The NGO Ação da Cidadania, founded by sociologist Herbeth de Souza, Betinho, launches this Friday (15) the campaign “Pact for the 15% with hunger”. The initiative invites participants to donate 15% of the sales volume, R$ 15.00 or 15 seconds of advertising or publications on the internet to support the cause.
The organization works with the estimate that, today, there are 33 million people going hungry in Brazil, which is equivalent to 15% of the population. The project is inspired by the vulnerability recorded in 1993, when the country had 32 million people living in the same situation.
According to the entity, in one year, the number of people without access to food increased by 14 million. The campaign has the support of several entities, such as Central Única das Favelas, OAB Nacional, Fiocruz, Instituto Phi, Instituto Claro, Voz das Comunidades, Coca-Cola, Twitter, Eletromídia and Rock in Rio.
Donations have plummeted this year. In 2021, the NGO raised BRL 100 million. Until June 2022, only R$ 10 million had been raised. Of this amount, R$ 8 million were destined for rain mobilizations, with actions that also deliver refrigerators, stoves, blankets, hygiene items and mattresses. To fight hunger, in particular, around R$ 2 million were collected.
The executive director of Ação Cidadania, Rodrigo Kiko Afonso, draws attention to the urgency of the moment.
“There are 14 million new people without access to food in just over a year”, he points out. “Those who plant don’t have enough to eat, those who earn a minimum wage don’t either. Hunger is unacceptable. Households headed by women, with young children, black and brown families, are the most affected. Society needs to sign this pact in the fight against hunger”, he adds.
Betinho’s son and current president of the Citizenship Action Council, Daniel Souza, highlights the importance of society’s support for the cause.
“It is necessary to transform our indignation into concrete actions, and to understand that 15% of the Brazilian population is going hungry is everyone’s problem. As we did 30 years ago, solidarity will be the driving force to help the 33 million people who today, at this very moment, do not have the most basic of human rights: food”, he ponders.
Advancement of food insecurity
According to the IBGE, since 2004, food insecurity in the country had been decreasing and was present in 34.9% of households that year. The index dropped to 30.2% in 2009 and reached 22.6% in 2013.
But since then, hunger has been on the rise. Of the 68.9 million households in the country, 36.7% were experiencing some level of food insecurity, reaching a total of 84.9 million people, according to data from the Household Budget Survey (POF) 2017-2018 of Analysis of the Food Security in Brazil, from IBGE.
In comparison with 2013, the prevalence of insecurity regarding access to food increased by 62.4%.
Source: CNN Brasil
