Action Against Hunger

ACF International 2008 Annual Report

 ACF INTERNATIONAL

Comprised of five independent, non-profit organizations with headquarters in London, Madrid, Montréal, New
York, and Paris, ACF International saves the lives of malnourished children while providing families with access
to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger. ACF bridges emergency relief with longer-term development,
intervening in emergency situations of conflict, natural disaster, and chronic food insecurity. Our 4000+ field
staff—seasoned professionals and technical experts in nutrition, water and sanitation, public health, and food
security—carry out life-saving programs in more than 40 countries. These programs reach nearly 5 million people a
year, restoring dignity, self-sufficiency, and independence to vulnerable populations around the world.

ACF-USA
www.actionagainsthunger.org
Chairman: Raymond Debbane
Executive Director: Nan Dale

ACF-France
www.actioncontrelafaim.org
President: Denis Metzger
Executive Director: François Danel

ACF-Spain
www.accioncontraelhambre.org
President: José Luis Leal Maldonado
Executive Director: Olivier Longué

ACF-UK
www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk
Chairman: Paul Wilson
Executive Director: Jean-Michel Grand

ACF-Canada
www.actioncontrelafaim.ca 8
President: Diane Bussandri
Executive Director: Richard Veenstra

Reflects the leadership of each ACF

headquarters as of December 31, 2008

To view our financial information, please visit www.actionagainsthunger.org/financials

Cover
Coverphotos:
photos:ACF-Uganda,
ACF-Afghanistan,
courtesy
courtesy
T. Frank;
I. Eshragi/Agence
ACF-Nicaragua.
VU; ACF-Sri Lanka, courtesy J. Lapegue
LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

action against hunger

Action Against Since its inception nearly three decades ago, Action Against Hunger | ACF

Hunger Core International has led the fight against global hunger. From responding to complex
humanitarian emergencies, to addressing malnutrition in refugee camps, to prevent-
Principles
The ACF International Charter ing seasonal food shortages, our teams deliver principled solutions to millions of

affirms six core principles that all people in crisis every year. And by developing strategies in concert with local
staff members worldwide pledge to populations, ACF works to ensure that communities regain self-sufficiency for the
uphold in carrying out their work. long term.

In 2008, as people across the globe faced a sharp rise in international food pric-
Independence
es, dwindling employment opportunities, natural disasters, and entrenched conflict,
ACF launched new initiatives and fine-tuned others in response to this ever-shifting
Neutrality
environment. Our teams provided life-saving services in areas inaccessible by road
Non-Discrimination and in regions served by few other international aid organizations. Whether in the
aftermath of Typhoon Fengshen in the Philippines, in the wake of Haiti’s devastating
Free and Direct hurricanes, or during the continued crisis in Darfur, ACF’s presence guaranteed that
Access to Victims distressed populations received immediate assistance.

Professionalism After Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, cutting off a large swath of the nation from
access to food and water, ACF drew on the hundreds of staff members already
Transparency working throughout the country to deliver more than 25 tons of emergency supplies
to families struggling to survive. When a cholera outbreak threatened the lives
of tens of thousands in Zimbabwe, ACF mounted an immediate effort to contain
the epidemic by providing access to safe water and bolstering public sanitation
measures. Our teams stayed after emergencies ended to help communities regain
their livelihoods and secure food and water supplies for the future. We provided
cash grants to small businesses, distributed seeds and tools to farmers diversifying
their crops, built and repaired water sources, and provided instruction in health and
hygiene.

ACF remains committed to tackling the symptoms and underlying causes of malnutri-
tion through cutting-edge research and advocacy. Seasons of Hunger, the ACF
Hunger Watch report for 2008, underscores the role seasonal food shortages play
in the persistence of malnutrition and advocates for proven, cost-effective solutions
to help farmers during periods of routine scarcity. Another ACF report released in
2008, Feeding Hunger & Insecurity, provides policymakers and practitioners with a
roadmap for addressing the effects of the global food crisis.
ACF INTERNATIONAL

On behalf of the Board of Directors at each of our five ACF headquarters, I am

proud to present this report highlighting some of our key accomplishments in 2008.

