Hidden, human stories about food on the front lines of hunger.

Hacking Hunger Podcast

We're joined today by Roger Thurow, an award-winning journalist and author who has traveled  across the globe reporting on food security, agriculture and humanitarian issues. We spoke to Roger about his experience in the field, how 9/11 led him to cover global hunger issues, and his motto: “Outrage and inspire.”

Episode 1: Journalist Roger Thurow on Hunger in a Post 9/11 World

On this episode of Hacking Hunger, Allan Jury, WFP USA's Vice President of Public Policy, debunks some of the pernicious myths about global hunger and explains how agencies like the World Food Programme are making progress in the fight to end hunger.

Episode 2: Debunking hunger myths with WFP USA's Allan Jury

We speak with Dina el-Kassaby, WFP's Communications Officer based in Cairo, about how the conflict in Syria has affected families throughout the region.

(Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuXVVCDH1OQ)

Episode 3: On the Front Lines of Hunger and War in Syria

WFP Deputy Director discusses how the drought in Ethiopia is effecting pastoralists across the East African nation.

WFP Deputy Director on the Drought in Ethiopia

A historic drought is sweeping Ethiopia and more than 10 million people have been pushed into hunger. We talk with two humanitarians in Ethiopia—John Aylieff from the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) and Dianna Darsney de Salcedo from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the single largest donor to WFP's Ethiopia operations— to hear how families are coping with one of the worst droughts in decades. We also hear from Abebe Haregewoin, an Ethiopian man who is raising money from his home in Silver Spring, Maryland to help WFP feed people in his homeland.

Music: Mulatu Astatke, The Story of Ethio Jazz, "Yekermo Sew"; Girma Yifrashewa, Love and Peace, "The Shepherd with the Flute"

Episode 4: A Slow-Motion Disaster in Ethiopia

Millennials are the largest and most educated generation in the U.S. Today, they outnumber baby boomers by nearly 8 million people. And the United Nations has tasked this generation with tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time - ending hunger by 2030. We talk with five students of the “Zero Hunger Generation” who attended last month’s Universities Fighting World Hunger summit in Missouri about who they are, what they believe, and what they’re doing to rise to the occasion.  One of these students is Cedric Habiyaremye, whose childhood as a former refugee led him to a career in agriculture. 

Episode 5: The Zero Hunger Generation

At a time when smartphone users outnumber the world’s hungry children by 20 to 1, humanitarian organizations are crowdsourcing creative ideas and solutions to harness technology in the fight against global hunger. That’s why some of the brightest minds in tech innovation joined last week’s launch of the UN World Food Programme’s first-ever Innovation Accelerator. Hear from one of them: Sebastian Stricker, the co-founder of WFP’s award-winning mobile app ShareTheMeal. Learn how it has inspired people around the world to share more than 7 million meals with hungry families across the Middle East since its launch last fall.

Episode 8: Seven Million Meals and Counting

National Geographic contributing photographer Tyrone Turner talks about spending time with a coffee farmer and his daughter in rural Nicaragua while on assignment with the United Nations World Food Programme and the Michael Kors Watch Hunger Stop campaign.

Behind the Lens in Nicaragua: A Coffee Farmer and His Daughter

Behind the Lens with Hunter Biden: "She'll Change the World"

Dalia Mortada, the creator of Savoring Syria, talks about meeting Mahmoud Al Hazaz, a Syrian chef and refugee who was relocated to Memphis, TN after his restaurant and home in Homs, Syria was impacted by the war. Listen to Dalia on Episode 14 of Hacking Hunger: Inside a Syrian Kitchen.

Dalia Mortada on meeting Mahmoud, a Syrian chef and refugee

Lovebirds Poonam Kaushal and Nishkaam Mehta are getting hitched this Valentine’s Day. Instead of throwing a big wedding, they teamed up with friends, family and perfect strangers to create an unconventional wedding gift using the world’s first hunger-fighting smartphone app. As they prepare to tie the knot in four days, M.J. talks to Poonam and Nishkaam about their “Million Meals for Love” campaign and explains how you can be part of their big day by changing the life of a hungry child.

Episode 17: A Love Story That Is Feeding the World

A year ago, Mozambique was on the brink of disaster. Successive droughts meant the country’s farmers had almost nothing to harvest—or feed their families. In the first in a two-part series, M.J. takes you to the country’s urban streets and rural farms, introducing you to five Mozambicans who recount how their lives intertwined with a historic humanitarian crisis that left the U.N. World Food Programme with no choice but to sound the alarm.

