At Feeding India, we constantly strive to accelerate our efforts toward a hunger-free nation by innovating and improvising. However, hunger is a complex problem. It is imperative to zoom out every once in a while and look at our actions from a bird’s- eye view; this can lead to gaining invaluable insights and learnings that are crucial for the way forward.

If we talk about the past year, 2021 was the year of action. The second wave of COVID-19 left the nation in a state of misery. We continued to fight the pandemic whilst simultaneously facing a confluence of economic and climate challenges. In these times of crisis, Feeding India scaled its key programs to support people in any way we could. We distributed over 42 million meals under the Daily Feeding Program and provided oxygen support to thousands. None of this would have been possible without the stakeholders who supported us in the execution and everyone who stepped up and contributed.

In 2022, our most significant learning has been that no one organisation, corporate, or sector can single-handedly work towards eradicating the nationwide crisis. These challenges call for a collective effort by all. Only through the power of collaboration can we head towards a more sustainable and progressive society. Going by the complexity and magnanimity of the issue at hand, Feeding India is working on a collaborative approach to launch scalable programs across India. With these efforts, we’re entering a new phase that will define our actions for the years to come.

We are moving towards a multi-sectoral approach where we work with key stakeholders ranging from the government to nonprofits to a large network of volunteers.

Some top focus areas for this year are –

1. Large-scale systemic transformation – Through consulting engagements, Feeding India is working with District and state governments to strengthen capacity and improve the impact of their welfare programs.


2. Portfolio of high-impact non-profit partners – Across India, we are collaborating with numerous credible on-ground partners to ensure food security for children in low-income schools.


3. Community mobilisation – We are mobilising volunteers locally to spread awareness about food literacy which would help fill the lack of nutritional knowledge due to the demographic behaviour of each respective state/community.

Developments so far

We’re halfway into 2022, and so much has happened already. In line with the mentioned focus areas, we have initiated the following interventions-

1. To bring about large-scale transformation, we are collaborating with the Elected Officials/local government of Kushinagar and Hamirpur and setting up Project Management Units in the districts to:
   • Provide strategic support to the government bodies through research and analysis of the ground situation and programs around hunger and nutrition.
   
   
   • Work with local district/block departments to improve the effectiveness of government welfare programs.
   
   
   • Work with on-ground NGO partners to provide meal support to the most marginalised communities.
   
   
   

2. Our programs are primarily going to focus on improving nutritional outcomes for children. For more impactful results, we are working towards eradicating hunger right where it starts – we are targeting the growing years of an undernourished child. For the same, we are partnering with the most credible social impact organisations in the education sector. The association aims to add to the holistic development of a child. Through this, we want to empower each child to grow into an adult who can reach their full potential. A healthy, productive adult can add to their economic prosperity and also that of the nation.

With the onset of our next phase, we aim to start a national movement of trusted institutions and create the next wave of better livelihood for the most disadvantaged, especially women and children.