Together Against Hunger Speech + Performance | Oct '22

Action Against Hunger, Devex, Global Citizen, Salesforce.org, CRS, CARE, and World Vision brought together leaders for a dynamic, two-day summit in late October to reboot and reevaluate our collective efforts in tackling hunger. As part of a new movement called Together Against Hunger, the summit attracted more than 500 people across more than dozens of countries virtually and in person. Marjan performed on October 13th as the final speaker of the evening.

The convening was held as approximately 828 million people — one in ten worldwide — are undernourished and as many as 50 million people in 45 countries are on the verge of famine. Ongoing conflict, the primary driver of hunger, continues to threaten lives and livelihoods. Climate change is causing increasingly severe and frequent disasters, undermining resilience.

Compounding all of these factors are structural inequalities that systematically exclude vulnerable communities from decision-making and accrue benefits for some to the detriment of most. Ending hunger — especially by 2030 to achieve the United Nation’s Zero Hunger goal — can seem overwhelming.

Despite the concerning reality that confronts us, the Together Against Hunger summit offered some bright spots for opportunities as leaders reevaluated current efforts to fight global hunger, discussed how to take to scale what has worked well, and challenged the status quo.

Marjan Naderi was invited to wrap up the summit with spoken word, highlighting the relationship she has with food as an Afghan-American. Before reading her first poem, Naderi shares, "a few of my family members in Afghanistan had passed away from malnourishment. They didn't have enough to purchase their own meals and unfortunately passed away. And I was wondering, how do I bring the most intimate part of myself, my home, to this stage and offer it as part of this conversation? And so I'd like to open up this evening with a poem, an ode to my favorite dish, Qabuli Palow." Watch the performance below.

Photos courtesy of Action Against Hunger.

Inspired by the event, I will donate 10% of all issued honorariums to feeding Afghan children moving forward. My team and I are thankful to have attended, we pass on our gratitude to the Action Against Hunger Team for their commitment to the cause. Many thanks to Stephanie from FREYJA (https://www.freyallc.com/) for inviting me to this memorable event.