against Hunger at the forefront of disaster relief. All of our emergency response programs include longer-term components designed to provide training and to help local communities better prepare for and mitigate future crises. For survivors of natural disasters as well as chronic emergencies of drought and malnutrition, self-sufficiency is the most powerful tool for rebuilding after disaster. n

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

11

Articles

NUTRITION Action Against Hunger’s methods for identifying and rescuing starving populations have become the world’s standard. The World Health Organization, for example, recommends our therapeutic rescue protocols in the treatment of malnutrition. We replicate these procedures everywhere we operate, and the thoroughness of our approach can be seen in our efforts in southern Sudan in 2005.

On January 9, 2005, a peace agreement between the Government of Sudan and the main southern rebel organization, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, ended a fierce civil war that ravaged southern Sudan for 21 years. An estimated two million Sudanese lost their lives during the civil war while some four million have been displaced. And while the peace agreement has raised hopes for greater peace and stability in southern Sudan, restoring self-sufficiency has proved to be a daunting task. Action Against Hunger’s teams have long carried out extensive surveys documenting the nutritional problems in the south; indeed, our teams provide the only comprehensive understanding available of malnutrition in southern Sudan, which forms the basis of our broader advocacy efforts in the region. Our surveys have consistently uncovered global rates of malnutrition that rank among the highest in the world, and whereas the peace process is a crucial development, it hasn’t meant greater health and security as of yet—in fact, thousands of Sudanese have begun returning home only to find new problems and scarce resources. Acknowledging the challenge, in 2005 Action Against Hunger began extensive nutritional training of local and international nongovernmental humanitarian organizations, teaching our state-of-the-art protocols for curing and preventing malnutrition to

international and national aid workers alike. In addition, we opened facilities in southern Sudan with two new Therapeutic Feeding Centers (TFCs) and Home Treatment Centers in the Bahr-el Ghazal region. Malnutrition is life-threatening because it’s often associated with other complications such as dehydration, hypoglycemia, hypothermia, and infection. Malnourished patients are particularly vulnerable to infection because of the poor inflammatory response, changes in body composition, loss of energy reserves, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies associated with hunger. To treat these conditions, our TFCs form the core of our emergency rescue programs in southern Sudan and elsewhere. At our TFCs, treatment is divided into three phases: • Initial Acute Phase: We begin feeding patients immediately with the F-75 therapeutic milk, which is the only food a malnourished child’s system can tolerate. (Sugar water is sometimes given to children as an initial stop-gap while the F-75 formula is being prepared.) Small doses of F-75 are given eight to 12 times a day which restores the body’s basic metabolic functions without overtaxing weakened bio-cellular mechanisms. If diseases are present, the patient receives appropriate medications. This phase can last a week or more.

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

• Intermediate Phase: This phase lasts for four days and involves five to eight meals daily. The only food given is F-100 therapeutic milk, which has a greater concentration than F-75 has of energy-supplying nutrients, lipids, and proteins. Both the F-100 and F-75 formulae were developed by members of our Scientific Committee and field tested by ACF. • Rehabilitation Phase: This lasts for 15 to 20 days. A patient’s meals are cut back to six a day, and patients one-year-old and up are given, along with F-100 milk, a porridge most commonly made from corn flour, soya flour, oil, and sugar. Typically, these three phases together last for one month. Then, if weight-gain has been satisfactory (patients weigh at least 85% of their expected weight), patients are discharged to their homes and asked to return periodically for monitoring during the following three months. Discharged patients are also enrolled in our Supplementary Feeding Centers (SFCs)—for the treatment of moderate malnutrition—where they and their family receive supplemental food rations to augment the household diet, thereby ensuring that the discharged patient continues to recover. In 2005, our TFCs in southern Sudan cured more than 80% of their beneficiaries, most of whom were on the brink of death when they arrived. Some 3% of the children in our TFCs suffered from severe medical complications and were referred to other medical care facilities because of underlying

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Beneficiaries in Malawi await a meal at an ACF Supplementary Feeding Center.

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In 2005, our TFCs in southern Sudan cured more than 80% of their beneficiaries, most of whom were on the brink of death when they arrived.

