Hunger and the Climate Change

During this week the big discussions we have had on the Global Change course, has rotated around how hunger and bio-fuels are connected. Because these subjects are so complicated, it is difficult for us to grasp it all. That is why we now are airing the perspectives that we have thought about it.

Is bio-fuel the way to solve the climate changes, or are bio-fuels the source of the hunger problem, therefore causing an equally as big a problem?

As we see it, it really depends on how the bio-fuel is produced and from what and where. On one side bio-fuel is causing the big hunger problem in Tanzania, which leads to many people in Tanzania are starving, because big international companies are grabbing the land from the local people, and using it to produce jatropha or sugarcanes to mention some crops. This means that a lot of the land in Tanzania is used to grow crops that can’t be used as food for the local people. Then where is the food going to come from, when it is too expensive to import food from other countries? What I have just described is also provoking the prices on food in Tanzania, which means that food prices are rising so that people can’t afford to buy the food they need to survive, when 58% of the population of Tanzania are living for under 1 dollar a day. So from this perspective bio-fuel in Tanzania is one of the root problems to hunger in Tanzania.

On the other hand, bio-fuel is also framed as a product to come about the climate changes on a global level. If we don’t try to do something about the climate changes in the world, the climate is also going to make it difficult or almost impossible to cultivate the land and thereby getting food for the starving people. So how to go around these problems, when it seems that one problem leads to the other?

As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog post, it is also a discussing of how, where and of what bio-fuels are produced. The situation in Tanzania, as we see it, is quite complicated, because the bio-fuel is being produced from non-eatable crops, and because the production of bio-fuels demands huge amounts of energy, which also contribute to the global warming.

So as you might have read from this post, this is still a debate that we are having and that is very importent for our future campaign.

We therefore call upon you to join in, and tell us what you think about this subject. Several minds think better the one!

Thoughts from Sara, a student at the Global Change course in Tanzania.

The Root causes of hunger

Raj Patel begins his book "Stuffed and Starved" by highlighting a big contradiction that we are producing more food than ever,and that the number of hungry people which stand at about 800 million is outnumbered by the number of obese people. Now that i s one huge contradiction which points to a cosmos that has gone wrong and a breakdown of the  food system.

This breakdown in the system calls for us to ask questions and delve deeper to find the root cause of the problem. We may probably may not be going to bed hungry but we are unable to buy quality food or are paying to much for the for it.

For the next couple of weeks and in the course of our camapign we shall be looking at the multi dimensional causes of hunger and its various manifestations and we invite you to join us.  The key areas of focus will be the effect of structral adjustment program by the Bretton wood institution on agriculture and Biofuels in realations to food security!

PS* The week that was , was a fruitful for the Global changers at the platform in Tanzania and we had a chance to hear from the team at the Global platform in Nepal, and interact with Students from from a University in Dar es saalam ...there is always a sense of comfort in number and not forgetting the power in it. 

  

Future Workshop

During the week we have all been preparing future workshops for a group of young students, some of them newly graduated from the agricultural faculty at the University of Dar es Salaam. The purpose was to generate as many ideas as possible on how we can combat hunger! And today was the big day! It was a huge success :) Throughout the day we did a lot of brainstorming and had some very interesting and useful discussions so that in the end we actually managed to come up with brilliant ideas and solutions to how we can punch hunger. But what was equally as important for us global changers was that the participants were so willing to share their knowledge on what is going on and the situation here in Tanzania. Among others, we heard how people are not always aware on their rights and how land has been taken away from them and forced to move with only little resources to build a new existence. This is only an indication of that what we are doing is needed. These young people were so cool and we learned a lot from them. And just as cool, they liked what we are doing and would be happy to help us and join us! SO GREAT :) Because we will need these clever young people to shape our campaign and to reach our goal – thank you so much guys!!!

With all the great ideas we came up with in the future workshop today, we see that, as youth we are a very important resource that governments depend on for national development.

Let’s join hands in combating hunger in Africa!

READING THURSDAYS !

Thursdays are clearly becoming our ritual for reading. ON 26TH AUGUST 2010, we read a text which is the introduction from Raj Patel’s “stuffed and starved”. As you may know by now our team is aiming at building a powerful campaign around having a hunger free world, it is therefore of extreme importance that we have as much information around this topic as we can. Hence, our focus today on this brilliant and exhaustively researched book called stuffed and starved.
Just to highlight a few salient points from his book, in his introduction, Raj Patel argues that
• Today, when we produce more food than ever before, more than one in ten people on earth are hungry!!
• Global hunger and obesity are symptoms of the same problem and, what’s more, the route to eradicating world hunger is also a way to prevent global epidemics of diabetes and heart disease and to address a host of environmental and social ills.
After reviewing this text we looked at the root causes to hunger in relation to the text and also relating our findings to situations in our countries.

Two major root causes discussed were that

1. What we are offered in stores is controlled by a few key players’ hence local farmers losing their markets.
2. Big corporations influence governments (World trade organisation), consumers (money), hence and interests of farmers are not protected
Conclusion: Raj Patel helps us deconstruct the long accepted folk wisdom that “the poor are hungry because they are lazy”

Facts about Tanzania

These are some facts about Tanzania that we find interesting.
 

HakiArdhi

The Visit to HAKIARDHI


Today we went to the organization HAKIARDHI to learn more about biofuel and land rights in Tanzania. This we feel is important to share with you, so you also can increase your knowledge about why our campaign is important and what it is all about.

