education help reduce hunger essay

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The Role of Education in Food Security

Today marks the International Day of Education , which brings attention to the role education plays in building a more sustainable and equitable future. The United Nations recognized when it developed the Sustainable Development Goals that education would be the foundation on which the success of all goals is built, especially food security.

An equitable and quality education affords children and young adults with the opportunity to build a promising future for themselves, a potent tool to help them escape the cycle of poverty. While both the Declaration on Human Rights and the Conventions on the Rights of the Child call for access to education, that right is not being upheld or protected. At least 258 million children are not able to enroll in school, 617 million cannot read or do math, and less than 40% of girls in Sub-Saharan Africa do not finish secondary school.

At Rise Against Hunger, we are dedicated to increasing access to education through school feeding programs. These programs have demonstrated the potential to improve literacy outcomes by reducing short-term hunger, improving attentiveness and increasing attendance. In low-income countries, especially those facing dire food insecurity, the value of sending a child to school is not always apparent, especially when today’s needs, such as finding food to put on the table for dinner, take precedent. What value is there in the future when it will not alleviate the present? But the knowledge that their children will receive a hot meal at school is a powerful incentive for parents to send their children to school. Rise Against Hunger is projected to have supported over 300 schools around the world in 2021 by providing nutritious volunteer-packaged meals or by purchasing food locally through local and regional procurement.

In 2017, Rise Against Hunger partnered with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency to implement the Southern Africa School Feeding Initiative in five countries. Planting Seeds for Strong Communities, one of our Empowering Communities sustainable agriculture projects, is a continuation and expansion of that initial project in rural Zimbabwe. The schools we support are transitioning to a home-grown school feeding, meaning they will be self-supporting by growing their food on-site and partnering with local smallholder farmers.

Prior to the start of the project, absenteeism (poor attendance) was high, and school staff hoped that a school feeding program would change the situation. In the past four years of the project, both enrollment and attendance have increased drastically.

The headmaster at Nenyunka School, Taurai Chikanya, has witnessed the impact firsthand. In 2021, enrollment increased by over 66%. Students who had once dropped out of school are now returning to complete their education. The community is more involved in the program knowing their children will receive a meal, and now the school has turned into a learning hub for adults. Agriculture training, originally meant for the local smallholder farmers, is provided to parents who apply their new skills and knowledge to their farms at home.

Taurai now presides over a “top school,” and he hopes that, “the school will be able to fund school fees for less privileged kids in our community, so that they have a chance to attend school. The help from [the Rise Against Hunger] project has resulted in the school being able to provide a conducive learning environment.”

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How does education affect poverty?

For starters, it can help end it.

Aug 10, 2023

Access to high-quality primary education and supporting child well-being is a globally-recognized solution to the cycle of poverty. This is, in part, because it also addresses many of the other issues that keep communities vulnerable.

Education is often referred to as the great equalizer: It can open the door to jobs, resources, and skills that help a person not only survive, but thrive. In fact, according to UNESCO, if all students in low-income countries had just basic reading skills (nothing else), an estimated 171 million people could escape extreme poverty. If all adults completed secondary education, we could cut the global poverty rate by more than half. 

At its core, a quality education supports a child’s developing social, emotional, cognitive, and communication skills. Children who attend school also gain knowledge and skills, often at a higher level than those who aren’t in the classroom. They can then use these skills to earn higher incomes and build successful lives.

Here’s more on seven of the key ways that education affects poverty.

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1. Education is linked to economic growth

Education is the best way out of poverty in part because it is strongly linked to economic growth. A 2021 study co-published by Stanford University and Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University shows us that, between 1960 and 2000, 75% of the growth in gross domestic product around the world was linked to increased math and science skills. 

“The relationship between…the knowledge capital of a nation, and the long-run [economic] rowth rate is extraordinarily strong,” the study’s authors conclude. This is just one of the most recent studies linking education and economic growth that have been published since 1990.

“The relationship between…the knowledge capital of a nation, and the long-run [economic] growth rate is extraordinarily strong.” — Education and Economic Growth (2021 study by Stanford University and the University of Munich)

2. Universal education can fight inequality

A 2019 Oxfam report says it best: “Good-quality education can be liberating for individuals, and it can act as a leveler and equalizer within society.” 

Poverty thrives in part on inequality. All types of systemic barriers (including physical ability, religion, race, and caste) serve as compound interest against a marginalization that already accrues most for those living in extreme poverty. Education is a basic human right for all, and — when tailored to the unique needs of marginalized communities — can be used as a lever against some of the systemic barriers that keep certain groups of people furthest behind. 

For example, one of the biggest inequalities that fuels the cycle of poverty is gender. When gender inequality in the classroom is addressed, this has a ripple effect on the way women are treated in their communities. We saw this at work in Afghanistan , where Concern developed a Community-Based Education program that allowed students in rural areas to attend classes closer to home, which is especially helpful for girls.

Four ways that girls’ education can change the world

Gender discrimination is one of the many barriers to education around the world. That’s a situation we need to change.

3. Education is linked to lower maternal and infant mortality rates

Speaking of women, education also means healthier mothers and children. Examining 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers from the World Bank and International Center for Research on Women found that educated women tend to have fewer children and have them later in life. This generally leads to better outcomes for both the mother and her kids, with safer pregnancies and healthier newborns. 

A 2017 report shows that the country’s maternal mortality rate had declined by more than 70% in the last 25 years, approximately the same amount of time that an amendment to compulsory schooling laws took place in 1993. Ensuring that girls had more education reduced the likelihood of maternal health complications, in some cases by as much as 29%. 

4. Education also lowers stunting rates

Children also benefit from more educated mothers. Several reports have linked education to lowered stunting , one of the side effects of malnutrition. Preventing stunting in childhood can limit the risks of many developmental issues for children whose height — and potential — are cut short by not having enough nutrients in their first few years.

In Bangladesh , one study showed a 50.7% prevalence for stunting among families. However, greater maternal education rates led to a 4.6% decrease in the odds of stunting; greater paternal education reduced those rates by 2.9%-5.4%.  A similar study in Nairobi, Kenya confirmed this relationship: Children born to mothers with some secondary education are 29% less likely to be stunted.

What is stunting?

Stunting is a form of impaired growth and development due to malnutrition that threatens almost 25% of children around the world.

5. Education reduces vulnerability to HIV and AIDS…

In 2008, researchers from Harvard University, Imperial College London, and the World Bank wrote : “There is a growing body of evidence that keeping girls in school reduces their risk of contracting HIV. The relationship between educational attainment and HIV has changed over time, with educational attainment now more likely to be associated with a lower risk of HIV infection than earlier in the epidemic.” 

Since then, that correlation has only grown stronger. The right programs in schools not only reduce the likelihood of young people contracting HIV or AIDS, but also reduce the stigmas held against people living with HIV and AIDS.

6. …and vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change

As the number of extreme weather events increases due to climate change, education plays a critical role in reducing vulnerability and risk to these events. A 2014 issue of the journal Ecology and Society states: “It is found that highly educated individuals are better aware of the earthquake risk … and are more likely to undertake disaster preparedness.… High risk awareness associated with education thus could contribute to vulnerability reduction behaviors.”

The authors of the article went on to add that educated people living through a natural disaster often have more of a financial safety net to offset losses, access to more sources of information to prepare for a disaster, and have a wider social network for mutual support.

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to education — and growing

Last August, UNICEF reported that half of the world’s 2.2 billion children are at “extremely high risk” for climate change, including its impact on education. Here’s why.

7. Education reduces violence at home and in communities

The same World Bank and ICRW report that showed the connection between education and maternal health also reveals that each additional year of secondary education reduced the chances of child marriage — defined as being married before the age of 18. Because educated women tend to marry later and have fewer children later in life, they’re also less likely to suffer gender-based violence , especially from their intimate partner. 

Girls who receive a full education are also more likely to understand the harmful aspects of traditional practices like FGM , as well as their rights and how to stand up for them, at home and within their community.

Fighting FGM in Kenya: A daughter's bravery and a mother's love

Marsabit is one of those areas of northern Kenya where FGM has been the rule rather than the exception. But 12-year-old student Boti Ali had other plans.

Education for all: Concern’s approach

Concern’s work is grounded in the belief that all children have a right to a quality education. Last year, our work to promote education for all reached over 676,000 children. Over half of those students were female. 

We integrate our education programs into both our development and emergency work to give children living in extreme poverty more opportunities in life and supporting their overall well-being. Concern has brought quality education to villages that are off the grid, engaged local community leaders to find solutions to keep girls in school, and provided mentorship and training for teachers.

More on how education affects poverty

6 Benefits of literacy in the fight against poverty

Child marriage and education: The blackboard wins over the bridal altar

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How Can Education Help Reduce World Hunger?

11.7 percent of the world’s population faces severe food insecurity. 193 million people experience acute hunger. In 2022, the food crisis continues to grow to unprecedented levels. 

To avert world hunger, people consider a bunch of solutions like government interventions, food donations, and agricultural transformations. Out of all the different ways that could help us reduce it, education is one of the keys to food security that ensures a long-lasting impact. In this article, we will look at ways to harness the power of education to end world hunger. 