Photograph: Atwood/Agence Vu

million displaced by the civil war in Sudan, which ended in 2005 after 21 years

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diseases (malaria or respiratory tract infections being the most common). Other patients simply left our program in mid-stream against our advice—individuals for whom our home treatment options may be better suited. Because we require a caretaker to remain with a child throughout treatment in a TFCs, family demands on the caretaker (usually a child’s mother) can sometimes make 30 days of treatment impossible. So in recent years, we’ve initiated home treatment programs. A malnourished child must remain at a TFC for the first week of treatment, but after that, the child’s mother is instructed how to feed her recovering child at home according to our therapeutic regimen of either BP-100 or Plumpy’nut—two ready-to-eat products with the same nutritional composition as F-100. Action Against Hunger workers visit the child at home to ensure that recovery is continuing, and the child must return to the TFCs weekly so that his or her weight gain can be measured accurately. In south Sudan during 2005, our home care programs produced a cure rate higher than 90%. We’ve seen substantial success at our centers and in our training of other humanitarian workers in southern Sudan, but malnutrition remains at dangerously high levels. Meanwhile, in addition to curing beneficiaries, we’re training local residents to take over our operations so that the community can meet its own needs without our assistance. In all our programs in southern Sudan and elsewhere, we work to support municipal health structures, coordinate with existing government services, and build capacity in local institutions to ensure that our programs are sustained over the long run—long after we’ve left the area. We’ll cede administrative control just as soon as we feel confident that local institutions will be able to continue the work we’ve begun, thus, recruiting and training local staff is an integral part of all of our nutrition programs. n

Percent cure rate produced by Action Against Hunger’s home care programs in southern Sudan in 2005

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

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Articles

40,000

Water and Sanitation in Haiti and Guatemala

Beneficiaries in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, had clean water and basic sanitation restored when AcF set up 37 water sources and 77 latrines after a hurricane.

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Liters of water per day were provided to 50,000 Guatemalans by our emergency water-and-sanitation programs after a hurricane severely damaged local infrastructure. Action Against Hunger airlifted critical supplies, watertreatment chemicals, water tanks, electric generators, and water pumps to the region to support communities left without safe drinking water, food, or basic sanitation

In developing countries, 2.2 million people, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene.

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ACF water source serving beneficiaries in hurricaneravaged Haiti.

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(1) Displaced communities in northern Uganda celebrate the inauguration of a new ACF hand pump; (2) ACF’s water and sanitation teams operate a drilling rig to create a borehole for clean water in Uganda; (3) Our teams construct water sources and distribution networks for hurricane-affected communities in Haiti; (4) ACF’s emergency interventions ensure access to clean water, a first line of defense in mitigating a natural disaster.

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Photographs: (1, 2) Mike Wolf. (3, 4) ACF-France

A community’s health and nutrition require a lasting supply of clean water and the knowledge of how to use and care for it properly. People, of course, as well as farm animals and crops, require water to avoid dehydration—which in a few hours can kill a child locked in a hot car or an athlete exercising vigorously in intense sun. Equally important, the water must be clean because communicable diseases thrive in dirty water. Contamination spreads cholera, hepatitis A and E, meningitis, polio, shigella, and typhoid fever. Intestinal parasites lurk in impure water waiting to colonize the intestines of unsuspecting drinkers, and mosquitoborne illnesses including malaria and yellow fever can spread when stagnant ground water allows insects to breed. And as every medical professional knows, the single most effective way to prevent the spread of disease is to scrub your hands thoroughly using soap and clean water. One study concluded that simply having people wash their hands could save the lives of more than a million children each year. All of our programs at Action Against Hunger require the availability of clean water. When it isn’t available, we bring it in—by truck, if necessary, but also by tapping natural sources such as springs, aquifers, lakes, and streams. Our teams dig wells (when water is

