On July 27, Bangalore headquartered Rise Against Hunger India (RAHI) unveiled its Hunger Education Module at Pragnya Bodhini in Mumbai. As part of its initiative to make the UN Sustainable Development Goal – Zero Hunger by 2030, a reality, RAHI organised the curtain raiser highlighting issues pertaining to hunger, wastage of food, healthy diet and healthy living and the need for a hunger education module for children of this generation. The curtain raiser kick started Hunger Education Module (HEM) in Mumbai and will be rolled in schools all over India.

A showcase Meal Packaging session was organised by RAHI during the event. 10 schools participated in the event and packed over 3000 meals. The aim of meal packaging was to give them a hands-on experience and urge them to take forward the cause and become “Hunger Champions”. After the session, the meal packages made their way to the needy.

Additionally, an interactive quiz competition on hunger and related issues was organised and a video on hunger education was showcased at the event.

Commenting on the Hunger Education curtain raiser, Dola Mohapatra, executive director RAHI said, “The event is meant to educate the participating schools about Hunger Education Module (HEM) and the benefits that it will give to the school as well as the students. Over 815 million people in the world suffer from hunger and nearly 2 crore people in India go hungry every day. This leads to malnutrition around 25 percent which is high, and obesity too is increasing. Taking into account the importance of need for educating children on issues related to hunger and wastage of food, Hunger Education Module has been envisaged and planned for FY 2019-20 by Rise Against Hunger India (RAHI).” He further added, “The HEM sessions will be a part of the science and social studies classes and will not take any extra sessions outside the classroom, as the module is being integrated with the school syllabus. The module will be implemented in the identified schools free of cost and Rise Against Hunger India will bear all the costs.”

The Hunger Education Module is designed by Rise Against Hunger India to address the issue of food wastage and storage and distribution of food, promote healthy diet and healthy living. This will ensure that children as shaped as role models for propagating proper food habits thereby ensuring they become  ‘Hunger Champions’ in their own homes, schools, locality and wider constituency. 12 to 14 sessions will be meticulously planned with lot of activities and group work in the HEM. At the end of 14 sessions, key takeaway for participating students will be they can relate themselves to good eating habits and become hunger champions, championing the cause of the hungry people.

In the next two years, RAHI aims to implement HEM in atleast 20 schools. RAHI’s endeavor will be to reachout to the corporates who can partner with them to support the initiative.

 Rise against Hunger – an international hunger relief organisation – aims to show the world that it is, in fact, possible to end hunger by the year 2030. Created as an independent entity in India in 2014, Bangalore headquartered RAH India is committed to nourishing lives, providing emergency aid, empowering communities and growing the hunger movement.