The Fundamentals of Nutrition

Aside from providing literacy skills, schools also teach the fundamentals of nutrition and hygiene. This promotes higher standards of living in communities.

Unfortunately, due to poor education, people experience malnutrition even in those areas that can produce enough food. Their diets often lack vitamins and minerals and are limited to basic staples with empty calories. School-based food programs, healthcare, and government services could fix this problem by educating people on adequate food utilization and nutrition choices. 

Educating people on dietary diversity will encourage local production of nutrient-rich food instead of over-investing in staple crops. This will make a healthy diet more affordable. If you want to know more about the role of education in food security, ask an expert academic helper to do online physics homework . Professionals from a writing service will help you overview the existing body of research and come up with a strong paper.

School Feeding Programs

Schools improve food availability for children directly by planting school gardens, raising livestock, and offering students nutritious meals. The fresh foods produced on school grounds significantly improve students’ diets and prevent malnutrition. 

Besides, by helping in school gardens, children learn how to grow plants, how weather conditions influence crops, and what a healthy diet needs to include. Thus, education gives students practical skills in addition to the availability of nutrient-rich foods.

In low-income countries, school feeding programs work as an incentive. They encourage families to bring their children to school, especially girls. Aside from supporting children’s growth and physical health, nutritious meals also help students perform better in school and ensure their healthy development. 

Students who get meals in school can actually focus on their studies. They are less likely to drop out to take low-income jobs for their families. In the long term, a better education leads to higher income and self-reliance. 

In some cases, students may struggle to keep up with their studies due to various reasons, such as lack of time, poor writing skills, or simply having too much on their plate. As a result, some may choose to buy custom essay online to get the help they need to succeed academically. While this can be a solution for some, it is important to remember that education is not just about getting good grades, but also about gaining practical skills and knowledge that can help individuals improve their lives and the world around them.

Decreased Poverty Rates

Education has a significant effect on reducing poverty levels. According to UNESCO, they could be cut in half if all adults completed secondary school. Education influences one’s earning capacity, which, in turn, is directly linked to food security. With a higher-paying job, a person could gain financial stability, move to a better neighborhood, and get better access to resources.

Education improves employment opportunities for people who are vulnerable in socio-economic respect. It fights marginalization and helps people overcome barriers created by inequality in society. This is why we need to focus our efforts on promoting equal access to education for everyone. 

Increased Self-Reliance

A lack of fertile land is one of the main reasons for world hunger. However, this is not always the issue. Some areas could produce enough food for the needs of their inhabitants. Yet, the food supply continues to be insufficient due to poor farming practices. 

To reap better results, we need more adult education programs on food production. They promote self-sustainability and self-reliance. With more effective farming, people could reduce food shortages and boost production levels. This requires more developed countries to step in. They could offer aid like training in low-tech farming methods and providing better seeds and fertilizers. 

Women Empowerment

Women continue to struggle to get access to education in low-income countries. A study has found a correlation between a mother’s education and the health of a child. Maternal education is a strong predictor of malnutrition and stunting in children. 

Educated women are able to take better care of their children because they are familiar with basic dietary and sanitation standards. They can also recognize symptoms of disease and are more likely to seek treatment. Literacy allows them to read and follow medical instructions and be more receptive to modern medical practices in general. 

Researchers have also found that educated women usually get married later and have fewer children. They also plan pregnancies later in life. This results in lower mortality rates among mothers and healthier children. The numbers are staggering. According to a report, maternal mortality rates decreased by 70% after the introduction of compulsory schooling in Peru. The same change also led to less frequent health complications in women. 

Advanced Research

To fight world hunger, we also need to advance research in various disciplines:

• Energy studies, including renewable energy and energy resources engineering, could help us provide access to electricity in the developing world. Right now, hundreds of millions of people experience the energy barrier that prevents them from producing enough food. 
• Climate studies are important to integrate effective interventions to help people fight hunger in the areas that are most affected by climate change and extreme weather events. This will increase the adaptivity of food systems and prevent land degradation. 
• Agricultural studies support the introduction of mechanization and more resilient infrastructure. The advancements in this discipline improve the efficiency of agricultural practices. People get better ways to store and distribute food and equipment. Improved access to tools empowers farmers to boost their yields. Advancing research in agriculture brings several important benefits. Higher income helps to fight poverty. Mechanization increases harvest. Better infrastructure makes tools available to farmers and improves food accessibility for the population. 

Knowledge and education can make a difference and lead us to a more equitable and sustainable future.

The Bottom Line

Improving access to education for everyone is a top priority in fighting world hunger. It will empower marginalized and underprivileged groups of people to gain food security and realize their full potential in society. 

Education gives people the means to drive their own development and sustainable progress. It is key to the future, where every person has an opportunity to lead a healthy and fulfilling life and have access to sufficient and nutritious food. 

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“Education is an empowering right and one of the most powerful tools by which economically and socially marginalized children and adults can lift themselves out of poverty and participate fully in society.” –   UNESCO

Our programs throughout Africa, South Asia and Latin America are based on a holistic approach that empowers women and men living in rural villages to become agents of their own development and make sustainable progress in overcoming hunger and poverty. Central to this approach is harnessing the power of education. UNESCO research has shown the dramatic impact that secondary education for all adults could have on global poverty rates. The Sustainable Development Goal 4  on quality education is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda and is essential for the effort to end hunger and promote self-reliance. The goal seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

We have the primary responsibility to ensure the achievement of SDG 4. Quality education includes the promotion of smart, innovative measures to reach younger students. It also includes relevant education and training that can help address common social, environmental and economic challenges across the world.

Especially important is the need to ensure that girls and women have access to equal educational opportunities as boys and men. When a girl has the opportunity to be educated and healthy, she thrives and whole societies benefit. Educated girls marry later, have healthier children and take an active role in their communities to ensure the rights of other women are upheld. Yet, girls who are out of school to begin with rarely enter education when compared to their out-of-school male peers. This fact is especially important because the majority of maternal deaths could be prevented with her primary education.

Education is fundamental to achieving our vision of a world where every woman, man and child leads a healthy and fulfilling life of self-reliance and dignity, which is why it is at the heart of all our work. It takes a truly holistic approach to end hunger and poverty. And when this includes access to education, everyone thrives. 

Global Facts 

• An estimated 250 million children under 5 in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of underdevelopment ( The Lancet, 2016 ), which has long-term implications for  learning outcomes for children. 
• Due to COVID-19, it’s estimated that over 2 trillion hours were lost from missed in-person schooling ( UNICEF, 2022 ).
• Nearly 1 in 3 adolescent girls from low-income households globally have never set foot in a classroom ( UNICEF, 2020 ).
• Children in fragile, conflict-affected countries are more than twice as likely to be out of school compared to those in countries not affected by conflict ( UNESDOC, 2015 ).
• In low-income countries, around 40% of children with disabilities are out of school at primary level and 55% at secondary level ( UNICEF, 2016 ).
• Despite rapid progress in the past two decades in early childhood education, the pre-primary enrollment rate is 61.5% ( UNESCO, 2021 ).
• More than 617 million (or six out of ten) children of the primary and the secondary school age do not have minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics ( UIS, 2018 ).
• Promote equal education for girls. Our animators across Asia, Africa and Latin America run educational campaigns to promote childhood primary school enrollment, especially for girl children. In Bangladesh, for example, we continue to implement the “Safe Schools for Girls” campaign to increase girls’ attendance in school, reduce dropouts, improve the quality of education available to girls and promote additional opportunities for girls in and out of school.
• Implement preschool and school feeding programs. Our epicenters in Africa operate preschool programs that include the provision of one nutritious meal per day. It works to ensure a nutritious meal for the children and promote healthy growth and encourages parents to bring their children to preschool. 
• Support Youth Ending Hunger Education campaigns. In Bangladesh, we plan monthly activities in their communities with an emphasis on literacy and education, such as environmental education awareness campaigns, debates, math Olympiads, writing competitions, roundtables and blood donation camps.
• Create functional adult educational programs. Our Adult Literacy programs educate adult community partners and share with the literacy and numeracy skills necessary to grow their businesses.

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• Home > About WHES & Hunger Notes

A Half-Century of Fighting Hunger Through Education

Since 1976, World Hunger Education Service has been committed to reducing hunger and malnutrition globally. Our mission through initiatives like Hunger Notes includes:

EMPOWERMENT THROUGH EDUCATION

Equipping  students, educators, and the public with in-depth knowledge about food insecurity in the U.S. and globally, from research projects to basic awareness.

FOSTERING A HOLISTIC VIEW OF HUNGER

Providing resources and expert insights that integrate ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives for a comprehensive understanding of hunger.

BUILDING CONNECTIONS

Creating a community for shared knowledge and networking opportunities, strengthening connections across the anti-hunger field.

INSPIRING SOLUTIONS

Discovering a variety of approaches and organizations dedicated to solving hunger and offering inspiration to deepen involvement in creating hunger solutions.

Hunger Notes and You

Hunger Notes is an online publication of the World Hunger Education Service (WHES), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit  organization governed by a Board of Directors .

