Impact of the campaign

The One Human Family, Food for All campaign mobilised Caritas organisations around the world on the vital issue of hunger and food security. In the two years, the campaign has been able to achieve many great things.

Here are just a few examples:

Helping families feed themselves

• Providing training and resources to help family farmers around the world make the most of the land that they have to produce food. This includes providing practical assistance such as helping communities improve irrigation and provide seeds and tools.
• Linking family farmers or small scale farmers to market chains, so that they can sell their produce to earn income.
• Supporting families with alternative ways of earning an income so that they can buy food. This includes initiatives such as distributing goats whose milk families can sell, providing starter material like fishing nets and sewing machines, or providing training in skills such as tailoring or baking.

Sharing what works best

• As part of the campaign, a survey was conducted involving 98 Caritas organisations about hunger and food insecurity. The resulting report showed that the single most important action to reduce hunger is to support agriculture at a small scale.
• Farmers are meeting their peers in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and other countries, thanks to Caritas conferences where growers can share expertise.
• Sharing examples of successful initiatives, such as the ‘Women, Sowers of Development’ prize. This prize highlighted two women’s groups that have successfully fought hunger – one from Nicaragua, and one from Lebanon.

Supporting dialogue with government

• Caritas members from a range of countries put pressure on their government leaders to think of the poor when drafting laws about food and farming.
• More women in the Democratic Republic of Congo have become landowners thanks to Caritas efforts. Women in some areas are rarely allowed to make decisions about land use, but Caritas Goma promoted their right to land.
• 40 Parliament members of the European Union committed themselves to the Right to Food thanks to advocacy by Caritas Europa.

Increased awareness about hunger and food insecurity

• Over 90 national Caritas and 100 diocesan Caritas, plus hundreds of churches, religious groups and people of faith launched the campaign with a ‘Global Wave of Prayer’ for people living in hunger.
• Pope Francis reached a worldwide audience in speaking about the campaign, and the necessity to address the ‘global scandal’ of hunger that we face in our world today
• As part of the campaign, a video was created based on the allegory of the long spoons. The message emphasized that when people work together, no one has to go hungry. The video went viral on Facebook and YouTube, receiving more than 15 million views.
• More Catholics are aware of the reach of Caritas soup kitchens, communal gardens, and food distribution systems like special “credit cards” that impoverished people can use to buy food.