Vocabulary

Advocacy involves speaking up for others to make sure that their rights are respected and their wishes are heard and acted upon by decision makers. It also involves taking part in decisions and matters that affect one's life.
Crisis is a situation or time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.
Empowerment is a process that helps people gain control over their own lives and act on issues that are important to them. It is also a social process because it occurs in relationship to others.
Food is any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.
Statement is a definite or clear expression of something in speech or writing.

Purpose - 
Food Advocacy

Picture
Using the 3-Step-Tool to Empowerment, children identify a cause and write a statement of a situation worth advocating for that relates to any community's right to sufficient nutritious food. Some children may wish to examine organizations that work for this right to ascertain whether they wish to accomplish this work collaboratively with the organization.
Child Asks: Where is there a community in need of sufficient nutritious food?
Children's Rights Education: Enables the child to identify a community in need of sufficient nutritious food.
Child Answers: I realize that some communities are deprived of the right to food.
"Hunger is the world's #1 health risk" (OneXOne)

Classroom Learning Activities

1. Identify a Community's Need for the Right to Food
Students refer to the 3-Step-Tool to Empowerment to identify a cause worth advocating for that relates to a community's right to sufficient nourishing food. This includes the following process:
  1. Research a community that does not have food security. It could be one's own community, or a community far away. There are many organizations that work to advocate for this right. See a list below.
  2. Identify why this community is deprived of its right to sufficient nourishing food.
  3. Write a Statement regarding the cause you are advocating for. 
3-Step-Tool Classroom Material available here.
Knowledge of rights guides the child to identify a cause worth advocating for. 
Go here to purchase this poster for your classroom.
2. Ensuring Food Secure Homes/Communities
There are many ways to feed our growing population so that all the worlds people can be food secure. These include:
  1. Producing food at home is a good idea but it won't solve the problem.
  2. Lifting women out of poverty including: social grant systems, improved access to education and jobs, and education around nutrition.
  3. Enabling poor people within a community access to the food that is already there.
Governments, civil organizations, food businesses and each of us have to ensure that everyone in society has access to sufficient safe, nutritious food by:
  1. Drawing up a policy that supports productive agriculture and that regulates food markets to be competitive and fair for everyone.
  2. Ban advertising fast-foods to children.
  3. Tax unhealthy foods to make them less affordable
  4. Restrict fast-food outlets within a certain distance from schools.
  5. Fortify more foods with vitamins and minerals.
  6. Keep the basic basket of food affordable.
  7. Redesign cities to encourage people to exercise more by growing food and have access to fresh foods. This will reduce the amount of resources used to transport and distribute food from distant localities. 
  8. Keep our girl children in school longer so that they can be more educated because education will break the poverty cycle. 
The Hungry Season 
(May 2012) 
 Sea Monster and Leonie Joubert created this animated explainer film for The Open Society of South Africa, The Centre of Criminology and the Embassy of Finland. The explainer deals with three major issues around "Food Security" - Malnutrition, Poverty and Gender.
3. Fighting Hunger the Rights Way
The activities in Fighting Hunger the Rights Way were designed to use the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as a framework for teaching students about malnutrition and related topics. Children’s rights are a fundamental theme in activities in this resource (e.g., viewing child malnutrition as a violation of children’s rights). It is important that students consider children’s rights when completing each activity (see pages 6-7 for more details regarding some of the specific rights focused on in this resource). It is also important for teachers to ensure that students keep an optimistic attitude when completing activities. Students should feel that youth can have a positive impact on their community, country and/or world.

The introductory activities should be completed prior to all other activities. Students will need to have a general understanding of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and World Food Programme’s (WFP) Food Force game in order to complete activities in Fighting Hunger the Rights Way. Students should be introduced to the Convention through the introductory activities in the Food Unit first, and then to Food Force, so that they may view child malnutrition as a violation of children’s rights and humanitarian aid as efforts to attain and adhere to children’s rights.

Relevant Convention Articles

Article 6
1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.
2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.
Article 12
1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.
Article 13
1. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.
2. The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.
Article 14
1. States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
2. States parties shall respect the rights and duties of the parents and, when applicable, legal guardians, to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.
3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.
Article 15
1. States Parties recognize the rights of the child to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly.
2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of these rights other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
Article 24
1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:
(a) To diminish infant and child mortality;
(b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care;
(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;
(d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers;
(e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents;
(f) To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services.
3. States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.
4. States Parties undertake to promote and encourage international co-operation with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right recognized in the present article. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Online Resources and References