Create change for tackling hunger - World Hunger Day 2025

Every World Hunger Day is a time for assessing the state of hunger and malnutrition, and the challenges that remain to achieving long-term progress. And this year, with the recent changes in the development and humanitarian sector to due aid cuts, World Hunger Day feels very different.  The need to mobilise the public and governmental attention to address world hunger is even more pressing.

The world has drastically changed in the last five years. We have seen that single political decisions can have a far-reaching global impact. The conflict in Ukraine, for instance, had dramatic consequences on the state of hunger and famine in East Africa. Political decisions on mobilising humanitarian resources to prevent famine in the most affected regions, can also have regional impacts, as hunger increases the risk of conflicts. 

Recently, the UK government took the decision to reduce Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget down to 0.3% of the UK’s Gross National Income (GNI) and to not financially contribute to the fight against malnutrition at the Paris Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit. These decisions will cost the health, the future, and in some cases, the lives of children who are the most at risk of being undernourished. The Standing Together for Nutrition consortium warns that that because of the abrupt UK aid cuts, 2.3 million children are at risk of being denied life-saving treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM), while causing a projected additional 369,000 child deaths per year.   

However, political will can be influenced and mobilised to keep the fight against hunger and malnutrition a priority, both at home and in the most fragile contexts. All influencing activities can lead to bigger results - all actions count when it comes to political and social campaigning. Persistent and collective action can make a lasting impact. 

• A campaigner’s letter to an MP asking for more ODA resources to tackle hunger shows that the public cares, and can lend support to a parliamentary debate.
• A re-post on social media raises awareness around us, and leads to increased coverage in the media.
• Reading and sharing good news on what’s going well in the world, on successful results achieved by communities living in fragile contexts, for instance, nourishes hope and leads to a better understanding of and support for what is needed to tackle hunger globally.
• A signature on a petition to mobilise the UK government creates powerful awareness of what the UK public stands for, and leads to influence in the political agenda.
• Joining a lobby day or a demo creates momentum that is noticed by MPs and civil servants, and leads to advocacy meeting opportunities where we can have a stronger influence. 

On this World Hunger Day, it is important to remember that even if the world has changed politically, socially and economically, hunger remains. Your voice and your support have the power to create lasting change.  

In March, the newly appointed Minister for Development, Baroness Chapman, went to Paris on the eve of the N4G Summit, and launched an initiative at the British Embassy encouraging stronger integration of nutrition programmes in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s work. It was a political move in the right direction, which wouldn’t have been possible without your continuous support for the fight against hunger and malnutrition. Your actions can have an impact. 

However, as long as world hunger and malnutrition remain, we’ll still need adequate resources to fund life-saving responses for people most in need. The UK has not yet made a financial pledge on nutrition, and we need your support to keep asking the UK government to restore its aid budget, and align funding with its political ambitions. Please check our petition at this link. 

Thank you for standing with Concern and for your support for a better, safer world, free from hunger and malnutrition. Together, our actions can have greater impact.