ON THE COVER
Our comprehensive approach to BURTON K. HAIMES
global hunger delivers a range of Chairman, International Chairmen’s Council
community-centered solutions to ACF International
populations in crisis, like this young
girl’s community in Karamoja, Uganda. 1
 ACTION AGAINST HUNGER
A UNIQUE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

Our comprehensive solutions to global hunger are needs-

For almost based, context-specific, and customized through direct
30 years, Action community participation. While the programs we run
Against Hunger may vary from one country to the next, they all share this
defining set of characteristics:
has led the way
Comprehensive: Action Against Hunger integrates activities in nutrition,
in defining the food security, water and sanitation, health, and advocacy. To tackle
idea of global the underlying causes of hunger, we address the social, organizational,
partnership. technical, and resource concerns essential to a community’s well-being.

Lasting Solutions: Action Against Hunger works to ensure our

programs can be sustained without us. By integrating our programs with
local and national systems, we transform effective, short-term interventions
into sustainable, long-term solutions.

Community-Centered: A community-centered approach is key

to building local capacity for the management and maintenance of our
programs. Through training, workshops, technical support, and mentoring,
Action Against Hunger builds local capacity and cultivates community know-
how for the long-run.

Independent & Impartial: As a nongovernmental humanitarian

agency, ACF is apolitical. But when it comes to human suffering, we are
not neutral: We do our utmost to deliver effective assistance whenever and
wherever it’s most needed.

Full Accountability & Transparency: Action Against Hunger

directly implements and oversees all of its programs, requiring full access
to communities targeted for assistance. Committed to transparency and full
disclosure, ACF ensures key financial information is publicly available and
that its programs undergo external evaluation to assess their impact.

2 ACF-Colombia, courtesy S. Vera.


ACF’S INTEGRATED APPROACH TO FIGHTING HUNGER
Today, nearly one billion people
suffer from hunger and lack access
to clean drinking water. Through an
integrated approach incorporating
Nutrition & Health, Food Security,
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, and
Advocacy, Action Against Hunger
responds efficiently and effectively to
help vulnerable populations around
the world.
NutritioN: Nutrition programs
aim at assessing, preventing and
treating acute malnutrition among
the most vulnerable populations,
especially young children and
pregnant or lactating women. Health
programs consist of fighting diseases
linked with malnutrition.
action against hunger
FOOD SECURITY: Action ADVOCACY: Action Against
Against Hunger’s food security Hunger seeks to alert and influence
programs include both emergency the international community when
programs—such as emergency fundamental rights such as access to
food distributions—as well as long- water or food are violated. Action
term programs. These programs Against Hunger’s advocacy efforts
aim at boosting agricultural and/ aim at affecting institutional and
or economic activity, providing policy changes to help create a world
populations with sufficient access to without hunger.
food of a satisfactory quality and
improving self-sufficiency.
WATER, SANITATION AND
HYGIENE: These programs
aim at guaranteeing access to
drinking water and good sanitary
conditions (by providing wells,
water distribution networks, latrines,
hygiene education sessions, etc).

ACF INTERNATIONAL

ACF’s programs Our food security ACF ensures

provide immediate programs offer a effective assistance
assistance and broad range of by working directly
long-term relief to solutions for generating with communities
malnourished children income and food to customize lasting
and their families. production. solutions to hunger.

(From left): ACF-Pakistan, courtesy J. Pomerantz; ACF-Niger, courtesy J. Leigton; ACF-Uganda, courtesy T. Frank. 3
PROGRAM MAP
ARMENIA

MALI CHAD

NIGER
HAITI
GUATEMALA

MAURITANIA
GUINEA

NICARAGUA

SIERRA LEONE
LIBERIA
COLOMBIA
IVORY COAST
BURKINA FASO
ECUADOR
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF THE CONGO (DRC)
PERU

ANGOLA

BOLIVIA

PARAGUAY

ARGENTINA

The breadth of Action Against Hunger’s international

expertise goes beyond the scope of our current programs.
We have worked in many other countries, including
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Cameroon, North
Korea, Mozambique, Macedonia, Rwanda, Tanzania,
and Western Sahara.