The Hunger Notes website is a dynamic platform for learning, exploring, and sharing knowledge about hunger and its related issues.

Whether you’re a student, educator, leader, humanitarian, or part of a partner organization, this site offers valuable resources tailored to your needs.  

Here’s how you can make the most of Hunger Notes:

• Dive into our “basics” series for research insights, the latest statistics, and explore the further reading sections for in-depth analysis.
• Stay informed with the latest news stories and insights on global hunger trends.
• Enhance your papers and presentations with our downloadable original graphics or raise awareness by sharing them online.
• Educate and engage others by using our materials and graphics, available for online sharing or as printable handouts.
• Introduce key concepts using our short explainer videos in your presentations or on social media.
• Make learning interactive with our online quizzes, designed to help retain important information.
• Contribute your analysis, opinion, or review to Hunger Notes and add a valuable publication to your CV.
• Learn what other organizations are addressing hunger and how you can engage with them.

Discover, learn, and contribute to the fight against hunger with Hunger Notes.

Your Feedback Matters

We value your feedback and contributions. As an educational resource, WHES is continually updating our resources to better facilitate a deeper understanding of the causes and solutions of hunger. If there’s a resource you’d like to see or if you have ideas for improving our site, we’d love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected].

Be a Hunger Notes Scholar

WHES provides a platform for development professionals and aspiring humanitarians to publish articles and analyses on the latest breakthroughs in hunger research. If you’re interested in submitting an opinion piece or article to our website, please email your proposal to [email protected] for an initial consultation.

With more than enough food in the world to feed everyone, hundreds of millions of men, women and children still go hungry. Surely, we can make the world work better than this.”

— Patricia Kutzner, Founder of World Hunger Education Service. Excerpted from World Hunger subtitle A Reference Handbook 1992

The Genesis of Hunger Notes

The 1960s and President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty brought the harsh reality of hunger to the forefront of the American public. The following decade saw a surge in compassion, leading to the formation of numerous organizations in Washington, D.C., dedicated to addressing hunger. However, there was no central repository for the burgeoning scholarship on hunger or a place to connect the different organizations working to end hunger.

Pat Kutzner, a newcomer to Washington, D.C., and an emerging leader in the anti-hunger movement, had a solution.

While writing up a list of anti-hunger resources for the Episcopal Hunger Network’s newsletter in 1974, Kutzner had an idea to do the same for a wider audience on a larger scale.

Coordination and transparency were vital ingredients in the fight against hunger. “We must see the obstacles and options clearly and know what we are doing,” she later wrote.

By 1976, Kutzner had secured space in the offices of the Friends National Committee on Legislation and began her work. She recruited Barbara Howell from Bread for the World and Bob Cory, director of William Penn House, as board members, and the World Hunger Education Service was born.

The nonprofit was, “engaged in helping raise the level of public awareness and concern about hunger,” Kutzner wrote in a 1980 statement to Congress. “Our motto is ‘helping leaders help others end hunger’,” she said.

For decades, WHES’s print guides, subscription newsletters , and now the Hunger Notes website, have been pivotal in educating leaders and students and facilitated countless connections across the field.

Kutzner’s vision, along with dedicated leaders like Howell and Cory, has not only stood the test of time but continues to enlighten and inspire those committed to understanding and solving hunger. Each year, over 100 thousand eager knowledge seekers visit the Hunger Notes website.

Support the mission, learn more and explore ways you can take action to help end hunger.

Together, we can make a better world. .

World Hunger News

About WHES & Hunger Notes

• Educate the general public and target groups about the extent and causes of hunger and malnutrition in the United States and the world
• Advance comprehension which integrates ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives on the world food problem
• Facilitate communication and networking among those who are working for solutions
• Promote individual and collective commitments to sustainable hunger solutions.

The future is equal

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The power of education to fight inequality

How increasing educational equality and quality is crucial to fighting economic and gender inequality.

A good-quality public education is liberating for individuals. It can also be an equalizer within society. This report shows the unparalleled power of public education to tackle growing inequality and bring us closer together. To achieve this, education must be both of good quality and equitable; it should be free, universal, adequately funded, with well-supported teachers, and accountable public oversight. Fairer taxation of the wealthiest can help pay for it.

How Education Can Reduce Global Poverty and Hunger

Every 3.6 seconds a person dies of starvation, in most cases it is a child under 5 years old. It is hard to believe that such drastic statistics exists in a world where child obesity is an evolving problem too.

Although humanity has made some progress in defeating them, the extents of global poverty and hunger are intimidating; these are the problems that require further discussions and taking action. The topics are so acute, that they are often assigned as subjects for numerous college tasks, from simple descriptive essays to complicated course works and dissertations. But how to write a descriptive essay on such a delicate topic?

To write a good academic paper about global poverty and hunger one should address the complexity and coherence of these problems. Famine is often thought to be a consequence of some serious economical problems, a result of military operations, or something that inevitably comes with natural disasters. However, poverty and hunger should be estimated together with poor education, gender inequality, ineffective healthcare, weak economics and international affairs. These problems are so closely connected, that they constitute a vicious circle, making it almost impossible to determine, which of them are causes, and which are effects. Naturally, educational problems are not commonly seen as connected with hunger. Nevertheless, education is a factor that plays a significant role in defeating (or spreading) hunger and poverty on numerous levels.

Education is a powerful tool, which helps raising awareness of the problem in developed countries, and contributes to finding solutions in areas, where hunger and malnutrition exist. Even writing a descriptive essay about famine can be a nudge for further investigations of this topic in college, and, eventually, finding possible ways to help.

Every parent hopes that one’s child will get a decent education. A proper schooling gives every individual a chance for a better future, a bright career and vast opportunities. At the same time, no country has ever experienced a continuous and sustainable economic growth if it has not reached a threshold level of 40% of literate citizens. Consequently, more and more countries try to invest into their education. Financing the educational sphere will inevitably result in positive changes in several other fields.

The first thing that is likely to improve soon after funding public education is a nation’s overall health condition. Education helps raise awareness of numerous diseases, including AIDS/HIV. Researches show that AIDS spreads twice as slowly among educated women.

It is a proven fact that women, who have at least six years worth of education, make more conscious choices when it comes to labor and child raising. Educated women choose a healthier pre-birth lifestyle, which results in reducing rates of maternal and infant mortality. Moreover, children, who have educated mothers, are twice as likely to live to the age of five. In addition, mothers, who received basic education, are twice as likely to vaccinate their children, which will prevent them from further dangers of living in poverty.

Another problem is that in some developing countries, even if a child is born healthy, one is at a risk of suffering from malnutrition. It is therefore quite essential to explain the children’s needs for women and inform them about the ways they can cook healthier balanced meals for their families.

Providing basic education for an entire population is a huge investment, but it is definitely going to pay off in future as a huge economic booster. The thing is that each year of extra schooling can result in 10% salary growth further in life. Not only that education is preparing valuable workforce, it is also shaping the minds, which might soon come up with innovative solutions for the vital problems of their regions. Furthermore, it can encourage people to develop small business and engage foreign investments. Naturally, this will result in decrease of unemployment, and thus, the poverty levels will decline as well.

Recent studies show that the methods that most African farmers use now are less efficient than those used by American farmers 100 years ago. Education could help these farmers rethink their approaches and get more profits, not to mention that it would result in bigger harvests and therefore, fewer families would be starving.

As it was mentioned before, the problems with education are often connected with gender issues. Researches indicate that at this time education grants more benefits to women and girls as compared to boys. Educated women are proved to make better decisions and overall have a higher self-confidence. One of recent investigations, conducted in Kenya has shown that when provided with the same knowledge and resources, women farmers are able to yield up to 22 percent more crops as compared to male farmers.

Furthermore, education positively affects domestic relationships, as educated women are often to wait before committing to marriage and having children. They are also likely to be better mothers and pay more attention to avert their children from dying from preventable causes. Basic education can help women get a higher salary, and consequently increase the income of a family.

Thus far, more than 250 million children are unable to read and count. Although their right for a free education is noted in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of a Child, the reality drastically differs. Many children around the world simply don’t have access to a school, sometimes they have to spend about three hours just to get there. Unfortunately, the approachability of a school does not necessarily make things better. Many of the functioning schools are overcrowded, poorly equipped and don’t have enough qualified teachers. They require significant funding and constant governmental attention.

Education is a life-changing force, which can transform individual lives and the society in general. If education becomes a global priority in development, soon we will see positive tendencies in economy, politics, technology and many other fields.

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How to Solve Child and Student Hunger in America? Do What Works — And Don’t Stop

During COVID-19, rates of hunger and food insecurity soared to heights not seen since The Great Depression as families found themselves without jobs to pay the bills, children without school buildings to provide them with in-person learning and consistent meals during the day, and community resources buckling due to increased demand.

Fortunately, Congress has acted to meet the needs of children, students, and their families during COVID-19. Lawmakers quickly created the vital Pandemic EBT program and eventually extended the program to cover children under five years old. Monthly benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were temporarily increased by 15% and made available to eligible college students. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Trump and Biden administrations extended child nutrition program waivers that allow for greater flexibility to ensure every student gets the meals they need each day.

