One Acre Fund

This one-year-old boy is John, and he lives in a family of seven children. He is at the most critical stage of his physical and mental development, and yet he is already learning to miss meals.

John is at great risk. One in six of our children dies before age five, and 40% are physically stunted from severe hunger. Each year, when the harvest runs out, our families endure an annual "hunger season" for an average of three months. During this time, they eat whatever they can. Here is a brief video of John's sister Josephine, a 14 year old girl, preparing some porridge for her family during the hunger season. For this meal, each child had one cup of porridge to drink. This is what we have vowed to end.

Food is on the way for this family. One Acre Fund has helped John's family to plant a half-acre, which will yield about 400% more food than last year. This food is the first step in a total change in the family's living conditions.

But don't take our word for it. We will be conducting a comprehensive, twice-yearly census of all of our members. Our field staff have completed the first baseline survey for our first member group, and results will be posted shortly. We will use performance-based measurement to guide every aspect of our operations.

*Footnote: Hunger is the number one killer of African children, more than any single disease condition. The simple lack of food, which weakens the immune system, plays a role in more than half of childhood deaths (World Health Report 2002). Hunger plays a 78% contributing factor to diarrheal disease, 65% to lower respiratory infection, 82% to malaria, and 50% to measles (2004 World Food Security Report, Food and Agriculture Organization). Food is the single most needed "medicine" in Africa, with the largest potential human impact ("Selected Major Risk Factors and Global and Regional Burden of Disease," Majid Ezzati et al, Lancet 2002).