Public HealthNew Hunger Platform Launched To Enlighten Youth
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced
the
first interactive web platform devoted to informing and educating
students
and teachers on hunger issues using a wealth of materials to
encourage
critical thinking.
"Today"s youth are hungry to know more about the problems which are
causing
food shortages across the globe -- like conflict in Pakistan, high
food
prices, climate change and the global financial crisis," said Nancy
Roman,
WFP"s Director of Communications and Public Policy. She said that
global
hunger is on the rise, with 115 million people having joined the ranks
of
the hungry in the last two years alone.
"Our web platform provides a gateway to enlighten and engage today"s
youth
who, in a few short years, will be responsible for making
critical
decisions about the many global challenges which will persist."
The Students and Teachers section of WFP"s recently revamped website
http://www.wfp.org) is designed to increase awareness and understanding
of
hunger-related problems among teachers, and allow them to easily
integrate
topics such as the Millennium Development Goals, of which the reduction
of
hunger is No.1, into the mainstream academic curriculum. The site
provides
creative lesson plans and activities for teachers in addition to links
to
user-friendly educational sites, educational res, blogs
and
interactive games for students.
"This is a one-stop re shop for those who want to know
everything
they can about hunger - and what it will take to curb it," said
Roman,
adding that more than 25,000 people around the world die each day
from
hunger and related causes, 14,000 of them children.
A number of educators around the world have contributed to the array
of
content - including Cape Breton University, Auburn University and
4-H
Alabama. Students are encouraged to take action in their local
communities
through awareness-raising activities, and ideas on how to do this
are
offered.
Among other youth outreach tools already developed by WFP are:
FreeRice.com
- the popular online word game where players help feed the world through
click-based game, while improving their vocabulary. Food-force.com, now
in
16 languages, continues to be a popular, fun video game which
teaches
children about the multitude of challenges of delivering life-saving
food
in a major humanitarian crisis.
Through these initiatives, WFP aims to engage and motivate young
people
around the world to take action in the fight against hunger at a
grassroots
level. A prime example of this engagement is the
WFP-supported
"Universities Fighting World Hunger" - a coalition of 87
universities
across the United States, which encourages students to get involved
in
hunger awareness-raising activities and on-the-ground activism.
In the UK, WFP recently teamed up with the UK School Food Trust to
launch
The Really Good School Dinner campaign, raising over GBP 11,000 for
WFP
School Feeding Programmes. Over 550 schools participated resulting in
more
than 400,000 school children pledging to empty their plate to fill
the
plate of a child in the developing world.
United Nations World Food Programme