This map reflects the reach of ACF International

as of December 31, 2008.
 NORTH CAUCASUS

GEORGIA AZERBAIJAN
MONGOLIA

NEPAL MYANMAR

SYRIA
LAOS
LEBANON

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

ETHIOPIA
PHILIPPINES
SUDAN
SOMALIA

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

KENYA

UGANDA

BANGLADESH
ZAMBIA

INDONESIA

AFGHANISTAN

MALAWI

SWAZILAND
SRI LANKA

ZIMBABWE

LESOTHO

(From left): ACF-Mali, courtesy S. Vera; ACF-Lebanon, courtesy S. Vera; ACF-Kenya, courtesy N. Dale;
ACF-West Bank, courtesy B. Brignet; ACF-Colombia, courtesy S. Vera.
SELECT PROGRAMS
Myanmar
Action Against Hunger has worked
to meet the basic needs of families in
Myanmar since 1994. In early May
2008, Cyclone Nargis struck land,
devastating much of the country and
exposing an already vulnerable popula-
tion to a food and water crisis.
The Bogalay region was particularly
affected, with the destruction of roads
and bridges leaving 80,000 people
isolated and in need of help. Hunker-
ing down in improvised camps in the
aftermath of the cyclone, survivors
subsisted on damaged, moldy rice
and gathered water from unprotected
sources, including rivers clogged with
animal and human corpses. Drawing
on the more than 550 staff mem-
bers already working throughout the
country, ACF was able to mount an
immediate relief effort for this popula-
tion, distributing more than 5,600
tons of emergency supplies, including
protein biscuits, water purification
kits, pumps, and other life-saving
equipment.
Philippines
The Philippine archipelago, which is
highly vulnerable to seasonal typhoons,
suffered a major disaster in July 2008
when Typhoon Fengshen destroyed
homes, livelihoods, and water supplies,
and left hundreds of thousands in need
of assistance. ACF’s initial response
focused on Corcuera and Banton—
isolated areas of the central archipela-
go—and on Mindinao, the country’s
southernmost island.
Action Against Hunger distributed
food and basic hygiene materials to
1,500 families (more than 7,500
individuals) on Corcuera and Banton,
where most of the population had
lost homes and livelihoods and where
the price of basic foodstuffs had risen
(From left) ACF-Guatemala, courtesy B. Grignet; ACF-D.R.Congo, courtesy Burger/Phanie; ACF-Cambodia,
ACF-Uganda, courtesy A. Krstevski.
exponentially. On Mindinao, mean-
while, the typhoon left 70 percent
of the population without access to
drinking water. In response, ACF
distributed water tank filters, supplies
of soap, and hygiene kits to 15,000
people to prevent the spread of water-
borne illnesses—household items that
ACF purchased locally to support the
devastated region’s economy.
Kenya
Beginning in December 2007, allega-
tions of fraud in Kenya’s presidential
election erupted into widespread
violence that lasted for weeks. The Rift
Valley bore the brunt of the violence:
in the provincial capital of Nakuru,
more than 30,000 people sought shel-
ter in camps or with relatives. In re-
sponse, Action Against Hunger secured
clean water and sanitation facilities for
the displaced and distributed essential
non-food items such as soap, blankets,
and clothing.
Once the situation stabilized, ACF’s
food security experts uncovered unmet
needs among the displaced sheltering
with relatives or friends—i.e., those
who missed out on the assistance
provided in camps. In partnership
with a local bank, ACF provided these
residents with small cash grants for
reviving livelihoods or rebuilding busi-
nesses destroyed during the conflict.
The grants supported a wide variety
of microenterprise activities, from
women’s cooperatives that purchased
spinning wheels for a textile business,
to vegetable sellers who pooled funds
to support a small shop. Designed
to generate income, these activities
meant immediate nutritional improve-
ments for the families involved, most
of whom managed to save some of
their grant money as insurance against
future crises.
courtesy J. Lapegue

