My essential question is, how does a non-profit organization implement a sustainable solution to global hunger and poverty? Even though my internship with The Hunger Project is remote, I have gained a lot of knowledge on the organization itself and its unique approach to ending world hunger. I have been examining my essential question by conducting research using the organization’s comprehensive and detailed website, participating in meetings with staff, and talking to my internship supervisors. One major thing that I learned in answering my essential question is that The Hunger Project is committed to ending hunger as an expression of global citizenship, global partnership, and global responsibility. The organization considers that hunger exists not as a local or national problem, but as a global problem. This methodology contributes greatly to the organization’s unique and sustainable approach. Rather than raising money and providing handouts for those living in conditions of hunger, The Hunger Project takes a holistic approach. The organization recognizes that hunger is linked to many other issues including decent work, health, education, environmental sustainability, and social justice. In order to solve hunger on a sustainable basis, all of these issues must be solved together.

Furthermore, The Hunger Project recognizes that treating people living in conditions of hunger as beneficiaries can often crush dignity. Instead, The Hunger Project emphasizes that we must treat them as the key resource for ending hunger. In addition, I have learned that to solve hunger and poverty globally, the world must recognize that these issues are not problems of a single country or another but are global issues. We must solve them not as “donors and recipients” but as global citizens, working as coequal partners in a common front to end hunger. In terms of answering my essential question, I have learned that a non-profit organization can implement a sustainable solution to hunger by training them in the skills, methods, knowledge, and leadership needed to take self-reliant actions so they can meet their own basic needs, improve their communities and build better futures for themselves and their children. This approach differs greatly from many humanitarian aid organizations that simply provide immediate relief to those in need. While handouts help those living in hunger in the short-term, they are unsustainable and do not solve hunger or poverty in the long run.