Child Well-Being in Rich Countries – Unicef Report Card 11

Report Card 11: Child well-being in rich countries, from UNICEF’s Office of Research, examines the state of children across the ‘rich’ world. Report Card 11 charts the achievements of 29 of the world’s advanced economies in ensuring the well-being of their children during the first decade of this century. Child poverty in these countries is not inevitable, but policy susceptible – and that some countries are doing much better than others at protecting their most vulnerable children.

Policy Recommendations – America’s Report Card 2012

America’s Report Card provides a holistic picture of unmet needs in five areas of a child’s life: economic security, early childhood education, K-12 education, permanence and stability, and health and safety. These corresponding policy recommendations provide real solutions that work for kids in these five areas. Jointly issued by First Focus and Save the Children.

Going to the Fair

Last weekend, I visited the grandly titled Tunbridge World’s Fair in Vermont, which is hands down my favorite fair, even up against stiff competition from our own local Agricultural Fair on the Vineyard. It was a crystalline September day, clear, warm, golden light. Families strolled through the fairgrounds, enjoying rides, the animals, the fair food. [...]

Nearly One in Five American Households Food Insecure

Food Hardship Rate Continues to Hold Steady, Underscoring Need to Protect SNAP Washington, D.C. – August 22, 2012 – New data released yesterday by the Gallup organization show the food hardship rate for the nation was 18.2 percent during the first six months of 2012. While a slight dip from the 2011 rate of 18.6 [...]

A Half-Empty Plate

A report by the Food Research and Action Center on fruit and vegetable affordability and access challenges in America.

Real Stories of Hunger in America

Feeding America has gathered stories from clients around the country. These stories give a voice to the many times silent, issue of hunger.

Hunger in America

This week at Media Voices, we are focusing on hunger, or food insecurity, in the United States. Coincidentally, the U.S. House of Representatives just passed a budget that is perfectly appalling in its implications for vulnerable children. The Ryan budget takes a giant step toward closing the gap between the United States and the developing [...]

Finding North (Trailer)

49 million people in the U.S.—one in four children—don’t know where their next meal is coming from, despite our having the means to provide nutritious, affordable food for all Americans. Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush examine this issue through the lens of three people for who are struggling with food insecurity: Barbie, a single Philadelphia mother who grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two kids; Rosie, a Colorado fifth-grader who often has to depend on friends and neighbors to feed her and has trouble concentrating in school; and Tremonica, a Mississippi second-grader whose asthma and health issues are exacerbated by the largely empty calories her hardworking mother can afford.

Their stories are interwoven with insights from experts including sociologist Janet Poppendieck, author Raj Patel and nutrition policy leader Marion Nestle; ordinary citizens like Pastor Bob Wilson and teachers Leslie Nichols and Odessa Cherry; and activists such as Witness to Hunger’s Mariana Chilton, Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio and Oscar®-winning actor Jeff Bridges.

Ultimately, Finding North shows us how hunger poses serious economic, social and cultural implications for our nation, and that it could be solved once and for all, if the American public decides – as they have in the past – that making healthy food available and affordable is in the best interest of us all.

Toxic Stress and Child Hunger

This paper by Mariana Chilton and Jenny Rabinowich details three case studies of households in which young children are experiencing very low food security. All the adults in these households have experienced extreme trauma and deprivation in childhood, experiences which caused toxic stress and are intimately connected to the food insecurity of their children. The authors recommend a comprehensive approach in dealing the the cyclical nature of extreme poverty.

Stones for Lunch

The playground appeared perfectly normal with students clustered here and there laughing and enjoying their lunch break. But if you looked closely, you’d notice another group milling about or sitting alone, the students with empty lunch pails. We were visiting a primary school in Kenya that was situated on a large coffee plantation. Many of [...]

“How Are You?” – Life Goes On in Sauri, Kenya

At first glance, the schoolyard seems completely normal. The sounds of children laughing is mixed with the yelling that accompanies the older boys’ football game. As I filmed, I was mobbed by smiling faces and repeatedly asked,”How are you”?

2003 Interview with Dr. Wangari Maathai

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964). Professor Maathai was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976-87 and was its chairman from 1981-87. In 1976, while she was serving the National Council of Women, Professor Maathai introduced the idea of community-based tree planting. She continued to develop this idea into a broad-based grassroots organization whose main focus is poverty reduction and environmental conservation through tree planting.
Len Morris shot this interview with Dr. Wangari Maathai for the film Stolen Childhoods in 2003.

Drought

This week at Media Voices, we have a blog by Len Morris, Return to Kenya, reflecting on his upcoming shoot in Kenya and his apprehension about what he will find. There is cause for concern. According to the new FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, the price of cereals overall (maize, [...]

A Question of Dignity

Some parts of East Africa and the Horn are experiencing the worst drought in 60 years. In Kenya, a local initiative, Kenyans for Kenya, has rallied citizens to donate funds to feed the hungry; much of the money has been raised through cash transfers done by mobile phone. Caroline Mutoko, a presenter at KISS FM, one of the country’s biggest radio stations, has been one of the campaign’s most vocal supporters. In this IRIN film, she explains the objectives of Kenyans for Kenya.

Seeds of Despair

Several years ago, Dr. Wangari Maathai told us something I’ve never forgotten. If you want to save children, you must save communities. Because children are part of their communities. This week at Media Voices, we have a report issued by the NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides, Human [...]

Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides, Human Rights and the Agrarian Crisis in India

More than a quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last 16 years—the largest wave of recorded suicides in human history. A great number of those affected are cash crop farmers, and cotton farmers in particular. This Center for Human Rights and Global Justice Report focuses on the human rights of Indian farmers and of the estimated 1.5 million surviving family members who have been affected by the farmer suicide crisis to date. Economic reforms and the opening of Indian agriculture to the global market over the past two decades have increased costs, while reducing yields and profits for many farmers, to the point of great financial and emotional distress. As a result, smallholder farmers are often trapped in a cycle of debt.