Lawmakers approved multiple rounds of direct stimulus checks, established a fully refundable Child Tax Credit, and increased funding for and access to benefits under the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. In January, the Biden administration announced it would increase the amount of Pandemic EBT benefits that families would receive. The American Rescue Plan took reforms further by extending the program through the summer months and permanently authorizing the program to exist during any future national emergency.

The good news is this level of support at the federal level is working. Rates of hunger are on the decline , along with unemployment claims as vaccinations become widely available. However, it shouldn’t take a global pandemic for Congress to be serious about ending child and student hunger in our country. Simply put: this level of investment and support to eradicate hunger cannot, and should not, stop.

In addition to the American Rescue Plan being implemented, President Biden has introduced the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan , as well as put forth the first budget proposal of his administration. Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) is also long overdue for Congressional action.

Lawmakers are talking infrastructure packages, reconciliation, and end of year stop-gap spending bills. Continued help for children, students, and families who are hungry must be part of any legislative effort that Congress undertakes. Here are five things that Congress should do to ensure no child or student in our nation goes hungry even after a global pandemic:

• Fully authorize and fund a nationwide Summer EBT program – as proposed in the American Families Plan — to provide benefits to all children (including children 0-5 ) who are eligible for free and reduced priced meals over the summer months, school holidays, weekends, and school closures to fill service gaps in existing summer nutrition programs
• Strengthen SNAP benefits permanently by basing monthly allotments on the Low-Cost Food Plan (rather than the Thrifty Food Plan currently used) and increase the minimum benefit level
• Eliminate SNAP time limits and improve SNAP access for college students , immigrants, people impacted by the justice system, and families trying to improve their economic circumstances
• Expand direct certification opportunities and simplify school meal enrollment processes for students and their families (e.g., automatically qualify students experiencing homelessness, migrant students, or students living in households participating in TANF or Medicaid)
• Increase access to and funding for out-of-school meal programs, including during after-school activities , extracurricular activities, and childcare settings

These reforms, which build on action already taken by lawmakers, would go far to support those hit hardest by COVID-19 and would continue to lift families out of poverty. We’ve seen great success in curbing hunger over the past year by investing in the programs and supports that clearly work for children, students, and families. There is absolutely no reason to stop now.

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No, Education Still Won’t Solve Poverty

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For more than a century, one of the most persistent ideas in US politics has been that education is the best solution to inequality. But it’s not persistent because it’s true — it’s persistent because it’s a useful myth for political and economic elites jealously guarding their money and power.

Students at the Mechanic Arts High School in Boston, Massachusetts, 1889. (A. H. Folsom / Boston Public Library)

Since the mid-1800s, the number of children attending school in the United States has steadily increased. Economic equality has not. Yet the idea that schooling is the best way to reduce poverty and close the gap between rich and poor goes almost unquestioned. In her new book, The Education Trap , historian Cristina Groeger addresses this myth head on.

Using Boston as a case study, and focusing her lens on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Groeger examines the relationship between schools and inequality at a time when public education was expanding rapidly. On the whole, the evidence is clear: the massive growth of public education did not produce broad-based economic prosperity. Schools did train some workers who found higher-wage jobs in the expanding corporate bureaucracy. But by undercutting powerful craft unions and establishing a credentialing system, schools also solidified existing stratification.

Groeger’s book shows the checkered history of education as an anti-poverty tool. Perhaps most importantly, it helps educators and organizers think about the things that actually do reduce inequality: universal government programs and strong unions.

Jacobin contributor Mike Stivers spoke with Groeger, a historian at Lake Forest College, about her new book and what education can and can’t do in an unequal society.

The basic idea you address in your book is that education is a policy solution to inequality. What is the theory that underpins this idea?

There is a long history of viewing education as a solution to inequality that goes back to Horace Mann in the mid-nineteenth century, who calls education “the great equalizer.” But in more contemporary policy debates, the dominant framework is human capital theory, which comes out of economics. It sees compensation in the labor market as a reflection of one’s skill level, usually measured in terms of education and training.

The argument of economists like Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz is that in recent decades, technological change that favors very highly skilled workers has been advancing and educational enrollment has not been keeping up, which therefore means that a limited number of people can access the highest paying jobs. And, so, the solution to addressing social inequality today is more access to education.

There’s a lot of evidence that education level does not automatically translate into higher wages. But the relationship between education and inequality is also more complicated. Compared to other countries, the United States has long had one of the highest rates of educational access and enrollment in the world — and yet, it also has one of the highest rates of inequality. That presents a paradox if we think education is the best tool to reduce inequality.

An early predecessor of the human capital model can be seen in the progressive reformers of the early twentieth century, who thought the reason low-wage workers are paid low wages is because they lack skill. So if you can train domestic workers in schools of housekeeping, that will not just raise wages but transform the occupation into something more like a profession.

The problem was that many domestic workers and other low-wage workers didn’t have time to go to these schools. It also ignored the reasons that many African Americans were stuck in low-wage positions: not because they didn’t have enough skills or because of their education level, but because of racism in the labor market or other kinds of inequalities that structure the labor market.

Your book begins in the Gilded Age, when Boston and many other big cities in the United States decided to invest massively in public education. Why did expanding public schools become the big-ticket reform item, as opposed to other options on the table?

There was a wide coalition of support for public education. Progressive reformers thought that education was the best way to lift low-wage workers out of poverty and Americanize immigrants. For employers, public education was an attractive solution to reduce their training costs — they could offload that onto the school system — and it also took pressure off them to improve working conditions or raise wages.

But I also argue that there was a huge amount of working-class support for public education, especially for education that could provide training for the booming sector of white-collar jobs: clerks, secretaries, typists, accountants.

This is the one sector of work where the human capital model does work pretty well to describe the dynamics. A lot of students, mostly white women and second-generation immigrants, used schools, especially public high schools, to enter new kinds of white-collar jobs. And this was a material basis for the ideology of education as a means of social mobility, even though it only describes a specific set of students going into a specific sector of work in this historical time.

Some on the Left would say that by preparing the future workforce, public schools subsidized job training for private businesses. The alternative, they argue, would be training workers at the expense of the corporation — something like on-the-job training. But this was exactly what many employers tried to do in the early twentieth century, and unions at the time were fiercely opposed to it. Why was that?

There were almost no unions in white-collar work at this time and basically no opposition to expanding training. Craftwork and the industrial sector were a different story. Craft workers had organized power in the form of craft unions, and that power came from their ability to control access to specific skills through the union apprenticeship process. Employers of craft workers were very eager to get around the craft unions and the apprenticeship process, both because it regulated the wages they had to pay apprentices and because employers don’t like unions and wanted to undercut the basis of their power.

Craft workers were pretty effective in shutting down private trade schools and shifting the curriculum away from specific craft skills in public industrial education. The building trades are still one of the few places where apprenticeship exists, and that’s because craft unions didn’t let control of the training process go outside, into the school system.

You also note that it wasn’t as if employers were graciously providing the training free of charge. A whole new class of private schools sprung up to provide the training at a cost. This seems similar to what we would now call for-profit schools.

Yeah, this again depends on the sector. There were some private trade schools, often with a relationship to employers. But the real growth of the for-profit sector of the early twentieth century was in white-collar work, where schools could offer training with little opposition in work with no organized worker power.

These business colleges, or commercial colleges, became a large share of the educational landscape until public high schools displaced them.

By the time public schools became sites of job training, after years of struggle between unions and employers, employers were more interested in those schools teaching basic literacy and numeracy. Employers didn’t want schools teaching trade skills, and, say, carpentry or machinery. Why was that?

I argue in the book that we can think about the rise of mass production, especially around World War I, in part as a strategy that is intended to reduce the number of craft workers overall and shift the entire workforce to new types of work where they have less power.

These are also workers that get most of their training not on the job but in schools. That includes immigrant machine operatives that have some basic literacy and numeracy that they might get in primary education, but otherwise can be trained very quickly on the job. It includes this new white-collar workforce, mostly high-school educated students that are staffing the bureaucracies that accompany big mass production industries. And schools are also training a very small number of college-educated managers and engineers at the top.

So what we see is that employers are able to rely on different types of schools for different segments of their labor force, but by the 1920s or 1930s, it’s also a labor force that is overwhelmingly nonunionized and has less power than its counterparts in previous types of craft work.

Right. And you note that this rise of a supervisory class — you talk a lot about high-level, highly educated engineers — is closely connected to Taylorism and the systematic deskilling of the workforce.

We can see these as two sides of the same coin. As employers shift to an industrial model of mass production that depends on assembly-line workers at the bottom and a new pink-collar workforce that’s largely feminized, we see a mass group of workers that have very little power and a new managerial class at the top.

This workforce is much cheaper. Women that do these jobs are paid often half of what men are, and it’s a workforce with essentially no unions, no organized power. And as the white-collar workforce expands, it goes from being a pretty exclusive and prestigious type of merchant’s apprenticeship, to what we would now call pink-collar work.

You also show that African Americans had some of the highest levels of educational attainment and yet were consistently at the lowest rungs of the wage scale.

Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to find this, but if we compare the children of working-class kids and their enrollment, African Americans consistently had higher levels of educational enrollment than both white native-born students and white immigrant students. And yet they were consistently pushed into the lowest-paid positions.

This is the clearest example of human capital theory’s failure to make sense of compensation in the labor market. African Americans were almost completely excluded from clerical work, even though they were attending high schools.

Many people in the US today think of a college degree as a passport to wealth and income, but you show that historically, the introduction of high school and college degrees has cemented inequality just as much as it’s reduced it. How did this happen?

As high school becomes a mass institution in this period, and as new populations — immigrants, women — are entering white-collar jobs, we see a strong reaction among Boston’s economic and professional elite. They forge relationships with private universities to turn a college degree into an important credential for the highest-paying jobs in the new corporate economy — whereas in the nineteenth century most owners of businesses and managers had not gotten a college degree, maybe not even a high school degree. We can also see this in other high-paying professions, like the development of corporate law.

In the book, I look at the correspondence between employers and university placement officers, who are helping college graduates get jobs. This is a great source to see why employers prefer college graduates. I find that some of their discussion has to do with skill, or human capital, but a lot of it has to do with employer preferences about race or class or other personal characteristics.

So this means that elite universities are able to reproduce the traditional elite in these new corporate positions, but now elites have the cover of a merit-based credential to legitimize their position in the economy.

Despite its poor record of reducing inequality, the idea that education is a policy solution to inequality is still everywhere. Why is education such an attractive policy solution to economic problems?

I think part of the reason is because many promoters of education can imagine education doing so many different things. We see this in the early twentieth century as well. There’s a huge coalition of supporters, often with opposite interests in other realms, coming together around the idea of education.

The idea also persists because it does not challenge some of the most powerful actors in the economy. It doesn’t challenge the power of employers to pay whatever wages they want, or to create whatever working conditions they want.

It’s very easy to talk about lofty ideals and goals within the educational system, but there are limits to how much it can do on its own. And it can often obscure labor market inequalities that are much more important in shaping the social inequalities that we saw in the early twentieth century and we’re seeing again today.

Many on the Left object to schools being simply a site for job training, but job preparation also remains an essential part of public education’s purpose. How should socialists conceive of school’s purpose in the twenty-first century?

To the extent that education does matter for accessing jobs — and on an individual level, of course, education matters — I don’t think we should denigrate students for pursuing education for that reason. There’s a tendency to dismiss the careerism, or the vocationalism of students, which I think essentially blames students for the economy they face.

If those on the Left want to free up education for other creative or emancipatory pursuits, we first need to create an economy that provides everyone with a livelihood. The demands for free college and debt-free college are good socialist demands, but they’re not enough. We’ve seen how elites can always create new barriers using even higher credentials.

This gets to the title of the book, “The Education Trap.” Across the political spectrum, schools are seen as the solution to so many social problems, but a focus on schools can be convenient to those with the most economic power, because it shifts the burden of reform onto students, onto teachers, and away from what is the real source of inequality: the lack of power workers have in the economy and in politics.

Educators do have an important role to play in the struggle for worker power. We’ve seen that in Chicago, where I’m based. Teachers’ unions have been fighting not only for their own working conditions but for a broad political agenda and for public investment in their students and in their communities.

And I think, as socialists, if we interpret the role of schools broadly, we should see these kinds of organizing campaigns as really important forms of political education as well. We should be promoting those both within and outside of schools.

Explore a compilation of 5 blog posts we have published on the intricate links between education and poverty.

Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, adopted by the United Nations in December 1992. At the Global Partnership for Education, we are convinced that there is no better way to fight extreme poverty than by giving every girl and boy around the world a good quality education.

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Global Education Monitoring Report, 420 million people  could be lifted out of poverty with a secondary education, thus reducing the number of poor worldwide by more than half.  

Below is a compilation of 5 blog posts we have published on the intricate links between education and poverty.

• 17 ways education influences the 17 sustainable development goals

Shortly before the adoption of the 17 SDGs for 2030 by the UN, we published this blog showing how education (or lack of education) impacts every one of the goals and contributes to achieving a safer, healthier, more prosperous and equal world.

• Infographic: 5 ways education can end poverty

This infographic gives the latest data on how education can reduce inequalities, increase earnings for individuals and promote economic growth.

• 7 suggestions to fight poverty in the developing world

From setting simple standards to ensuring better early childhood education and using mother tongue, Luis Crouch, Chief Technical Officer at RTI international and former GPE colleague, gives 7 suggestions to improve education systems in developing countries, thereby reducing poverty in the countries that need it the most.

• Education helped Liberia rebuild after the Ebola virus crisis

In this video, you will meet Miatta, 14, who lost her parents to Ebola and has been taken in by her aunt. You will also meet Elizabeth Toe, a wonderful teacher who remained a strong presence for her students, making up songs about “kicking Ebola out of Africa”. GPE’s flexible support helps countries undergoing crisis get back on track quicker.

• 14 stories about how education shapes lives

In this photo story, you will meet 14 young men and women from Cameroon, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Tajikistan who are the living proof that education can provide opportunities and hope that otherwise wouldn’t be there.

Related blogs

April 09, 2024 by Laura Frigenti 2023 Annual Report: GPE’s commitment to investing in education for prosperity and peace GPE’s 2023 Annual Report highlights important achievements in a context of increased conflicts, climate shocks and the prolonged impact of COVID-19 on learning in lower-income countries.

February 15, 2024 by Julie Mwabe , and Hiba Elamin Omer Making education in Africa fit for the 21st century Transforming African education systems to equip the current and future generations with 21st century skills is critical. The African Union’s Year of Education 2024 is therefore a historic moment to put...

December 01, 2023 by Global Coalition for Foundational Learning The importance of SDG 4.1.1a for foundational learning SDG 4.1.1a measures the proportion of children and young people in grades 2 and 3 achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics. The Global Coalition for Foundational Learning ask...

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Hunger’s Effect on Education

School supply lists have items like pencils, paper, glue, markers and notebooks – all the tools a child needs to be successful in school. But something important is missing. Students need food to perform their best in class. 

One in eight children in the U.S. is food insecure , which can threaten a child’s health and well-being. Food insecurity can also impact a child’s education. Not having adequate nutrition makes school a challenge in several ways. And it starts early. 

Good nutrition is critical for brain development and learning from infancy onwards . When kids go to school, not having enough food or not eating enough nutritious foods puts children at a disadvantage. Experts say poor nutrition can undermine children’s school readiness, which can be a predictor of academic success in the future . Studies have shown that children who experience food insecurity in their first years lack the same opportunities to be successful in school as children who were not food insecure. 

It’s not just younger kids who are affected when they don’t have enough to eat. The effects follow a child and grow worse if the issue isn’t addressed. Experts say that food-insecure children have a harder time getting along with others, and they are more likely to repeat a grade.  

We can all relate to being hungry and not being able to concentrate, but what if it’s time to take a test? A study in North Carolina found that when students’ families ran out of SNAP benefits for the month, their test scores dropped . Not only does food insecurity translate to lower math and reading scores, it can also lead to more absences and tardiness. In fact, food-insecure students are less likely to graduate high school . 

There are also school-related emotional and social setbacks when a child doesn’t have enough to eat. School is more than just reading and writing, it’s a time for social growth and development. Students who are food insecure have a harder time making friends and forming bonds. 

While the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program is very helpful in combatting students’ hunger, it hasn’t completely solved the problem. Why? Some students’ families may not qualify for the program. Or they didn’t fill out the necessary paperwork. And while students may be eating breakfast and lunch at school, they don’t always know if they’ll have dinner at home. 

It’s why we need people like you – committed to helping children get the food they need to grow up healthy and successful. Together we are ensuring children and families receive much-needed food and essentials like hygiene products. Your donation reaches the most vulnerable students through our School Resource Rooms and backpacks program, making it possible for kids to start the school year off nourished and ready to learn. 

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Trauma-informed practices in schools, teacher well-being, cultivating diversity, equity, & inclusion, integrating technology in the classroom, social-emotional development, covid-19 resources, invest in resilience: summer toolkit, civics & resilience, all toolkits, degree programs, trauma-informed professional development, teacher licensure & certification, how to become - career information, classroom management, instructional design, lifestyle & self-care, online higher ed teaching, current events, hunger pains: teaching hungry students.

Cranky. Tired. Lethargic. Moody. Sick. Failing . These are just a few things that happen when students are hungry. Schools — and especially classroom teachers — can play a vital role in helping kids stay healthy and learn. Here’s a look at how.

The problem of hunger

In our nation’s suburbs, urban areas, and rural towns, over 13 million children from low-income families go to school hungry, according to 2017 research by No Kid Hungry. It’s said that 22 million students across the country rely on reduced-price or free school lunches through the National School Lunch Program (funded by the USDA). Food insecurity puts tremendous stress on families, who worry about food running out before money becomes available to buy more. As a result, parents may skip meals, so their children can eat, and a child’s meals may shrink throughout a week or month — or even disappear entirely. No Kid Hungry reports that 74% of educators have students who regularly come to school hungry.