Liberia
Action Against Hunger has been
actively involved with reconstruction
and development efforts in Liberia
since the end of its 14-year civil war
in 2003. The last two years have left
Liberia particularly vulnerable to fluc-
tuations in global food prices given its
reliance on food and oil imports.
In March 2008, routine nutrition
surveys uncovered an alarming spike
in malnutrition rates in the capital of
Monrovia, a crisis that led to a 40 per-
cent increase in admissions to ACF’s
feeding programs over a five month
period. In response, ACF scaled up
emergency nutrition programs in the
capital and called on the international
community for greater assistance.
Action Against Hunger distributed 24
tons of food throughout the country
and continued to implement a variety
of programs, from agricultural support
and veterinary assistance projects, to
income generating activities.
ACF’s therapeutic
programs target
children under five as
the most vulnerable
to malnutrition.
(From left): ACF-Liberia, courtesy V. Burger; ACF-Nicaragua, courtesy E. Sahsa; ACF-Kenya, courtesy S. Bruas.
Mali
In Gao, Mali, HIV/AIDS rates have
doubled over the last five years, threat-
ening the population’s food security
and increasing malnutrition rates.
When income earners fall ill, whole
families can experience declines in liv-
ing standards and are often at greater
risk of hunger and malnutrition.
Moreover, individuals living with both
HIV/AIDS and malnutrition respond
poorly to standard anti-retroviral treat-
ments.
Recognizing the link between HIV/
AIDS and malnutrition, Action
Against Hunger launched an ambi-
tious HIV prevention program to
complement its food security and
water and sanitation projects. ACF
began by exploring local attitudes and
beliefs on sexuality and HIV/AIDS
before embarking on a comprehensive
education campaign. This innovative
campaign targeted at-risk popula-
tions often ignored by state and local
organizations—young people aged
15 to 25 and women engaged in sex
We work directly
with local populations
to identify existing
coping mechanisms
and develop
appropriate solutions.
action against hunger
work. Through collaborative efforts,
ACF helped build a network of public
health organizations addressing HIV/
AIDS for a range of previously ex-
cluded vulnerable groups.
Sudan
As the humanitarian crisis in Darfur
continued for the fifth straight year,
Action Against Hunger helped provide
assistance to the 2.5 million displaced
people struggling to survive in camps
in western Sudan. In 2008 alone,
ACF distributed 800,000 food rations
and completed water and sanita-
tion projects benefiting thousands of
Darfurians.
ACF also continued its work in south-
ern Sudan, helping communities to
rebuild their lives in the aftermath of
the devastating civil war that formally
ended in 2005. Despite periodic bouts
of insecurity, ACF worked to prevent
and treat malnutrition in the region by
implementing programs in nutrition
monitoring and treatment; carrying
out water and sanitation projects;
ACF INTERNATIONAL
ACF’s 30 years of
humanitarian action
ensures expertise
in a wide range
of countries and
cultural contexts.
7
 SELECT PROGRAMS
teaching health, hygiene, and cooking
classes; distributing seeds and tools;
and working with the local population
to diversify crops and generate income.
Zimbabwe
In 2008, Zimbabwe faced increased
political unrest and economic dislo-
cation as inflation climbed to un-
precedented rates. Water, sanitation,
and public health systems began to
collapse, and by August, a cholera
outbreak threatened the lives of tens
of thousands of people. In response,
Action Against Hunger—in Zimba-
bwe since 2002—launched emergency
programs to contain the epidemic by
providing immediate access to safe
water, ensuring public sanitation mea-
sures, sanitizing public water points,
and promoting health and hygiene
education. These emergency efforts
continued into 2009.
Poverty, deprivation,
and hunger are all
too common, but
ACF’s programs help
restore dignity, health,
and self-sufficiency.
8 (From left): ACF-Guatemala; ACF-Colombia,
(From left)courtesy, S. Vera; ACF-Nepal,
ACF-Guatemala,
Central America (Guate-
mala and Nicaragua)
Action Against Hunger’s programs in
Guatemala and Nicaragua continued
to help communities recover from the
devastation of Hurricane Felix, which
struck the region in early September
2007. ACF’s programs provided water
and sanitation assistance and bolstered
local efforts to enhance food supplies.
In addition, Action Against Hunger
supported disaster preparedness efforts
in the region by building an early
warning system and strengthening
the capacity of Guatemala’s disaster
response agency to mitigate the impact
of future storms.
Haiti
Wracked by decades of political tur-
moil and environmental problems that
have degraded soils and diminished
agricultural yields, Haiti’s population
has long been vulnerable to natural
disasters. In 2008, conditions only
worsened as Haiti was struck by three
successive hurricanes—Gustave,
Our 4,000+ staff
are seasoned
professionals and
technical experts in
water and sanitation,
food security, public
health, and nutrition.
courtesy B.courtesy
Grignet;S.ACF-D.R.Congo,
Remael.
Hanna and Ike. Aware of the coun-
try’s vulnerability to severe weather
patterns, Action Against Hunger had
already prepared for such disasters by
pre-positioning stocks of water and
sanitation supplies in the cities of Port
de Paix and Port-au-Prince. After the
hurricanes, ACF was able to rapidly
ship emergency equipment to the
hard-hit city of Gonaives, which was
inundated and cut off from the rest of
Haiti.
As the crisis wore on, communities
were increasingly hard-pressed to
access food. Action Against Hunger re-
sponded by launching several interven-
tions to bolster income and distribute
food—establishing feeding centers for
young children, setting up cash-for-
food programs that employed Gonaive
residents in digging buildings out from
the mud, and distributing 11 tons of
food to people in need of immediate
assistance.
Our emergency
interventions ensure
access to clean
water, a first line of
defense in mitigating
a natural disaster.
courtesy Burger/Phanie; ACF-Cambodia, courtesy J. Lapegue
 action against hunger
Peru
Action Against Hunger’s programs in
Peru were established in 2007 in the
wake of an earthquake that struck
the country with such force that it dev-
astated coastal areas. Immediately after
the earthquake, ACF rebuilt water and
sanitation infrastructure to prevent
an outbreak of water-borne illnesses
and other diseases. By 2008, ACF had
expanded its efforts to include food
ACF INTERNATIONAL

