Effective Food Security Interventions: Reducing Household Hunger and Increasing Year-Round Access to Food

The Hunger Project (THP) is a New York-based nonprofit organization that has operated in Africa for more than 20 years. Its mission is to end hunger and poverty by pioneering and advocating sustainable, grassroots, women-centered strategies. Using quantitative and qualitative analyses, the Capstone team explored the relationship between household hunger levels and the implementation of various food security interventions in Senegal. The team’s quantitative analysis investigated the relationship between household hunger and six food security techniques presumed to improve year-round access to food: animal husbandry for household consumption, child enrollment in school meal programs, availability of storage facilities, food processing equipment and training, home gardens, and household access to cash during the lean season. The team’s qualitative studies consisted of focus groups and individual interviews with local staff and community members at three Epicenters, or dynamic centers where a cluster of villages mobilize to take community-led action to meet their basic needs, in Senegal. The Capstone team synthesized the data to identify the impact of various food security interventions on household hunger, and offered guidance on how to improve program implementation and data collection within the Epicenter Strategy.