HAKIARDHI is a land rights research and resources institute. It is a nongovernmental and non profit sharing organization that was founded in 1994 to among other things, promote, advance, and advocate for the right to land and other resources of the majority small producers. HAKIARDHI has conducted researches in a wide range of areas, published a number of titles on land reforms and constantly advocates for a socially just and equitable access to ownership and control of land and other resources by Tanzania populace.

Mr. Myensi from the organization, told us, the students of Global Change Tanzania that his institution main interventions areas are:
Research, Publications and Researches:
- Make research on land acquisition, ownership, control and conduct rapid responds to solve land conflicts in many part of the country etc.
- Publication: Making publication on important statements made by people on land issues and printing calanders, leaf lets with messages on land issues etc.
- Documentation: Filed important documents on their intervention areas etc.
Public engagement and advocacy:
- They engage the public on land right trainings and many advocacy programmes with the government and the communities.

The discussion ended with question and answers session between us and the executive director for clearing the minds and droughts on the issues around land rights, acquisition, control, ownership and the coming of biofuels in Tanzania.

We were inspired by the work of HAKIARDHI and among other things we learn about, land ownership and control, the issues surrounding biofuels, laws on land in Tanzania. These motivate us to do more research in future on biofuels and land right in Tanzania to help us do our campaign and leadership course better.
We found the meeting very interesting and educative as we learn a lot from the discussion with Mr.Myensi, but we also gained the awareness about, that this is a very complicated subject. So many people are involved and so many things affect each other. That is why this education is so important for us to gain a greater understanding of the social problems in Tanzania.

Flash Mob

The Flash Mob Presentation

First day in MS ActionAid’s Global Change course took a turn none of us had expected. We were introduced to each other and the teachers whom presented our first event. We were going to perform an African dance in the biggest market of Tanzania, Kariakoo, in half an hour. Before that we a dance instructor taught us how to perform in the biggest market in Tanzania called Kariakoo! Everyone was anxious and nervous for what where going to happen when the music started playing, but all of a sudden we were performing in front of more than one hundred people! The Tanzanians did not understand what was going on and more and more people came to see the performance – one of the local even joined in dancing! This was a good experience which broad us together as a team and taught us something about what we are capable of doing even with just very short time of preparation. Next time when we go to present a ‘flash mob’ we will suggest having a clearer message according to the problem in society we are fighting against in our campaign.



Kwa siku ya kwanza msactionaid imeweza kuanza warsha ya mabadiliko ya dunia kama wanafunzi tumeweza kujitambulisha na waalimu walitueleza kwamba tutaenda kucheza kwenye jukwaa katika soko la kariakoo. Kwa nusu saa tulikuwa na msanii wa kizazi kipya alietufundisha namna ya kucheza, kwa ujumla hakuna aliyejua nini kinaenda kufanyika. Na tulipofika mara wimbo ukaanza na ghafla tukaanza kucheza mbele ya watu zaidi ya mia moja watu hawakuelewa kilichokua kinaendelea lakini walivutiwa na namna tulinyocheza. Watu wengi walikuja kuangalia namna tunavyocheza na baadhi walivutiwa na kuungana na sisi kucheza hii inaonyesha namna walivyovutiwa na jukwaa. Tukio hilo lilikuwa zuri na limetujengea uwezo kama kikosi kazi na kutufundisha ushirikiano kwa mda mfupi, tunashauri kwa wakati mwingine tutakapoende kwenye jamii ni muhimu tuwe na ujumbe maalum unaohusu jamii husika.

The flashmob at Kariakoo

First day in MS ActionAid’s Global Change course took a turn none of us had expected. We were introduced to each other and the teachers whom presented our first event. We were going to perform an African dance in the biggest market of Tanzania, Kariakoo, in half an hour. Before that we a dance instructor taught us how to perform an African dance in the biggest market in Tanzania called Kariakoo! Everyone was anxious and nervous for what where going to happen when the music started playing, but all of a sudden we were performing in front of more than one hundred people! The Tanzanians did not understand what was going on and more and more people came to see the performance – one of the local even joined in dancing! This was a good experience which broad us together as a team and taught us something about what we are capable of doing even with just very short time of preparation. Next time when we go to present a ‘flash mob’ we will suggest having a clearer message according to the problem in society we are fighting against in our campaign.

Kwa siku ya kwanza msactionaid imeweza kuanza warsha ya mabadiliko ya dunia kama wanafunzi tumeweza kujitambulisha na waalimu walitueleza kwamba tutaenda kucheza  kwenye jukwaa katika soko la kariakoo. Kwa nusu saa tulikuwa na msanii wa kizazi kipya alietufundisha namna ya kucheza, kwa ujumla hakuna aliyejua nini kinaenda  kufanyika. Na tulipofika mara wimbo ukaanza na ghafla tukaanza kucheza mbele ya watu zaidi ya mia moja watu hawakuelewa kilichokua kinaendelea lakini walivutiwa na namna tulinyocheza. Watu wengi walikuja kuangalia namna tunavyocheza na baadhi walivutiwa na kuungana na sisi kucheza hii inaonyesha  namna walivyovutiwa na jukwaa. Tukio hilo lilikuwa zuri na limetujengea uwezo kama kikosi kazi na kutufundisha ushirikiano kwa mda mfupi, tunashauri kwa wakati mwingine tutakapoende kwenye jamii ni muhimu tuwe na ujumbe maalum unaohusu jamii husika. 

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