security programs that help rural com-

munities replace livelihoods lost during
the earthquake.

ACF-Nepal, courtesy S. Remael. 9

SEASONS OF HUNGER:
FIGHTING CYCLES OF QUIET STARVATION
AMONG THE WORLD’S RURAL POOR

By Stephen Devereux, Bapu Vaitla, Samuel Hauenstein Swan

Action Against Hunger’s research and advocacy department, Hunger

Watch, continued its insightful report series this year with Seasons of Hunger,
a publication that highlights the role seasonal food shortages play in the
persistence of malnutrition.

The report’s cogent analysis and detailed case studies illustrate why
seasonality has been called the “father of famine.” In poor, rural
communities, hunger and malnutrition often arise not from a single
catastrophe or bad harvest, but from the losses that accumulate during
periods of routine scarcity between annual harvests. In a typical scenario,
a subsistence farmer finds himself unable to store the food he has grown,
and, in need of money to pay off debts or cover expenses, is forced to
sell his harvests at very low prices because other subsistence farmers have
simultaneously flooded the market with their goods. Ironically, these farmers
often purchase these very same crops later in the year at much higher prices.
As their money runs out, families are forced to ration food, cut spending on
necessities, sell off assets, or resort to other coping strategies that leave them
impoverished.

This routine scarcity takes a significant toll on children under five, whose
repeated exposure to cyclical hunger can result in permanent physical and
intellectual damage. As parents sell off productive assets such as livestock
or land, their ability to provide for their families during the next shortfall is
greatly reduced. This is the seasonal cycle that, year after year, increases the
vulnerability of so many communities.

