March 8 International Women's Day

October 14, 2026

Invest in gender equality

Hunger and gender inequality are inextricably linked. Therefore invest this International Women’s Day in equal opportunities for women, so that everyone gets better.

Crucial in food production.

Women are more hungry than men. While women play a central role in food production: they grow, process and sell food, and are often responsible for fulfilling the basic needs of their families.

Inequality stands in the way of women.

But in many places women are systematically excluded, because gender inequality is deeply rooted: Nowhere in the world are men and women alike. Women must do it with only a fraction of the available resources: They have less access to education, country, technologies, money or influential positions. They have fewer opportunities, more poverty and more hunger.

Investing in women = investing in progress.

Practice shows that investing in women’s development is most effective in the fight against hunger:

From family to whole community
A woman with opportunities and control not only invests in herself and her family; The whole community is improving.
The right themes on the agenda
Women leaders increasingly place food security, education, health, corruption and social exclusion on the social and political agenda of their communities.
Profit for everyone
Everyone wins: less hunger, less child mortality and more children to school.

The Hunger Project: Women first.

That’s why women are central to all our work. We invest in women so that everyone gets better. In rural Africa, Asia and Latin America. We do this through the following programs.

We encourage female leadership.

The Hunger Project trains women in the field of leadership. We encourage women to make their voices heard and to take leadership in local politics. So they have the knowledge and tools to take action themselves and to claim, for example, available facilities.

In India we support female council members to make optimal use of their political position in village councils and the corresponding government budget. The Hunger Project trains and coaches these female leaders during their five-year term, so they can become effective council members.

The training of The Hunger Project gave me and other chosen women a head start. It gave us insight into the prejudices against women and how we can be leaders.From roads and water tanks to crèches, toilets, street lighting and paid work for fellow villagers: Saroj (39) from Bihar got it as trained chairman of her village council.

We support female entrepreneurship.

With training in finance, knowledge about entrepreneurship and opportunities to save and borrow safely, women can start their own businesses and thus increase their income.

In the villages of Maculuve and Malindile inMozambiqueGroups of women have started saving groups. Nalia from Malindile explains how that works:To participate, new members buy a share for 50 MZN (about 75 eurocents). In addition, all members apply at least 10 MZN (about 15 eurocents) once every 2 weeks. These investments are our seed capital. In turn, members can borrow an amount, allowing them to start a business themselves. They pay back that loan in three months with 10% interest. That’s how our capital grows. This is a safe way to save. We invest instead of spending it right away.

We invest in self-reliance.

In 9 African countries, communities work together to improve for all. In this respect, it is important to strengthen forerunners and especially female local leaders. Because coaching and guidance is provided by local trainers of The Hunger Project. But all the programmes are organized, managed and executed by the people themselves with women first. With the ultimate goal: self-reliance.

Read about the more than 75 self-reliant epicenters.

We invest in healthy food for (standing) mothers and children.

Good nutrition is crucial, especially at the start of life. That’s why The Hunger Project is committed to healthy nutrition for pregnant and breast-feeding women and young children.

In Mexico, we encourage as many local, smart and sustainable solutions as possible. Together with local leaders, we promote traditional recipes with local superfoods. And through theRight2Grow Programorganize local volunteers in Bangladesh meetings in their villages about healthy nutrition and mother and child care and control the weight and growth of young children. These local volunteers and trained mothers together successfully put pressure on their municipal administration to increase the government budget for safe water, healthy nutrition and better mother and child care.

Invest in equal opportunities for women worldwide.

This enables women to understand their own abilities and to take action to improve their lives. We encourage women to make their voices heard. And we talk to women and men about gender inequality. This is how we stimulate female leadership for real change.

Are you taking us one step further, on the road to equal opportunities for women?

  1. Invest in The Hunger Project: makean amount of your choice on. Donating with a tax advantage? Then use ourGrant agreement.
  2. Support the work of The Hunger Project India:join our networkOdisha. 100, which financially supports the female leadership program in the Indian state of Odisha.
  3. Let’s move.Birthday or anniversary celebration?Give your party meaning. And ask guests for a gift to The Hunger Project. Orsport for a world without hunger. We like to think with you.
  4. Keep in touch:writeherefor our newsletter It is possible.
  5. Follow our story:onLinkedIn,InstagramandFacebook. With every like you help us to become more visible.