Photograph: Atwood/Agence Vu

near the surface) or boreholes (when it’s deep), and even construct distribution networks. Water and sanitation is at the core of all our programs, but during 2005 we responded swiftly to emergencies caused by hurricanes in Haiti and Guatemala that destroyed water-and-sanitation infrastructure in many communities. During July, Haiti endured winds and torrential rains that caused mudslides and demolished local water-and-sanitation networks—which were already damaged from rains earlier in the year. In the hardest-hit communities, Haitians had no safe drinking water, and drainage systems were overwhelmed. During 2005 in Port-de-Paix, for example, Action Against Hunger set up 37 water sources and 77 latrines to serve 40,000 beneficiaries. There and elsewhere in Haiti, we also installed wastewater treatment plants and drinking water fountains, and we distributed kits for house-cleaning and hygiene. In October, a hurricane struck Guatemala, severely damaging local infrastructure and leaving isolated communities without safe water, food, or basic health care. In response, we sent 10 water tanks, 100 kilograms of watertreatment chemicals, electric generators, and water pumps. We were at one point supplying

five liters of water per day to 50,000 people. Years of experience, however, have taught us that simply creating and rehabilitating water structures is insufficient. In order to ensure that a source of clean water is sustained and that the water is used effectively, we must also educate communities about keeping their water, hands, and environment sanitary. In both Haiti and Guatemala, therefore, in addition to building and rehabilitating water-and-sanitation systems, we organized and trained local water committees to manage and maintain those systems independently. Though each of our humanitarian interventions presents its own particular challenges, our response in Haiti and Guatemala typifies our approach everywhere, which combines rescue, rehabilitation, and training to ensure self-sufficiency. Year after year, those procedures prove successful. n

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Articles

FOOD SECURITY: FARMING IN BAGS An estimated 100,000 people have died as a result of two decades of conflict in northern Uganda, with another 20,000 abducted by rebels roaming the bush. As a result, roughly two million displaced people are crowded into camps with little access to their former farmlands. ACF’s food security programs offer unique solutions to this problem. Action Against Hunger has been active in Uganda since 1997, and in 2004 we launched a pilot project in microgardening at two local camps, which we expanded to five camps during 2005. The project involved planting vegetable seeds in large polyethylene grain sacks, which are abundant in the camps and inexpensive. Gardeners received as many as five sacks and placed banana stems in each, propped upright with rocks. After filling the bags with soil, gardeners removed the stems and planted seeds in the top of the bag as well as in the sides, maximizing the productive surface of the bag. Altogether, more than 2,800 sack gardens were planted during 2005. We trained participants using a demonstration garden in each camp, teaching construction of microgardens, maintenance, and vegetable harvesting. After the training, we gave each household a watering can and a kit containing seeds for carrots, climbing beans, onions, spinach, and tomatoes. The climbing beans were intended as a solution to the lack of space in displacement camps: Beneficiaries used their huts as supports for the tomato and bean vines. Nearly all the participants were women, each of whom constructed sack gardens near her household. The gardeners took soil and rocks from nearby areas and built fences using local materials, such as thorny bushes or bamboo.

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Health: We Advocate Breastfeeding

The nutritional and disease-preventing benefits of breastfeeding are beyond question. Yet the practice is often distrusted in developing communities.

ACF’s innovative food security programs offer a broad range of solutions for generating income and boosting food production— like this farming association in the Congo.

Maintenance was minimal. Watering, planting, and weeding typically required little more than two hours a week. ACF food security staff made weekly visits to monitor the gardens and help troubleshoot. The project had three primary goals: • To decrease beneficiaries exposure to insecurity by reducing travel times (i.e., traveling from homes to adjacent sack gardens rather than to fields in the countryside, where there is risk of assault or abduction by rebels is great) • To decrease the time spent on farming (e.g., the need for weeding was minimized) • And to increase the food security options for households (i.e., they could sell the vegetables they grew, they could improve their own diets, and they could provide a bit of work for landless or idle families).