Seasons of Hunger documents these dynamics with a number of illustrative

case studies and advocates for proven, cost-effective initiatives that can
prevent this type of hunger. A range of options exist to help struggling
families during times of hardship—from cash-for-work and voucher transfer
programs, to child growth promotion and community-based management
of malnutrition—to ensure access to food and income during seasonal
shortages. Seasons of Hunger concludes by calling for public support and
political commitments to end the scourge of seasonal hunger.

(From left) ACF-Guatemala, courtesy B. Grignet; ACF-D.R.Congo, courtesy Burger/Phanie; ACF-Cambodia,

ACF-Nepal, courtesy S. Remael. courtesy J. Lapegue
GRAPPLING WITH THE GLOBAL
FOOD CRISIS
ACF’s latest publication assesses the global food crisis and offers proven solutions
As global food prices spiked over the
past two years, the lack of coordinated
international action was evident as the
number of hungry rose to nearly one bil-
lion people. In response, Action Against
Hunger carried out a series of household
studies in Ethiopia, Central African
Republic, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, and
documented its findings in Feeding Hun-
ger & Insecurity, a comprehensive report
that calls for a systematic approach to
the global food crisis.
Action Against Hunger researchers
found troubling patterns in case study
after case study: communities around
the world adjusted to the rising food
prices just as they cope with seasonal
hunger—consuming fewer foods of
diminishing quality, cutting spending
on non-food necessities, and selling
productive assets. And while our teams
detected no immediate rise in acute
malnutrition, Action Against Hunger is
concerned that the crisis has diminished
the capacity of these communities to
weather price shocks in years to come.
Feeding Hunger & Insecurity argues that
malnutrition’s root causes must be ad-
dressed strategically rather than through
one-off responses to nutritional crises.
Addressing acute malnutrition must not
be secondary to investments in poverty
alleviation or health programs; saving
lives through treatment and prevention
must complement longer-term food
ACF-Myanmar, courtesy Haung.
security programs. A coordinated ap-
proach is essential if we are to break the
deadly relationships between malnu-
trition, food insecurity, poverty, and
public health crises. Acute malnutrition
is a key indicator of systemic problems.
A condition that undermines all other
development efforts—enabling disease,
hampering productivity, and limiting
education and income opportunities—
malnutrition must be the starting point
for an integrated set of solutions.
There are a range of measures we can
implement to mitigate the effects of
routine food scarcity:
Global Cereal Reserves are
currently at their lowest levels in 30
years and should be increased to miti-
gate market fluctuations and provide
emergency supplies during shortages.
Community-Based
Management of Acute
Malnutrition (CMAM)
programs, deploying therapeutic
Ready-to-Use Foods (RUFs), have
dramatically improved coverage rates
and numbers of children treated. But
only a tiny fraction of the 19 million
children with severe acute malnu-
trition ever receive this life-saving
treatment—between three and nine
percent, by some estimates. This com-
munity-based approach should form a
fundamental part of any strategy that
targets hunger or malnutrition.
Growth Promotion
Programs can reduce malnutri-
tion among pre-school children and
pregnant and lactating women through
a combination of growth monitoring,
prenatal care, breastfeeding promo-
tion, health, hygiene and nutrition
education, and supplementary feeding
programs.
action against hunger
Employment Guarantee
Programs provide reliable wages
when labor employment is hard to
find. India has implemented the
world’s most comprehensive program,
guaranteeing 100 days of work at
minimum wage for at-risk families
during times of seasonal hunger.
Social Pensions for elderly
citizens or other vulnerable groups
provide vital support for people with
limited ability to work.
Food Aid Programs, when
handled appropriately, can provide
short-term relief while bolstering
regional agricultural production and
stimulating local markets.
Index-Linked Cash & Food
Transfers, such as food-for-
work programs, can reduce the risk
of seasonal hunger and malnutrition
through the use of vouchers indexed to
the actual cost of food.
