Mary Bockarie and her husband, Bockarie S. Kamara, playing with their children in their home in the Gbandi community of Kenema District, Sierra Leone. The family has seen significant improvements in their nutrition and overall well-being through the Nutrition Smart CommUNITY (NSC) programme.
Successful approaches in combating hunger must not be jeopardised
Conflict, climate-related shocks, and economic instability continue to drive hunger around the world. At 673 million, the number of people facing hunger remains alarmingly high. And the latest United Nations Global Report on Food Crisis shows that the number of people threatened by acute food insecurity rose from 29 million in 2019 to 88 million in 2025. “This is a particularly worrying number,” said Welthungerhilfe (WHH) President Marlehn Thieme, presenting her organisation’s report in mid June.
Germany is sending the wrong signal
Thieme criticised the strong decline in finance for humanitarian assistance and development cooperation world-wide – including in Germany. This was jeopardising achievements reached so far in eliminating hunger. The German government’s current draft Federal Budget for 2027 was a continuation of this year’s halving of spending on humanitarian aid, and at 30 to 40 per cent, the items “Crisis Management, Reconstruction, Infrastructure” as well as “Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems” had suffered disproportionately severe cuts in the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) – despite combating hunger and poverty being defined as priority areas in the BMZ budget. “With this, the German government is sending the wrong signal,” the Welthungerhilfe President criticised, noting that international cooperation was also an investment in peace, stability and our shared security.
Impactful approaches
The organisation shows how an optimum impact can be achieved with limited financing in its recent Impact Report. Here, WHH Secretary General Mathias Mogge referred to the programme “Nutrition Smart CommUNITY” as an example. It is being run with 829 village communities in Africa and Asia, and incorporates aspects of food, agriculture, health and hygiene being combined in a holistic approach to combating hunger; in this manner, together with the village communities, solutions are created which boost knowledge, promote self-initiative and have a long-term impact, improving, among other things, child health and raising families’ income, Mogge explained.
Providing impetus and mediation
The Welthungerhilfe Annual Report also highlights the importance of local knowledge, reliable partnerships and sustained investment in resilient food systems in developing lasting solutions to hunger. Mogge believes that the organisation’s mission is changing in this context, maintaining that “we are increasingly in demand as a provider of impetus and mediation to support people in shaping their own future”. That also meant embracing new approaches, for instance investments in innovations that strengthen sustainable food systems and expanding international partnerships with academia, the private sector, and policy-makers to scale up successful solutions more quickly. One example Mogge referred to was AgriBridge, an African-German policy network for sustainable agrifood systems which works out concrete recommendations for the German Federal Government to take action.
Digital marketplaces and social enterprises
Further innovative approaches to strengthening food systems include agricultural apps and digital marketplaces designed to help smallholder farmers improve productivity and gain better access to markets. Since 2017, the organisation has also been working with social enterprises that improve food security in rural areas, create jobs and develop financially viable services and business models. The Toothpick Company is an example of what has evolved from this. The company has developed a bio-herbicide to combat Striga, a weed which, alone in Africa, affects 40 million hectares of maize. “Hunger cannot be stopped by individual measures,” Mogge noted, summing up his organisation’s experience. “Programmes are most effective when agriculture, nutrition, water, education and economic development are closely integrated.”
In 2025, WHH allocated 348.3 million euros to projects addressing hunger and poverty. Individual donations totalled 101.5 million euros, while 293 million euros came from public funding. German federal funding once again accounted for a significant share of these public contributions. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) was the organisation’s largest single institutional donor, providing 75 million euros, followed by the German Federal Foreign Office with 68.2 million euros and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with 60.6 million euros. The largest project grants went to South Sudan, Sudan and Ukraine. In project implementation, the organisation cooperates with 327 local partner organisations. In 2025, Welthungerhilfe supported around 19.1 million people in 37 countries with 647 projects.
(sri)
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