The simplest path to healthy nourishment for infants worldwide is complicated by each community’s attitudes toward breastfeeding. Even in the United States, the acceptability of breastfeeding seems to change every generation or so. The World Health Organization’s protocols stress that infants should be breastfed for at least the first six months of life, even while adding other liquids and solid foods after six months. Yet some cultures frown on breastfeeding a child who is older than six months, even though a longer regimen is likely to produce healthier children. In Tajikistan, for instance, our team has organized a breastfeeding support group that advocates breastfeeding among our beneficiaries. In one village, a woman who was in labor asked an Action Against Hunger midwife to deliver her fourth baby. The midwife persuaded the mother to allow other women from her community to witness “skin-toskin” contact after delivery. Immediately following the birth, the midwife placed the newborn on the mother’s abdomen. The baby started to seek the breast, and with guidance from the mother and the midwife, the baby started nursing. The women who were watching had been skeptical when the midwife described a newborn’s breastfeeding instinct, but this demonstration convinced them. Now the

participants plan to continue sack gardening in the future. Many reported that they had no other land to plant and were relieved to have more food for their children. They also praised the ease of maintaining the gardens and of monitoring them to prevent loss of their produce to thieves. Many participants also found the sack gardens to be decorative. Among the seeds we distributed, carrots were new to many recipients, but children loved them. Some parents reported that their children ate more enthusiastically whenever carrots were part of the meal. When we first introduced carrot recipes into our training, the mothers cheered. Our project in Uganda wasn’t the first to introduce farming in sacks, but in the wake of its success, we intend to initiate similar programs elsewhere. n

Camp residents found the project to be odd, but they participated nonetheless, and the gardens proved notably successful. Spinach, carrots, and onions grew especially well. All participants used the produce from their gardens to improve their families’ diets, and nearly half were able to sell some. The most successful gardeners prepared as many as 60 meals from their gardens, and the majority of

Beneficiaries in south Sudan learn the virtues of breast milk.

6 Photograph: Burger/Phanie

Minimum number of months that infants should be breastfed according to the World Health Organization’s protocols

Photograph: Blazej Mikula

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witnesses are helping to educate other mothers in the community. The skinto-skin mother, in turn, had bottle-fed her previous three children, but she’s successfully breastfeeding her fourth baby. One complication in persuading mothers to breastfeed is that numerous cultures in the developing world mistrust colostrum. During the first three or four days after a child is born, a mother’s breasts produce milk that’s high in antibodies, carbohydrates, and protein called colostrum. It’s easily digestible, and the nutrition it contains is highly concentrated. It jump-starts a baby’s digestive system and protects the child from disease. In addition, when children suckle colostrum, the action helps prevent engorgement of the mother’s breasts and prompts them to produce milk more abundantly in the following weeks and months. But colostrum is thicker and more yellow than the milk that comes later, and many cultures are suspicious of it. Until a mother’s milk becomes more “normal,” they believe that breastfeeding their children is unhealthy, though in fact newborns benefit more from colostrum than from any other food they could be given. Often, teams organized by Action Against Hunger are able to change community opinions about colostrum. In one culture, for example, herders periodically lead their livestock away from their homes in search of food and water, but traditionally a herder will leave one animal behind for each member of his family. Sometimes this leads to female livestock being separated from their newborns. When this happens, no matter how the newborn is nourished, it grows with less hardiness than if it had fed on its mother’s colostrum, and villagers know it. When our teams point out that the same debility can result from human mothers depriving their newborns of colostrum, understanding often dawns and minds are changed. The nutritional and disease-preventing benefits of breastfeeding are beyond question. Yet the practice is often distrusted in developing communities and sometimes in developed communities as well. Nonetheless, none of our efforts is as effective in forestalling disease and malnutrition among infants than persuading beneficiaries to breastfeed for the first 6 months. n

number of breastfeeding support groups created under Action Against Hunger’s health initiatives in Tajikistan

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

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Articles

Advocacy: Working In Politically Charged Zimbabwe

Delivering more than assistance: engaging in advocacy to ensure long-term humanitarian outcomes

The past half decade has been particularly cruel for Zimbabwe. A debilitating mix of drought, hyperinflation, plummeting food production, soaring unemployment, shortages of consumer goods, among other setbacks have exacerbated a steep economic and social decline. Add to this a burgeoning health crisis—a sharp drop in health and social services coupled with an HIV/AIDS pandemic—and you have a recipe for a horrifying new reality: Life expectancy in Zimbabwe has plunged from 61 to 34 years in a mere decade and a half. To make matters worse, the humanitarian dimensions of this crisis have been completely obscured by its politics: Divisive land reform has produced an impasse of hardened national and international positions, mutual suspicions, and finger-pointing that has aggravated the social emergency. The resulting polarization has had ruinous consequences for Zimbabwe’s shaky economic health, its already vulnerable populations, and its ability to access international assistance given its deteriorating relationships with the West.

