Introducing Our New Story Series! It Starts With a Meal: Philippines

on February 1, 2024

Committed to ending global hunger, Rise Against Hunger works in remote, last-mile communities around the world. Our organization addresses food insecurity in about 30 countries annually — and one such country where incredible impact is happening every single day is the Philippines.The work to end hunger starts with a meal, but it doesn’t end there. It leads to education, empowerment, resilience and more. Through our work with International Care Ministries and Convoy of Hope, our in-country partners, and Rise Against Hunger Philippines, one of our six international offices, we address immediate nutritional needs and empower locally led solutions to food and nutrition security challenges.

Kicking off today and continuing over the next few months, we’ll be sharing real, first-hand stories of impact from programs operated in the country and how you — our supporters — help make this impact possible. Below, we’ll introduce you to the challenges faced by communities in the Philippines, and share a few snapshots of the areas of work we’ll be delving into throughout this series. Read more and stay tuned for our brand new video at the end of this post!

The Challenge: Food Insecurity and Climate Disasters in the Philippines

44.7% of the Philippines’ population faces moderate or severe food insecurity, according to the FAO’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 report. Not only is this a troubling statistic, but the FAO also reports that 29% of children are affected by stunted growth. The archipelagic country of 7,641 islands lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire close to the equator. This causes geographical vulnerability to natural disasters, especially earthquakes and typhoons, that exacerbate food insecurity. Rise Against Hunger is working to tackle these challenges. Through a variety of programs, we serve more than 1.73 million people in the Philippines each year. The programs meet nutritional needs of children and families, implement sustainable agriculture and livelihood projects that empower women and farmers, and more.

The Short-Term: Providing Urgent Meals

With almost half of the Philippines population facing food insecurity, it is critical to address immediate food needs. That is why, in 2023, 40% of meals packaged by volunteers with Rise Against Hunger U.S. were shipped to in-country partners International Care Ministries and Convoy of Hope. The meals are distributed in schools and community settings to support the nutrition of children and families. School feeding programs have been proven to improve attendance and academic performance, so these meals support children’s education, as well as their nutrition.

Rise Against Hunger Philippines operates multiple initiatives to meet these needs as well, including:

A dietary supplementation program that provides meals at early childhood development centers, schools and community feeding programs.
The Good Food Grocer, the first-ever food bank in the country, at Better World Tondo community center, supplying fresh produce, shelf-stable food and other items.
A mobile kitchen that travels throughout metro Manila to provide cooked meals to at-risk communities.

The Long-Term: Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood Projects

In the Philippines, the work to end hunger includes providing urgent meals and extending from there. Rise Against Hunger Philippines established the Good Food Farm in 2020 to promote sustainable agriculture practices that foster long-term food security in communities throughout the country. An urban community farm in metro Manila and a large farm in Magdalena, Laguna, provide fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs and more to 3,000+ Filipino families each week. The farms have created over 30 jobs, supporting self-sufficiency and empowerment for farmers. With a focus on sustainable agricultural practices, the farms help reduce food and agricultural waste. The Good Food Farm in Laguna doubles as an agri-tourism social enterprise, and Rise Against Hunger Philippines utilizes the proceeds to continue serving food-insecure communities, making this a holistic approach to addressing hunger.

Rise Against Hunger Philippines also supports multiple livelihood programs. For example, in addition to the food bank at Better World Tondo community center, the mothers who volunteer there are engaged in a mushroom livelihood program, growing and selling mushrooms. In just two months, they earned ₱18,000 pesos that they divided and used to support their families!

Our NEW Impact Video

These are just some of the programs Rise Against Hunger supports in the Philippines. The programs nourish lives, empower communities and respond to emergencies holistically. Learn more about our work in the video below — and stay tuned for more stories we’ll be sharing through the It Starts With a Meal: Philippines series.Rise Against Hunger is committed to not only meeting immediate nutrition needs, but also investing in education, agriculture, empowerment, health and livelihoods. This is the impact we’re making in the Philippines and worldwide — and we encourage you to partner with us. It starts with a meal, and it starts with you! Please consider making a monthly donation to help feed families and support solutions to end hunger in the Philippines and around the world.

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.