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The Stories Behind the Numbers: A Firsthand Account of Sustainable Change in Tanzania

Introduction from the editor: Rise Against Hunger’s Global Impact team works alongside our in-country partners and communities to implement nutrition, education and economic empowerment programs that drive sustainable, lasting change — and each program is locally led and tailored to a community’s specific needs. Alzina Brown, our program manager, recently traveled to Tanzania where Global Volunteers, our longtime partner, is helping communities build healthier futures through integrated nutrition, school feeding and livelihood initiatives. Continue reading to hear from Alzina about the trip.

I recently returned from visiting five villages in Tanzania, where I had the privilege of visiting our partner Global Volunteers and seeing firsthand how they are working with these communities in Ukwaga Ward to improve child nutrition, health and education.

One of the most meaningful parts of the trip was following the journey of Rise Against Hunger meals from their arrival in-country to the schools and families we serve in last-mile communities. While numbers and reports tell part of the story, there is nothing quite like meeting the students, parents and care workers whose lives are impacted by these programs every day.

Click to watch this video that Alzina recorded during her visit to one of the schools. She wanted supporters like you to experience what she saw!

I was particularly inspired by Global Volunteers’ Reaching Children’s Potential program. Supported by Rise Against Hunger, it takes a holistic approach to addressing childhood stunting. From nutrition education and cooking demonstrations to home visits, healthcare access, income-generating activities and school feeding, it was encouraging to see how multiple interventions come together to support healthier futures for children and their families.

Visiting the schools also reinforced the importance of sustainable solutions. It was great to see the progress being made on school gardens that will help provide fresh vegetables to complement the Rise Against Hunger meals, and to learn how improved water access is supporting both the feeding programs and student well-being. At the same time, seeing schools navigate challenges such as water shortages was a reminder of how much work remains and how important continued investment is.

What I will remember most are the conversations with parents and teachers who are committed to creating better opportunities for the next generation. Their resilience, dedication and hope were evident everywhere we went.

I am grateful for the opportunity to learn, listen and witness the impact of strong partnerships — like our partnership with Global Volunteers and the Ukwaga Ward community — in action. These experiences continue to reinforce why sustainable, community-led solutions are so important in the fight against hunger.

Our work in Tanzania with Global Volunteers is just one example of the nutrition, education and economic empowerment programming we implement around the world — learn more about the communities we serve and the focus areas that guide our work to end global hunger. Want to help make our programs possible? Give today! Your donation will help expand sustainable, community-led solutions globally, like those Alzina witnessed in Tanzania.

About the Author

Alzina Brown is Rise Against Hunger's Global Impact Program Specialist.

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.