Put women in charge of solving the world's biggest problems

Talenza is partnering with The Hunger Project Australia to bring you a series of stories of leadership and resilience from people living in rural and remote villages across Africa, India and Bangladesh.

We hear a lot about the never-ending cycle of global issues each time we turn on the TV, scroll through social media or open up a news app. Climate change, domestic violence and gender inequality - they all seem like huge, unending problems. But what if there was some sort of solution, and it was right under our noses?

You may have seen that we shared The Hunger Project Australia’s Christmas campaign late last year, and also participated in their International Women’s Day celebrations. One of the things we love about The Hunger Project is that they know women are the key to unlocking the solutions to the world’s biggest problems, particularly solving hunger. This all happens thanks to the powerful Ripple Effect.

​The Ripple Effect

Imagine yourself in a dusty, rural village in Uganda. The status quo says men make the decisions, women toil in the fields, often with a baby at their hips, and children are malnourished and hungry.

Empowering women is the key to transforming the status quo and kickstarting the Ripple Effect.

Picture this: a woman joins a small local savings group - coordinated by The Hunger Project, and made up of other women from her community. Each woman makes a small monetary contribution of the equivalent of maybe a dollar or two.

This woman takes out a small loan from the pooled savings to buy some chickens. She knows she has to repay it because of the commitment she made to the group members.

Her chickens lay eggs and then she sells the eggs, paying back the loan, keeping the profits. She is becoming economically empowered.

Now she is able to send her child to school. Her child gets educated, and vaccinated.

She engages her husband, who now becomes involved in his own income generating activities. He starts a farm or a small business of his own.

He buys some goats and sells their milk to bring in some extra funds for the family.

Now the couple’s neighbours starts to see the benefits of economic self-reliance. They want the same sense of security that they see others enjoying. The neighbours seek out training for themselves and join the local savings group too. And so it continues...

This is just the beginning of the Ripple Effect! It gets wider and wider with each empowered woman who finds her voice, develops her leadership and steps up for herself and her family.

This is just the beginning

Rebecka from Ghana is one example of this Ripple Effect in motion.

She joined a Hunger Project microfinance and entrepreneurship training program and learnt the skills needed to take her new business to greater heights.

“It’s a big encouragement for me to have my own business. I feel proud to be self-employed and not work for somebody else,” Rebecka says.

Rebecka was so successful as a result of The Hunger Project’s training combined with her own commitment and actions, that she even had enough money to start a side-hustle, leasing out a motorbike to members of her community.

Rebecka inspired her husband to take part in The Hunger Project’s training programs and he too is growing his business.

They are now able to send their children to school, vaccinate them against deadly yet preventable diseases, and teach them the importance of nutrition and health. Each day, Rebecka is paving the way for future generations of female entrepreneurs in Ghana.

Progress is made when we all work together

To bring an end to some of the biggest challenges of our time we need to work together. A really effective way to do that is by empowering women, triggering the Ripple Effect, and starting a chain reaction that can flow deep into her community and further afield - throughout the world even!

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Ripple Effect you can create through The Hunger Project Australia, visit their website thp.org.au or even make an impact by investing today at thp.org.au/give-now.