political climate surrounding Zimbabwe and its international reputation was making the humanitarian situation worse. Regardless of who was ultimately to blame for the crisis, its underlying causes were not being addressed. Instead, they were overshadowed by the ongoing turmoil and political tensions stemming from the land-reform controversy. Zimbabwe’s emerging status as a pariah state and its strained relationship with the West began to color the international community’s response to the humanitarian crisis, prioritizing political considerations over needs:

The Political Dimensions of a Humanitarian Crisis Action Against Hunger (ACF) began its foodsecurity and water-and-sanitation programs in Zimbabwe in 2002, during the height of a regional food crisis that extended well beyond Zimbabwe’s borders. Since then, thanks to

• The areas resettled during land reform were excluded from the main aid packages, despite the areas’ central role in food production, the decimation of needed agricultural supports, and the resettled population’s ongoing vulnerability.

• The cooperation and development funding normally available to Zimbabwe was curtailed, and international assistance was limited to emergency relief. • Humanitarian assistance has been channeled exclusively through international organizations, bypassing support for Zimbabwe’s government services (despite the evidence of what this has meant for poor Zimbabweans).

In short, the basic health and nutritional needs of the population were being sacrificed for political ends. Enter Humanitarian Advocacy: ACF Reasserts the Need for Depoliticized Aid As a humanitarian organization, Action Against Hunger’s mandate is to improve the lives of communities trapped in humanitarian crises—helping families get back on their feet through our nutrition, water-and-sanitation, food-security, and health interventions. But if the larger political context undermines a population’s health and well-being or prolongs a vulnerable community’s exposure to life-threatening conditions, then ACF is compelled to address the setting in which our humanitarian programs takes place. This is an essential role of humanitarian advocacy. Humanitarian advocacy enables non-political organizations such as ACF to operate in broader political arenas while maintaining the core values that make humanitarian action unique: independent, impartial, non-discriminatory, needs-based assessments of conditions on the ground. These are the values that should ground and inform international assistance— not the shifting agendas of political adversaries. In Zimbabwe, relief agencies found themselves trapped between the government and the international community’s mutual mistrust while being further hobbled by the politicized conditions on the ground. The result: Humanitarian aid had become so politicized that it was no longer possible to present impartial data on the scope of the crisis, let alone to

influence the design and direction of the humanitarian response in Zimbabwe. What was needed, our analysis said, was to reassert a “shared understanding of the challenges faced by the communities and the priorities of assistance,” lest the vulnerable people of Zimbabwe continue to be victimized. ACF’s behind-the-scenes advocacy aims to do just that. We hope to reshape the debate on Zimbabwe’s crisis so that humanitarian action will be shielded from politics, and the international community’s priorities can tackle the underlying causes of the crisis rather than spar with the regime. Action Against Hunger’s Recommendations for More Effective Assistance Action Against Hunger’s advocacy made three general recommendations for revitalizing the humanitarian response in Zimbabwe: • To the International Community

Zimbabwean beneficiaries pose in front of a new source of clean water, built through Action Against Hunger’s programs

Western governments must not impose sanctions on governments which adversely affect populations already weakened by economic crisis and climate constraints. Western governments must promote a non-discriminatory approach for assistance programs. • To Government Donors Rather than react to Zimbabwe’s political issues, donor strategies should integrate socioeconomic analyses and avoid any form of discrimination in assistance. The community of donors should promote humanitarian programs and recovery activities aimed at improving living conditions sustainably for all of Zimbabwe’s vulnerable communities.

Our food security and water-and-sanitation programs in Zimbabwe are vital to the vulnerable communities pictured here, but we can only be effective if the overall context ensures humanitarian outcomes.

