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The Hunger Project
JMJ Associates has a reputation for helping its clients solve large, intractable problems and “Making the Impossible Possible”. So it seems fitting that JMJ Associates has been working on solving the problem of global hunger since the company started 24 years ago.
From its inception, JMJ Associates has been a corporate sponsor of The Hunger Project (THP). Founded on closely aligned principles, methods and a commitment to global, sustainable results, the partnership allows both organizations to have a greater reach in the world.
In Africa, South Asia and Latin America, The Hunger Project works to end hunger and poverty by empowering millions of women and men to lead lives of self-reliance, meet their own basic needs and build better futures for their children.
The Hunger Project carries out its mission through three essential activities: mobilizing village clusters at the grassroots level to build self-reliance, empowering women as key change agents, and forging effective partnerships with local government.
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JMJ’s roots in The Hunger Project As an idealistic young high school principal in Richmond, Virginia, Jay Greenspan volunteered for a new organization, called The Hunger Project (THP), when it was founded in 1977. “The thing that attracted me was that hunger appeared to the world as impossible to solve. Hunger was a metaphor for the impossible,” Greenspan said, referring to the standard business joke of the time. ”What are we trying to do here, solve world hunger?” Yes, actually. “When people think something is impossible, their participation is much muted,” Greenspan noted. In particular, with issues like hunger, their relationship to it is to do a charitable act, but it’s really a gesture rather than a full-scale investment.” Then Greenspan discovered that the world had more than enough food to go around, that countries such as India were exporting food, and that starvation—which is what everyone thought hunger was at the time—was just part of the issue. “Chronic malnutrition was really the issue, coupled with a complex web of other issues such as empowerment of women, clean water and sanitation. The reason that I started with The Hunger Project was that 41,000 people used to die every day from hunger. All of this was unacceptable given that it was unnecessary. I saw that we could make a leveraged difference. We could put hunger at the forefront of political trends in the world.”
Ultimately Greenspan moved to San Francisco to join the staff of The Hunger Project, rising to become the organizational equivalent of chief operating officer, and increasing THP’s global footprint to 26 countries along the way. In San Francisco, he would meet two THP volunteers, Mike Goddu and Joseph Friedman, with whom he formed the eponymous JMJ (Jay, Mike and Joseph) Associates 24 years ago. Many current JMJ employees also came from The Hunger Project team. “When we founded the company, the relationship to The Hunger Project was crystal clear,” Greenspan said. “What we decided to do—and it has been our guiding principle for 24 years—is to take what is seemingly impossible, make it possible and actually deliver on it.” |
Epicenter Strategy
In Africa, the focus of The Hunger Project’s work is the Epicenter. This is a cluster of 10 to 15 villages within a 10km radius, having a combined population of approximately 10,000 people, who come together to meet basic needs. The Epicenter Strategy is a bottom-up, gender-focused approach that empowers these villagers to meet all their basic needs on a sustainable basis, with the centerpiece of the strategy being an L-shaped epicenter building that houses the community’s programs for health, education, food security and economic development. The epicenter is operated and managed by the community members, who elect an overall epicenter committee and form subcommittees to manage each program.
The Hunger Project’s ambitious program in eastern Ghana seeks to create epicenters within walking distance of every villager. THP takes a patient, well-defined approach to the development of epicenters (a five-year process), leveraging its unique expertise at grassroots engagement to ensure a sustainable outcome.
Taking Corporate Social Responsibility to a new level
Among other distinctions, JMJ is the longest-duration corporate sponsor of The Hunger Project and was the largest corporate sponsor of the organization in the U.S. last year. What sets JMJ apart is its special brand of Corporate Social Responsibility—a good case study for other organizations of how to offer much more than charity by engaging the entire company, worldwide, in a great cause.
In late 2008, the employees of JMJ Associates committed to underwriting the funding of a THP epicenter in Ghana (at a cost of $100,000 per year for five years). This epicenter, which is named Osonson, is located in the Manya Krobo District in the Eastern region of Ghana. Through this epicenter JMJ are supporting approximately 10,000 villagers to move from abject poverty to self-reliance over a five-year period.
Rather than just write a check for the money, the JMJ Board wanted the greater JMJ community to be part of this commitment and actually be the ones to fund it. The five Board members have guaranteed the annual lump sum personally. Any money raised by the JMJ global community is put against the annual $100,000 commitment. Teams of employees across the company create a variety of ways to raise money. This approach has given JMJ a way to pitch in as a team across the world, enjoy being together and appreciate what colleagues were doing in other locations.
Far-flung fundraisers have included a silent auction and a special concert by a JMJ rock band at Stubbs Barbecue in Austin, a book fair held at JMJ’s London office park, a contingent from the UK undertook a fund-raising run – dressed as a chicken, chick, egg and fox – up Mt. Snowdon, the UK’s third tallest peak, selling fortune cookies at the Saturday market in Singapore, an art show and wine tasting in Perth, Australia. JMJ also supported the first World Hunger Day, which took place in London in January and culminated in a gala concert featuring a host of international stars including Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole.
JMJ’s engagement with The Hunger Project extends well beyond the epicenter strategy. The company provides office space for THP in its London office, but more importantly, executive management is actively engaged in assisting THP expand its awareness in the United Kingdom and other countries. JMJ’s Chief Operating Officer, Mark Britton, has joined the THP-UK Board of Trustees.
“What I love about JMJ’s approach,” said Tim Holder, Country Director for The Hunger Project in the U.K., “is that they actually take part in the solution. Yes, they do give money. Yes, they are contributing to the epicenter and that is absolutely wonderful. But they take a step closer and actually show how they can use their skills and networks to make this cause live within their organization, live within their business, and live within their network and their clients.”
Progress at Osonson Epicenter
Today, the Osonson Epicenter has completed its building, a major asset to the community and the physical focal point of community-driven change. A team from JMJ visited Ghana in July 2010 where they took part in the formal commissioning of the epicenter building. A mechanized borehole provides a safe, clean and convenient supply of water, especially for the epicenter’s clinic and nurses’ quarters. Providing a source of convenient water also means that women who spent hours every day trekking to secure water now have more time and energy to work their farms, start small businesses, focus on schooling and other productive pursuits.
In the period July-December 2010, the following has taken place:
- A group of community members are making progress on building a 3–unit classroom block (having completed the digging of the foundations, molded 150 cement blocks, and mobilized 11 trips of sand and 2 trips of stones).
- 140 people (71 men and 69 women) participated in six HIV&AIDS educational sessions in six different communities. The topics discussed included causes and effects of HIV&AIDS, prevention, stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV&AIDS
- Through the Women’s Empowerment Project, seven educational sessions covering eight communities were organized for 507 people (226 men and 281 women). Topics discussed included Domestic Violence, Human Rights, Gender Roles, Children’s Act, Wills Act, and Intestate Succession Law. The women were pleased to learn that the government had a legal provision which gave women the right to own and dispose of property. One woman stood up and proclaimed that she was going to make a will to ensure that her daughter would be able to inherit her property. Traditionally, women have not inherited property in Ghana.
- 125 people attended the clinic comprising 47 men and 78 women. They were treated for ailments including malaria, skin diseases, and diarrhea. 48 children were immunized.
"Funding an epicenter is a significant increase in JMJ's long-term support of The Hunger Project. This commitment in action inspires me personally as it is a clear demonstration of our desire to make a difference in the world—enabling us to do so as a community and an organization." - Steve Portner, CEO, JMJ Associates