The truth is hunger hurts, and 46% of children from low-income families say hunger negatively impacts their academic performance. They’re not wrong. Studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Pediatrics, and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry show that hunger greatly impacts a child’s performance and behavior in school. “Hungry children have lower math scores. They are also are more likely to repeat a grade, come to school late, or miss it entirely” due to illness.

The stigma of hunger

When students eat breakfast in school, research shows that academic achievement improves, most notably in math. Unfortunately, hunger comes with a stigma that forces many kids to avoid eating the free breakfasts and lunches that are available in school cafeterias. Students can feel embarrassed having to come to school early to go to a lunchroom before classes, or getting a free school lunch when their friends have packed lunches or get to go out to eat. Few students want to admit they receive free or reduced lunch, and feel ashamed when they can’t pay school lunch fees. This stigma can lead to more hunger because students avoid the available meals and food. But new initiatives are cropping up to make student meals more equitable.

Ensuring that everyone eats during school hours

Some states have created programs to help de-stigmatize the hunger issue. Instead of making students come early to go to the cafeteria before classes, many schools have made breakfast a whole-school, after-the-bell event. New York City schools began offering free breakfast and lunch for all students in September of 2017, reducing the stigma of “qualifying” for such programs.

“Traditional breakfast — served in the cafeteria before the school day begins — often has low participation due to factors ranging from tight schedules to concerns about stigma,” according to Hunger Solutions NY. The growing trend in Breakfast After the Bell programs helps reduce hunger-shame and integrates breakfast into the school day and even into the classroom. According to The “ Effect of Providing Breakfast in Class on Student Performance ” in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, math and reading achievement test scores go up when breakfast is moved from the cafeteria and into the classroom.

Create grab-and-go meals and snack stations for all

Offering Snack Stations throughout the day or Second Chance Breakfasts (also called Mid-Morning Nutrition Breaks) can ensure that all students receive food, and are better able to focus on their learning. Offering items such as granola bars or fruit in a central location or in all classrooms can greatly help students make it through the school day without hunger. The Grab & Go breakfast model lets students “pick up conveniently packaged breakfasts from mobile service carts or vending machines in high traffic areas when they arrive at school or between classes,” eliminating the need for students to out themselves by going to the cafeteria or showing a free lunch card.

Covering the weekends and summers

While many learners may be well-fed during the week at school, weekends can prove particularly daunting. “After a week in a structured environment where they have at least two full meals, they will leave school and for 68 hours have little to eat,“ according to End 68 Hours of Hunger, a nonprofit that provides weekend food for students to take home. The same is true for summer and school vacations when subsidized meals become unavailable. No Kid Hungry notes that “just 17% of children eligible for free summer meals are getting them. But more and more schools and community organizations are opening their doors in the summer to provide free breakfast and lunch to all who need it.”

Integrating mindfulness to empower students

Mindfulness is a tool students can use to assess their emotional and physical well-being. Instead of lashing out from hunger, a student can learn to pause and self-assess their mood and needs. Mindfulness instructs students to check in with themselves and ask reflective questions like: Am I really angry about this or is it something else? Am I tired? Am I hungry?  Do I need to take a breather? Am I ready to get started on this assignment? Research shows that mindfulness empowers students to become more in control of self-managing their attention span, emotions, empathy, and anxiety levels, according to Mindful Schools . Incorporating a steady mindfulness practice and hunger-fighting programs in your school can prevent negative behaviors from surfacing and help liberate students to truly learn.

For more on Student Hunger and Nutrition:

• This is a Student’s Brain on Trauma
• Food Insecurity in Schools: How Can Teachers and Administrators Cope?
• No Kid Hungry

Jennifer L.M. Gunn spent 10 years in newspaper and magazine publishing before moving to public education, where she has been for nearly a decade. She is a curriculum designer and public high school educator in New York City. Jennifer is the creator of Right to Read, a literacy acceleration program for urban adolescent youth that’s steeped in social justice. She is an education writer and co-founder of the annual EDxEDNYC Education Conference , which won the New York City Department of Education Excellence in School Technology Award this year. Jennifer regularly presents at conferences on the topics of adolescent literacy, leadership, and education innovation. Follow Jennifer online at www.jenniferlmgunn.com or on Twitter .

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18 million US children are at risk of hunger: How is the problem being addressed and what more can be done?

Associate Professor of Nutrition Science, Purdue University

Professor of Anthropology, University of South Florida

Assistant Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition, University of Dayton

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Mississippi State University

Disclosure statement

Heather Eicher-Miller receives or has received funding for work related to this article from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Federal Office of Rural Health, and Purdue University.

David Himmelgreen has worked with Feeding Tampa Bay since 2015 and currently serves on its board. He has conducted funded research and evaluations on topics ranging from adolescent and older adult food insecurity and health to mobile food pantry program services.

Diana Cuy Castellanos receives funding from the University of Dayton to evaluate the impact of Mission of Mary Farm and Homefull gardens on local residents dietary intake.

Kecia Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Purdue University , Mississippi State University , and University of Dayton provide funding as members of The Conversation US.

View all partners

Editor’s note: The economic crisis brought about by the coronavirus pandemic has increased the number of Americans who can’t always get enough to eat , including children. The Conversation U.S. asked four experts to explain how common child hunger is and what’s being done to address it.

1. How big a problem is child hunger in the US?

Heather Eicher-Miller , associate professor of nutrition science at Purdue University: Hunger has two very different meanings . It can describe that uncomfortable feeling you get after not eating in a while. It’s also a long-term physical state.

People who experience long-term hunger aren’t just uncomfortable. They can feel weakness or pain and run an elevated risk of illnesses, including asthma , iron-deficiency anemia and poor bone health .

Hunger can of course arise when someone doesn’t eat enough, but it’s also a result of food insecurity – what happens when you lack the money or other means of accessing enough of the right kinds or amounts of food.

Whereas hunger is a physical condition, food insecurity is an economic and social situation.

David Himmelgreen , professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida: Food insecurity and child hunger have both skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were an estimated 50 million food-insecure Americans by the end of 2020, up sharply from 35 million in 2019 , the last year for which official data is available.

Feeding America, the nation’s largest anti-hunger organization, estimated in 2019 that there were 12.5 million U.S. children – 1 in 6 – at risk of hunger. With growth in the number of American workers unemployed and children living in poverty , a team of researchers determined in July 2020 that 18 million children – 1 in 4 – were experiencing food insecurity at least sometimes, a few months into the coronavirus pandemic.

Kecia Johnson , assistant professor of sociology at Mississippi State University: Children who experience hunger are more likely to be sick, to recuperate from illness more slowly and to be hospitalized more frequently.

Among other things, being food insecure increases the potential for obesity, heart disease and diabetes , including for children . And food-insecure children are at least twice as likely as other kids to have a variety of health problems , such as anemia, asthma and anxiety.

Food-insecure kids can also have more trouble at school than other children and become more likely to experience social isolation.

2. What’s being done about the problem?

Diana Cuy Castellanos , assistant professor of dietetics and nutrition at the University of Dayton: Some 15 federal programs assist Americans who need help getting enough nutritious food to eat. The programs cover different populations including the elderly, people with low incomes, infants and children, and Native American communities, as well as areas where there is need for emergency relief due to disasters.

The largest is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , known more commonly as SNAP. It provides assistance for the purchase of food based on income and cost US$85.6 billion in the latest fiscal year. Following the passage of a bipartisan relief package in December, most families of four can currently get $782 in monthly assistance through SNAP.

Many people still call these benefits “food stamps,” but now, instead of receiving vouchers to purchase food, people receive a card that looks like a credit card with their food allowance on it.

The government also runs the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides nutritional aid for low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women and women with at least one child age 5 or under. In addition, there are the School Breakfast and Lunch programs as well as the Summer Food Service Program , which funds free healthy meals and snacks to children and teens in low-income areas when school is not in session.

Many of these programs target specific segments of the population, such as children and the elderly. All have something in common: They are designed to help low-income families afford food so as to free up more of their limited income on other needs, such as housing and transportation.

Himmelgreen: While federal nutrition programs have helped reduce the severity of food insecurity and child hunger, only a limited number of Americans who don’t get enough to eat can take advantage of them. To get SNAP in Florida, for example, people may not have more than a total of either $2,001 or $3,001 – depending on their age and disabilities – in their savings and checking accounts. Other states have similar but different restrictions, making it hard to estimate the number of Americans who need help but can’t get it. Hence, millions more people than ever are relying on drive-through food pantries during the pandemic.

Johnson: There are some 60,000 food pantries, meal programs and food banks, according to Feeding America , serving about 40 million people yearly. Feeding America and its affiliated food banks and pantries also run food pantries in schools and backpack programs , which provide students with easily prepared foods, like boxed macaroni and cheese and canned beans, to take home, throughout the country.

For example, an elementary school in Holmes County, Mississippi , has supplied participating families with food and other supplies since 2019.

Eicher-Miller: Nutrition education is another way to address food insecurity and help reduce the number of children who go hungry. For example, the federal government offers nutrition education to individuals and families who receive SNAP benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education program , or SNAP-Ed. It provides comprehensive nutrition education regarding how to get the most nutrition per food dollar to many of the people who get SNAP benefits and may be having trouble serving their families healthy meals on a limited budget.