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ample food assistance from the international community, Zimbabwe has managed to avoid a spike in its malnutrition rates even though much of its population remains precariously vulnerable. And while Zimbabwe’s problems are still largely framed as a “food crisis,” the real threat to the lives and livelihoods of poor Zimbabweans is the decimating health crisis and AIDS pandemic that currently claim some 170,000 lives a year. Yet even as the health and economic contributions to this social emergency must be addressed, the political context needlessly prolongs and deepens the crisis. ACF’s teams began to realize that the

• Despite a devastating health crisis—an HIV/AIDS pandemic with one of the highest death rates in the world—the health sector remains acutely underfunded, even by regional standards. In short, the basic health and nutritional needs of the population have been sacrificed for political ends, and ACF feared the crisis would deteriorate further if the overall climate were not addressed.

All Photographs: ACF-France

• To Non-Governmental Organizations

34 170 years is the average life expectancy in Zimbabwe after a decade of crisis

Thousand AIDS-related deaths occur every year in Zimbabwe, obscured by the political crisis

Relief agencies must strive to get out of the political arena and give priority to relief, assistance, and recovery activities. This can be achieved through compliance with humanitarian principles such as non-discrimination and impartiality, and through sharing information and analyses related to livelihood situations. Engaging in humanitarian advocacy ensures that organizations such as ACF can address the tensions inherent in any political context, and in the end, deliver not only direct assistance but broader humanitarian outcomes as well. n

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In-Kind Contributions of Goods or Services

ACF-USA’s Statement of Activities and changes IN NET ASSETS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2005

Individuals

2005 World Food Day Gala Supporters

Special Thanks To

Angela Alston Andrew Chen Timothy Crespi Jonathan Dienst Kiran Khalid Fiorella Lavado Matt Mason Mitzi MacDonald Cynthia Mejias Blazej Miluka Margarita Peces Nancy Penner James Pomerantz Traer Price Mat Norton Reed Robbins Mary O’Neil Berry Karen Shunick David Sirota Erica Zelfand

Benefit Committee

Bernardaud Chanel, Inc. Chateau Lafite Rothschild Chateau Mouton Rothschild Christain Dior, Inc. Susan Eng Givenchy Hermes de Paris, Inc. Hotel Plaza Athenee John Hardy Jessica Weber Design, Inc. La Maison du Chocolat Lalique North America Lanson Champagne L’Olivier Downtown Luxottica Group Alexandra Leclerc Longchamp The Macallan Scotch Whisky Nicholas F. MacLean, Christie’s Auction House Monsieur Touton Selections, Ltd. Ruth C. Schwartz & Co. Public Relations and Events Solutions Sal Anthony Sal Anthony Pilates Studio The Scottish Gourmet Smashing Ideas Swiss International Airlines Virginie Sommet Starchefs.com The Thomas Group Printing

UNRESTRICTED

Corporations / Institutions Avenue A / Razorfish Interrupción J&D Labs, Inc. Lillian Lincoln Foundation The Newspark Group NYU Capstone Program Peace Cereal Puppet PSA People Smashing Ideas, Inc. StarChefs.com Thelen Reid & Priest, LLP Vranken Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

Action Against Hunger’s international relief and development programs provide immediate assistance and long-term relief to malnourished children and their families. As a world leader in the treatment of malnutrition, ACF’s programs are informed by over a quarter century of cutting-edge activities in the fight against global hunger, delivering effective assistance in a wide range of countries and cultural contexts, as exemplified by these photos.

4

Henry H. Arnhold Daniel Barth Marcel and Marlise Biedermann Olivier Cassegrain Robert B. Chavez Charles-Henri Cousin Ariane Daguin Olivier Giugni David and Liz Hinden Alison Holtzschue Schloss Ida Kowit Valerie Krieger Olivier Lebret Peter and janet Ley Deanna Littell Nicholas and Charlotte MacLean Juan Pablo Molyneux Jessica Packer Joel and Yuta Powell Marla Sabo Robert and Julie Schaffer Barbara Cirkva Schumacher and John Schumacher Paul and Ursula Striker Jessica Weber Wendy C. Weiler and Donald E. Chappell Epicurean Committee Rick Smilow, The Institute of Culinary Education Chef Cornelius Gallagher, Oceana Chef Andrew Gold, The Institute of Culinary Education Chef Deborah Snyder, Lever House Ariane Daguin, D’Artagnan Chef Karl Schmid, The Metropolitan Club