Episode 23: On the Brink in Mozambique (Part 1)

When a historic drought struck Mozambique last year, the nation’s farmers found themselves plunged into hunger. So how did the U.N. World Food Programme help pull the country back from the brink? On the last of a two-part series, M.J. shares five unique voices in Mozambique—a farmer, an aid worker, a teacher, a student and a father—who found themselves on the front lines of this slow-motion natural disaster and a massive and artfully timed humanitarian operation that saved millions of lives, including theirs.

Episode 24: Averting Catastrophe in Mozambique (Part 2)

When violence in Myanmar sparked a mass exodus last August, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled for the border. Today, the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh has become the world’s largest refugee camp, hosting more than 1 million people. M.J. talks to one aid worker who’s been on the ground since the beginning of the crisis—and hears about a new threat that now looms.

Episode 25: Inside the World’s Largest Refugee Camp

Abdi lived through unthinkable famine, but he was one of the fortunate ones; he survived. Rescued from the brink by perseverance, luck and humanitarian aid, he’s now a successful author living in the U.S. with a story he’s eager to tell.

“I want the world to know both what I went through and how I was helped,” Abdi says. “Maybe then, we can prevent these tragedies from happening again.

Episode 40: Hunger, War And An American Dream

Every major outbreak in recent memory—Ebola, SARS, MERS—has had both direct and indirect negative impacts on food security. On this episode, Dr. Chase Sova, WFP USA sr. director of public policy and research, tells us what the experts are saying about the likelihood and nature of such impacts from COVID-19,.

Episode 43: COVID-19 and the 5 Major Threats it Poses to Global Food Security

Danielle Nierenberg is a world-renowned researcher, speaker and advocate, she’s spent her career fighting for food-systems change and is an expert on all things food and ag. On this episode, we talk to Danielle about her background, her current organization Food Tank, and how COVID-19 will affect food systems going forward.

Episode 44: Food Tank, Food Systems and COVID-19: A Conversation with Dani Nierenberg

As the COVID-19 spreads, innovation and technology is needed more to reach people in need. Bernhard Kowatsch, head of WFP's Innovation Accelerator, explains how the program is working to support WFP's pandemic response.

Episode 45: How Innovation Can Help Solve Hunger During a Pandemic

Three months after Barron Segar joined WFP USA as president and CEO, disaster struck. COVID-19 hit and uprooted life as we knew, forcing Barron and WFP USA leadership to reimagine many of their plans. Barron is no stranger to crisis, so we sat down with Barron with him ask about his background, goals and leading in the time of COVID-19.

“Everything Changed Overnight.” WFP USA CEO on Navigating a Global Crisis

How much of an impact on developing economies will COVID-19 really have? Why will food systems change prevent dire impacts from happening in the future? On this episode of Hacking Hunger, we talk to Johan Swinnen, a top economist and currently director general of The International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC.

Episode 47: Poverty, Policy and Pandemic with Johan Swinnen

Two years ago, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2417, a resolution recognizing the link between hunger and war. But two years later, too little has changed.

For this episode, we sat down with Matthew Hollingworth, United Nations World Food Programme's country director in South Sudan, to reflect on the significance of the resolution and discuss the impact that the new coronavirus pandemic might have on peace and security globally.

Episode 48: The Role of Hunger in Politics and War with Matthew Hollingworth

A passion project that began one summer on a fishing boat, The Borgen Project is now a nationwide campaign with volunteers in 931 cities. It advocates, mobilizes and educates to improve the living conditions of people living on less than a dollar a day.  

On this episode of Hacking Hunger, we talk Clint Borgen, founder and CEO, to ask him more about how an idea on a fishing boat evolved into a successful anti-poverty movement.

Episode 40: Creating an Anti-Poverty Movement with Clint Borgen

On this episode of Hacking Hunger, we spoke to Jonathan Rivers, who's team at the U.N. World Food Programme uses mobile technology to monitor food security in real time. He describes how this technology works, and the critical role it plays in emergency response.

Episode 50: Inside the High-Tech Tool Tracking Hunger Crises

South Sudanese refugee Seme Ludanga on helping kids in a WFP-backed camp.

South Sudanese refugee Seme Ludanga on helping kids in a WFP-backed camp

South Sudanese Refugee Seme Ludanga recalls helping kids in a WFP-backed camp

World Food Program USA raises U.S. support for the World Food Programme (WFP), the leading humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.

World Food Program USA

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