The government supports SNAP-Ed in locations like food pantries, community centers and food assistance offices. Its practical budgeting advice, cooking classes and nutrition information make families with children less likely to experience food insecurity , according to a study by my team. When people get the hang of buying the healthiest foods they can on a tight budget, their kids are less likely to go hungry.

I think of nutrition education as a gift that keeps giving in the sense that once someone has the knowledge they can keep using it to stay food secure into the future.

3. What are some of the more promising innovations?

Cuy Castellanos: Food insecurity is a complex problem for many reasons, including the limited access millions of people have to the fresh fruits and vegetables everyone should eat .

That’s why I’m excited to see people starting to grow their own food in low-income communities with few grocery stores or opportunities to buy produce , from Los Angeles to Philadelphia . Nonprofits and families are growing food on their own property or are using vacant lots or land on school or church grounds.

Some groups such as Homefull and Mission of Mary Farms in Dayton, Ohio, have even begun to build greenhouses to extend the growing season and producing root vegetables and leafy greens as well as raising chickens.

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Johnson: A new community garden is also making a difference in the small majority-Black town of Maben in rural Mississippi , where there’s nowhere to buy vegetables. Starting in 2019, local leaders approved the conversion of a former school athletic field into a community garden. Once volunteers from a farmers cooperative had cleared and plowed the field, other volunteers planted and harvested crops of tomatoes, purple hull peas, okra and watermelons. The gardeners distributed this first wave of produce primarily to elderly people in Maben who used to have family gardens and give away their own homegrown food in years past.

Himmelgreen: Many innovative programs across the country are aiming to reduce food insecurity and improve the health of low-income Americans.

At “ client food choice ” food pantries, clients don’t just pick up boxes of free, nutritious items. Instead, they get to choose the foods they want and get recipes and other kinds of nutrition education . There are also food prescription programs based in hospitals and medical clinics, where patients are screened for food insecurity and, if eligible, enrolled in SNAP and given help connecting with food pantries either on site or nearby.

A growing number of nonprofits also refer people to school-based food pantries, which operate in K-12 public schools and on college campuses and the meals-on-wheels programs that assist people who are homebound.

I believe these programs need to be scaled up or replicated whenever possible in areas where there is a high level of food insecurity and child hunger but a lack of nonprofit help available.

• Volunteering
• Community gardens
• Food insecurity
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Child Hunger
• Urban gardening
• Philanthropy and nonprofits
• Food pantries
• Feeding America

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October 18, 2017

World Hunger Is Increasing, Thanks to Wars and Climate Change

Despite efforts to end food shortages, a recent U.N. report shows that, after years of decline, hunger is on the rise again

By Leah Samberg & The Conversation UK

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The following essay is reprinted with permission from  The Conversation , an online publication covering the latest research.

Around the globe, about 815 million people – 11 percent of the world’s population – went hungry in 2016, according to the latest data from the United Nations. This was the first increase in more than 15 years.

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Between 1990 and 2015, due largely to a set of sweeping initiatives by the global community, the proportion of undernourished people in the world was cut in half. In 2015, U.N. member countries adopted the Sustainable Development Goals , which doubled down on this success by setting out to end hunger entirely by 2030. But a recent U.N. report shows that, after years of decline, hunger is on the rise again.

As evidenced by nonstop news coverage of floods, fires, refugees and violence, our planet has become a more unstable and less predictable place over the past few years. As these disasters compete for our attention, they make it harder for people in poor, marginalized and war-torn regions to access adequate food.

I study decisions that smallholder farmers and pastoralists , or livestock herders, make about their crops, animals and land. These choices are limited by lack of access to services, markets or credit; by poor governance or inappropriate policies; and by ethnic, gender and educational barriers. As a result, there is often little they can do to maintain secure or sustainable food production in the face of crises.

The new U.N. report shows that to reduce and ultimately eliminate hunger, simply making agriculture more productive will not be enough. It also is essential to increase the options available to rural populations in an uncertain world.

Conflict and climate change threaten rural livelihoods

Around the world, social and political instability are on the rise. Since 2010, state-based conflict has increased by 60 percent and armed conflict within countries has increased by 125 percent. More than half of the food-insecure people identified in the U.N. report (489 million out of 815 million) live in countries with ongoing violence. More than three-quarters of the world’s chronically malnourished children (122 million of 155 million) live in conflict-affected regions.

At the same time, these regions are experiencing increasingly powerful storms, more frequent and persistent drought and more variable rainfall associated with global climate change. These trends are not unrelated. Conflict-torn communities are more vulnerable to climate-related disasters, and crop or livestock failure due to climate can contribute to social unrest.

War hits farmers especially hard. Conflict can evict them from their land, destroy crops and livestock, prevent them from acquiring seed and fertilizer or selling their produce, restrict their access to water and forage, and disrupt planting or harvest cycles. Many conflicts play out in rural areas characterized by smallholder agriculture or pastoralism. These small-scale farmers are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet . Supporting them is one of the U.N.‘s key strategies for reaching its food security targets.

Disrupted and displaced

Without other options to feed themselves, farmers and pastoralists in crisis may be forced to leave their land and communities. Migration is one of the most visible coping mechanisms for rural populations who face conflict or climate-related disasters.

Globally, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons doubled between 2007 and 2016 . Of the estimated 64 million people who are currently displaced, more than 15 million are linked to one of the world’s most severe conflict-related food crises in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia.

While migrating is uncertain and difficult, those with the fewest resources may not even have that option. New research by my colleagues at the University of Minnesota shows that the most vulnerable populations may be “ trapped ” in place, without the resources to migrate .

Displacement due to climate disasters also feeds conflict. Drought-induced migration in Syria, for example, has been linked to the conflict there, and many militants in Nigeria have been identified as farmers displaced by drought.

Supporting rural communities

To reduce world hunger in the long term, rural populations need sustainable ways to support themselves in the face of crisis. This means investing in strategies to support rural livelihoods that are resilient, diverse and interconnected.

Many large-scale food security initiatives supply farmers with improved crop and livestock varieties, plus fertilizer and other necessary inputs. This approach is crucial, but can lead farmers to focus most or all of their resources on growing more productive maize, wheat or rice. Specializing in this way increases risk. If farmers cannot plant seed on time or obtain fertilizers, or if rains fail, they have little to fall back on.

Increasingly, agricultural research and development agencies, NGOs and aid programs are working to help farmers maintain traditionally diverse farms by providing financial, agronomic and policy support for production and marketing of native crop and livestock species. Growing many different locally adapted crops provides for a range of nutritional needs and reduces farmers’ risk from variability in weather, inputs or timing.

While investing in agriculture is viewed as the way forward in many developing regions, equally important is the ability of farmers to diversify their livelihood strategies beyond the farm. Income from off-farm employment can buffer farmers against crop failure or livestock loss , and is a key component of food security for many agricultural households.

Training, education, and literacy programs allow rural people to access a greater range of income and information sources. This is especially true for women, who are often more vulnerable to food insecurity than men.

Conflict also tears apart rural communities, breaking down traditional social structures. These networks and relationships facilitate exchanges of information, goods and services, help protect natural resources, and provide insurance and buffering mechanisms.

In many places, one of the best ways to bolster food security is by helping farmers connect to both traditional and innovative social networks, through which they can pool resources , store food, seed and inputs and make investments. Mobile phones enable farmers to get information on weather and market prices, work cooperatively with other producers and buyers and obtain aid, agricultural extension or veterinary services. Leveraging multiple forms of connectivity is a central strategy for supporting resilient livelihoods.

In the past two decades the world has come together to fight hunger. This effort has produced innovations in agriculture, technology and knowledge transfer. Now, however, the compounding crises of violent conflict and a changing climate show that this approach is not enough. In the planet’s most vulnerable places, food security depends not just on making agriculture more productive, but also on making rural livelihoods diverse, interconnected and adaptable.

This article was originally published on  The Conversation . Read the original article .

Goal 2: Zero Hunger

Goal 2 is about creating a world free of hunger by 2030.The global issue of hunger and food insecurity has shown an alarming increase since 2015, a trend exacerbated by a combination of factors including the pandemic, conflict, climate change, and deepening inequalities.

By 2022, approximately 735 million people – or 9.2% of the world’s population – found themselves in a state of chronic hunger – a staggering rise compared to 2019. This data underscores the severity of the situation, revealing a growing crisis.

In addition, an estimated 2.4 billion people faced moderate to severe food insecurity in 2022. This classification signifies their lack of access to sufficient nourishment. This number escalated by an alarming 391 million people compared to 2019.

The persistent surge in hunger and food insecurity, fueled by a complex interplay of factors, demands immediate attention and coordinated global efforts to alleviate this critical humanitarian challenge.

Extreme hunger and malnutrition remains a barrier to sustainable development and creates a trap from which people cannot easily escape. Hunger and malnutrition mean less productive individuals, who are more prone to disease and thus often unable to earn more and improve their livelihoods.