1

2

3

TEMPORARILY RESTRICTED

TOTAL

$1,651,495

$ 1,921,308

$ 3,572,803

133,372 33,227 24,621 474 17,121,970

6,750,748 11,416,304 - - (17,121,970)

6,884,120 11,449,531 24,621 474 -

18,965,159

2,966,390

21,931,549

5,192,713 2,033,458 3,124,967 1,753,885 1,058,250 760,867 1,403,845 821,656 311,087 345,073 27,000

- - - - - - - - - - -

5,192,713 2,033,458 3,124,967 1,753,885 1,058,250 760,867 1,403,845 821,656 311,087 345,073 27,000

16,832,801

-

16,832,801

Supporting services: Management and General Fundraising

1,399,513 358,133

- -

1,399,513 358,133



Total supporting services

1,757,646

-

1,757,646



Total expenses

18,590,447

-

18,590,447

374,712 (200,000) (92,605) (20,288) 61,819 1,649,078

2,966,390 - (462,323) (40,342) 2,463,725 2,540,851

3,341,102 (200,000) (554,928) (60,630) 2,525,544 4,189,929

$ 1,710,897

$ 5,004,576

$ 6,715,473

REVENUE AND SUPPORT Contributions Grants (Note 5): U.S. Government Non-U.S. Government Interest Other Net assets released from donor restrictions (Note 6)

Total revenue and support

EXPENSES Program Services: Democratic Republic of Congo Programs South Sudan Programs Uganda Programs Pakistan Programs Tajikistan Programs Kenya Programs Chad Programs Sri Lanka Programs Guinea Programs Mali Programs Niger Programs

Total program services

Changes in net assets before other items Provision for unanticipated losses Exchange gain (loss) De-obligated awards and funds returned to donors Changes in net assets Net assets at beginning of year NET ASSETS AT END OF YEAR

6

HOW WE USE OUR FUNDS

funds we commit to all our programs

FUNDRAISING

2%

ALL OTHERS 9%

MANAGEMENT AND GENERAL

7.5%

5

TOTAL PROGRAM SERVICES 90.5%

CHAD

8%

KENYA

5%

TAJIKISTAN

6%

PAKISTAN

10%

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO 31%

SOUTH SUDAN 12% UGANDA

22

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

Photographs: (1) Claudine DOURY; (2) Laurence Leblanc, Agence Vu; (3) Burger/Phanie;

(4) Blazej Mikula; (5) Jane Evelyn Atwood, Agence Vu; (6) Blazej Mikula

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

19%

23

THE ACF INTERNATIONAL NETWORK 1

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER, USA 247 West 37th Street Suite 1201 New York, NY 10018 USA Tel: +1 212 967 7800 Fax: +1 212 967 5480 [email protected] www.actionagainsthunger.org President: Burton K. Haimes Director: Cathy Skoula

2

3

4

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER, FRANCE 4 rue Niepce 75014 Paris, France Tel: +33 1 43 35 88 88 Fax: +33 1 43 35 88 00 [email protected] www.actioncontrelafaim.org President: Jean-Christophe Rufin Director: Benoit Miribel

5

action against hunger, spain C/Caracas, 6, 1° 28010 Madrid, Spain Tel: +34 91 391 53 00 Fax: +34 91 391 53 01 [email protected] www.accioncontraelhambre.org President: Jose Luis Leal Maldonado Director: Olivier Longue

6

7

(1) Our programs reach vulnerable populations in far-flung areas like this man’s village in southern Sudan. (2) Poverty, deprivation, and chronic malnutrition are all too common, but our programs restore dignity and health, as this photo from Mongolia suggests. (3) Much of our work focuses on children under the age of five because of their susceptibility to health complications from hunger and malnutrition, as these images from Congo (3) and Malawi (4) depict. (5) This photo is of the ready-to-eat nutritional product, “plumpy’nut,” that we often use during the initial phase of a nutritional crisis. (6) We rely on the support of all kinds of people, including these young students who participate in our annual “Run Against Hunger,” raising awareness and funds for ACF’s global efforts. (7) Our therapeutic feeding centers (TFCs) take on many forms, from tents, to wooden structures, to actual hospital rooms—like this photo of a TFC in Malawi—but they all operate as intensive care units, despite their homey appearance.

