Livelihood

Improving children’s welfare by increasing family income and food security

Unemployment remains nearly 40 per cent in Indonesia. For the 51,000 children we work with, this leads to more than just low incomes – it leads to hunger. In order to increase food security, we started income-generating projects in rural areas, where the main source of revenue is from agriculture.

The area of Kefamenanu is a good example. For three to four months, the communities in this area always suffer from a shortage of their main food staples of corn and rice.  Our food security programme is the ultimate solution but, of course, we must continue to address the immediate needs of many malnourished children.

While giving children vegetables, milk, eggs and other staples, we also helped farmers grow more food. Less than a year later, communities now grow their own carrots, beans, nuts, tomatoes, cucumber, cabbage, cauliflowers and other vegetables – and malnutrition is falling.