2 billion people in the world do not have reg- ular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. In 2022, 148 million children had stunted growth and 45 million children under the age of 5 were affected by wasting.

How many people are hungry?

It is projected that more than 600 million people worldwide will be facing hunger in 2030, highlighting the immense challenge of achieving the zero hunger target.

People experiencing moderate food insecurity are typically unable to eat a healthy, balanced diet on a regular basis because of income or other resource constraints.

Why are there so many hungry people?

Shockingly, the world is back at hunger levels not seen since 2005, and food prices remain higher in more countries than in the period 2015–2019. Along with conflict, climate shocks, and rising cost of living, civil insecurity and declining food production have all contributed to food scarcity and high food prices.

Investment in the agriculture sector is critical for reducing hunger and poverty, improving food security, creating employment and building resilience to disasters and shocks.

Why should I care?

We all want our families to have enough food to eat what is safe and nutritious. A world with zero hunger can positively impact our economies, health, education, equality and social development.

It’s a key piece of building a better future for everyone. Additionally, with hunger limiting human development, we will not be able to achieve the other sustainable development goals such as education, health and gender equality.

How can we achieve Zero Hunger?

Food security requires a multi-dimensional approach – from social protection to safeguard safe and nutritious food especially for children to transforming food systems to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable world. There will need to be investments in rural and urban areas and in social protection so poor people have access to food and can improve their livelihoods.

What can we do to help?

You can make changes in your own life—at home, at work and in the community—by supporting local farmers or markets and making sustainable food choices, supporting good nutrition for all, and fighting food waste.

You can also use your power as a consumer and voter, demanding businesses and governments make the choices and changes that will make Zero Hunger a reality. Join the conversation, whether on social media platforms or in your local communities.

Facts and Figures

Goal 2 targets.

• Despite global efforts, in 2022, an estimated 45 million children under the age of 5 suffered from wasting, 148 million had stunted growth and 37 million were overweight. A fundamental shift in trajectory is needed to achieve the 2030 nutrition targets.
• To achieve zero hunger by 2030, urgent coordinated action and policy solutions are imperative to address entrenched inequalities, transform food systems, invest in sustainable agricultural practices, and reduce and mitigate the impact of conflict and the pandemic on global nutrition and food security.

Source: The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023

2.1 By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.

2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.

2.3 By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.

2.4 By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.

2.5 By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed.

2.A Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries.

2.B Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round.

2.C Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility.

International Fund for Agricultural Development

Food and Agriculture Organization

World Food Programme

UNICEF – Nutrition

Zero Hunger Challenge

Think.Eat.Save.   Reduce your foodprint.

UNDP – Hunger

Fast Facts: No Hunger

Infographic: No Hunger

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Does Education Help Reduce Hunger?

Education plays a crucial role in reducing hunger and addressing food security issues. Here are several ways in which education can contribute to alleviating hunger:

1. Knowledge of agricultural practices: Education equips individuals with the knowledge and skills needed to practice sustainable and efficient agricultural techniques. Farmers who have access to education can learn about modern farming methods, crop diversification, irrigation techniques, soil conservation, and pest management. These practices enhance productivity, increase crop yields, and reduce the vulnerability of farmers to environmental challenges, ultimately ensuring a more stable food supply.

2. Improved food processing and storage: Education can help communities learn about proper food processing, storage, and preservation techniques. It enables individuals to acquire knowledge on techniques such as drying, canning, pickling, and refrigeration, which help extend the shelf life of food items. This knowledge can significantly reduce post-harvest losses , ensuring that more food reaches consumers and is available during periods of scarcity.

3. Nutrition awareness and dietary diversification: Education can increase awareness about the importance of a balanced diet and proper nutrition. It can teach communities about the nutritional value of different foods and the benefits of a diverse diet. This knowledge can empower individuals to make informed choices about their food consumption, leading to improved dietary diversity and a better understanding of the importance of essential nutrients for overall health.

4. Income generation and poverty reduction: Education is closely linked to increased employment opportunities and income generation. As individuals receive education and acquire relevant skills, they are more likely to find better-paying jobs or start their own businesses. Higher income levels can help families afford an adequate and nutritious diet, reducing their vulnerability to hunger and malnutrition.

5. Access to information and resources: Education provides individuals with access to information, including government programs, resources, and support services aimed at reducing hunger and promoting food security. Educated individuals are more likely to be aware of their rights, entitlements, and available assistance, making them better equipped to access and utilize government initiatives and resources effectively.

6. Empowering women and girls: Education plays a vital role in empowering women and girls, enabling them to contribute to food production and decision-making processes. Educated women are more likely to have a say in household matters, including food-related decisions . When women have access to education, they can actively participate in agricultural activities, contribute to family income, and make informed choices about nutrition and health, leading to improved food security for their families.

Overall, education is a powerful tool in reducing hunger by equipping individuals and communities with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to address food security challenges effectively. By empowering individuals and promoting sustainable practices, education can contribute to long-term solutions for hunger and malnutrition.

Education plays a crucial role in reducing hunger and addressing food insecurity in various ways. Here are some key ways in which education can help combat hunger:

1. Agricultural knowledge and practices: Education can provide individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary for sustainable agriculture and food production. It can teach farmers about modern farming techniques, crop rotation, water management, pest control, and other practices that improve yields and reduce post-harvest losses. With improved agricultural knowledge, farmers can increase their productivity and contribute to a more reliable and abundant food supply.

2. Improved nutrition and dietary practices: Education can promote awareness about balanced diets, nutrition, and the importance of consuming diverse and nutrient-rich foods. By educating individuals, especially women and mothers, about the importance of a varied diet and the nutritional needs of children, communities can better address malnutrition and prevent stunting and other nutrition-related issues.

3. Food preservation and storage: Education can teach individuals about proper food preservation and storage techniques. This knowledge is vital for reducing post-harvest losses and extending the shelf life of perishable food items. It can also help communities establish local food processing and preservation methods, such as canning, drying, and fermenting, which can enhance food availability during lean periods.

4. Income generation and poverty alleviation: Education can empower individuals with skills and knowledge that increase their employability and income-earning potential. With improved income, individuals and families can afford an adequate and nutritious diet, reducing their vulnerability to hunger. Education also enables people to access better job opportunities, including those in the agriculture and food sectors, leading to improved livelihoods and reduced poverty.

5. Empowering communities: Education fosters critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, empowering individuals and communities to identify and address the root causes of hunger. It can enable people to participate in policy discussions, advocate for their rights, and engage in community-led initiatives aimed at improving food security. By empowering communities, education helps create sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty.

6. Climate change adaptation: Education can raise awareness about climate change and its impact on agriculture and food systems. It can equip individuals with knowledge on climate-smart practices, such as agroforestry, conservation agriculture, and water management techniques. By promoting climate change adaptation and resilience-building measures, education can help communities mitigate the negative effects of climate change on food security.

In conclusion, education is a powerful tool in the fight against hunger. It provides individuals with knowledge, skills, and opportunities necessary for sustainable agriculture, improved nutrition, income generation, and community empowerment. By investing in education, societies can build a stronger foundation for addressing hunger and achieving long-term food security.

Education plays a vital role in reducing hunger and addressing food insecurity in several ways. Here are some key ways in which education can help in this regard:

1. Knowledge about nutrition: Education helps individuals understand the importance of a balanced diet and the nutritional requirements for good health. By learning about different food groups, their benefits, and how to make healthy choices, people can improve their eating habits, leading to reduced malnutrition and hunger.

2. Agricultural practices: Education in agriculture and farming techniques equips farmers with knowledge and skills to increase crop productivity and enhance their agricultural practices. This includes learning about efficient irrigation methods, sustainable farming techniques, soil conservation, and pest management. Such knowledge can result in higher agricultural yields, increased food production, and improved food availability in communities.

3. Income generation: Education provides individuals with better opportunities for employment and income generation. When people are educated, they have a higher likelihood of finding well-paying jobs , which enables them to afford nutritious food for themselves and their families. Increased income levels contribute to reducing food insecurity and poverty.

4. Empowerment of women: Education plays a crucial role in empowering women, who are often disproportionately affected by hunger and poverty. When women are educated, they gain access to information, resources, and opportunities, enabling them to make informed decisions about their families’ nutrition and health. Educated women are more likely to have healthier children, practice better hygiene, and make effective use of available resources, thereby reducing hunger and malnutrition.

5. Policy and advocacy: Education equips individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and engage in policy discussions related to hunger and food security. Educated individuals can advocate for effective policies, programs, and interventions to address the root causes of hunger, such as poverty, unequal distribution of resources, and lack of access to education and healthcare.

6. Sustainable development: Education fosters awareness about sustainable development and environmental conservation. It promotes understanding of the impact of human activities on natural resources, ecosystems, and climate change. By educating people about sustainable agricultural practices, responsible consumption, and environmental conservation, education can help mitigate the factors that contribute to hunger, such as land degradation, deforestation, and climate-related challenges.

Overall, education plays a transformative role in reducing hunger by providing knowledge, skills, and opportunities that empower individuals and communities to make informed choices, improve agricultural practices, enhance income levels, and advocate for policies that address the underlying causes of food insecurity.

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