A minimum package of these pro-
grams could provide temporary relief
for communities faced with seasonal
shortfalls, periodic nutritional crises,
and catastrophic natural disasters. If
integrated with longer-term programs,
a holistic approach can address acute
malnutrition while transitioning
toward broader food security through
agricultural assistance, improved access
to markets, and income generating
activities. Food shortages and the
ACF INTERNATIONAL
threat of seasonal hunger are no longer
impossible to prevent: we have the
tools to prevent extreme hunger and
help vulnerable communities overcome
seasonal challenges.
11
 PRAISE FOR
ACTION AGAINST
HUNGER
President Nelson Mandela
“Action Against Hunger is in war-torn
countries that many fear to tread. They are
technical people…that forgo the comforts
of modern life to assist local populations
and refugees at the most fundamental level
in the most dangerous locales. They pro-
vide nutrition, healthcare, sanitation, and
food sustainability. They train populations
to be self-sufficient. Although these dedi-
cated men and women want to eliminate
the need for their services, humanity is
not willing and forces them to witness the
most heinous actions.”
(Top):ACF-Angola, courtesy M. Espriu; (Bottom): ACF-Philippines, courtesy J. Lapegue; ACF-Nicaragua, courtesy E. Sahsa.
12
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“Action Against Hunger—the title speaks
for itself. This is a remarkable organiza-
tion with a staff of energetic, enthusiastic
and deeply committed people who are
determined to make a difference to the
lives of thousands of people. There are
millions who do not have access to clean
water, food, health services or education.
They are condemned to a grinding life of
poverty with no choices. Action Against
Hunger is changing this. Their training
programmes are improving the quality
of life and health and, above all, bring-
ing hope to thousands in underdeveloped
countries. I commend them for their
outstanding work and welcome the op-
portunity to express my support.”
Anderson Cooper
“I’ve been covering humanitarian crises
since the early 1990s and have often been
impressed by the work of Action Against
Hunger. They are among the first to respond
when tragedies unfold, and they work to
ensure that communities have a fighting
chance to get back on their feet. In addi-
tion to the life-saving work CNN viewers
have seen covered in Darfur, Action
Against Hunger also has teams working in
communities all around the globe.”
 ACF INTERNATIONAL
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
Increasing Funds to Expand Global Effectiveness
Since 2004, ACF International has increased its financial resources by more than
70%, growing from 73€ million to more than 126€ million. This steady growth
has allowed ACF to implement strategies that prevent and treat acute malnutri-
tion and help restore communities to self-sufficiency, while still having the capac-
ity to respond rapidly and effec­tively to nutritional crises whenever and wherever
they occur.
The chart below presents a five-year history of the combined annual operat-
ing budgets of ACF Interna­tional’s five headquarter offices. While the revenues
received in any given year include euros, dollars (in some cases both US and
Canadian), and pounds, the totals have been converted into a single currency for
the pur­pose of comparison. The conversion rates used in this table reflect the his-
torical average rates of exchange for the year in question (e.g., in 2003 the USD/
Euro rate was 1.23, whereas in 2008 it was 1.47).

€150M

€100M

€ 50M
€101M

€105M

€127M
€73M

€93M

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

ACF INTERNATIONAL ALLOCATION OF REVENUES:

A COMMITMENT TO DIRECT FIELD SERVICES
In 2008, as in previous years, more than 80% of all funds directly supported our
field programs in nutrition, water & sanitation, and food security. The balance
covered the general management and administration costs of the five headquarter
offices, along with expenses related to fundraising, press relations, and public
outreach.

7% PROGRAMS & SERVICES TO FIELD

12% €99,232,931

FUNDRAISING & COMMUNICATIONS

€14,572,514

81% MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION

€9,201,997

(From left) ACF-Guatemala, courtesy B. Grignet; ACF-D.R.Congo, courtesy Burger/Phanie; ACF-Cambodia, courtesy J.
ACF-Kenya, courtesy S. Bruas. Lapegue
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