Action Against Hunger, United Kingdom First Floor, rear premises, 161-163 Greenwich High Road, London, SE10 8JA United Kingdom Tel: + 44 208 293 6190 Fax: + 44 208 858 8372 [email protected] www.aahuk.org President: Sir Ronald Grierson Director: Jean-Michel Grand ACTION AGAINST HUNGER, CANADA 7464 rue St Denis H2R 2E4 Montréal, Quebec, Canada Tel: +1.514.279.4876 [email protected] www.actioncontrelafaim.ca President: Diane Bussandri Director: Anne-Sophie Fournier

Our International Charter: A Commitment to Principled Humanitarian Action All members of the Action Against Hunger International Network adhere to the following humanitarian principles. Independence Action Against Hunger acts according to its own principles in order to maintain its moral and financial independence. Action Against Hunger’s actions are not defined in terms of domestic or foreign policies, nor does the organization act in the interest of any government. Neutrality Action Against Hunger maintains a strict political and religious neutrality. Nevertheless, Action Against Hunger can denounce human rights violations it witnesses as well as obstacles put in the way of its humanitarian activities. Non-Discrimination A victim is a victim. Action Against Hunger rejects all discrimination based on ethnicity, nationality, opinion, race, religion, sex, or social class. Free and Direct Access to Victims Action Against Hunger demands free access to victims and direct control of its programs. Action Against Hunger uses all means available to achieve this goal, and will denounce and act against obstacles that prevent the organization from doing so. Action Against Hunger also verifies the allocation of its resources in order to ensure that they reach those individuals for whom they are destined. Under no circumstances can partners working together with or alongside Action Against Hunger become the ultimate beneficiaries of Action Against Hunger’s aid programs. Professionalism To maximize its efficiency and use of resources, Action Against Hunger bases the assessment, conception, management, and realization of its programs on the highest professional standards and its years of experience. Transparency Action Against Hunger is committed to respecting a policy of transparency and disclosure for its beneficiaries, donors, and partners by making available all information on the allocation and management of its funds, and by providing independent verification of its good management.

Special thanks to Peter Noah for the design and production of this publication.

24

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

Photographs: (1) Blazej Mikula; (2) Claudine Doury, Agence Vu; (3) Burger/Phanie; (4) Jane Evelyn Atwood, Agence Vu;

(5) Hedy Ip; (6) Jean Lapegue; (7) Jane Evelyn Atwood, Agence Vu

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

25

1200 2.6 ,

People in the Democratic Republic of Congo die every day, largely from disease and food shortages linked to six years of war and the subsequent collapse of the Congo’s health system and economy

43 5 26

Countries currently host Action Against Hunger relief and development programs

ACF Headquarters make up our International Network

Years of ACF Expertise in Humanitarian Action

Billion people lack basic sanitation today—an astounding forty-two percent of the world’s population. Unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene lead to a host of infectious diseases and chronic malnutrition that ultimately kill over two million children a year

396

852 3.9 Million people in the world suffer from malaria, which kills one million people each year, most of whom are children under the age of five. Simple, cost-effective solutions, however, exist for preventing the needless toll that malaria exacts on poor communities

Million people suffer from hunger around the world, in both its chronic and acute forms. Hunger and malnutrition kill over five million children every year, induce tremendous suffering, and cost poor countries billions of dollars in national income and lost productivity

1.1 BILLION

People lack access to safe water around the world, leaving them vulnerable to daily indignities and frightening rates of death and debilitation

Million Congolese have died as a result of conflict since 1998, mostly from hunger and disease

51,550 ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 247 West 37th Street Suite 1201 New York, NY 10018 USA Tel: +1 212 967 7800 People were treated in ACF’s Therapeutic and Supplemental Feeding Centers in 2005, most of whom Fax: +1 212 967 5480 were on the brink of death when they arrived. ACF’s humanitarian interventions restore life, [email protected] dignity, and self-sufficiency, uniquely bridging urgent relief with longer-term development www.actionagainsthunger.org