In line with the celebration of the World Food Week, United Nations World Food Programme and LG Electronics created a partnership to raise funds in order to reach out to almost a billion hungry people especially children who are very much affected with hunger and malnutrition. This partnership is a bold innovation in the global fight against hunger that takes advantage of the latest in digital technology.
With the newest line of LG’s Smart TVs, which embody the most advanced technology of internet-linked televisions, owners will have access to an application (or “app”) that allows them to directly participate in global efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goal 1, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. The applications that will support the fight against hunger through raising funds will be available starting the World Food Week, 17-23 October, 2011. The launching and demonstration of the apps will take place in Rome, Italy, where the head office of WFP on Monday, October 17, at 11:30 am CEST (9:30 am GMT). Supporters and advocates can watch via www.livestream.com/fighthunger.
According to Nancy Roman, WFP Director of Communications, Public Policy and Private Partnerships, through the WeFeedback application that will be downloaded and installed to LG TVs by the owners can actually an opportunity to WFP to reach new audiences and enlist their support for the organization’s crucial work. The main objective of the WeFeedback application on the LG TV will allow users to donate to WFP using their internet TV. Using the same feature of the WeFeedback website (www.WeFeedback.org), the SmartTV’s integration of television and internet technology, people can “feed back” their favorite foods, transforming their pizza, sushi or apple pie into a healthy school meal for a low-income child in one of the more than 60 countries in which WFP’s school meals program is active. The app also has an “emergency mode” that will let users donate directly to WFP’s humanitarian operations in specific emergencies such as disaster relief due to typhoon, war, earthquake, etc.
In addition to WeFeedback, the application will allow users to interactively learn about hunger in several ways:
- Hunger TV: A handpicked selection of videos that showcase the many faces of hunger as well as WFP’s work around the world
- Hunger World: An interactive map with data, stories and media to help viewers understand the global issue of hunger
- PlayTime: A family-friendly interactive quiz about food and hunger
Since it was launched in March 2011, WeFeedback already raised enough funds to feed more than 271,000 schoolchildren. School meals are one way that WFP invests in the future of the next generation: these meals encourage parents to send their children to school and allow students to better concentrate on their lessons while there. This also the message of WFP to World Food Day: Feed a Child, Feed a Dream.
Up to date WFP and LG Electronics have worked together to address the global issues of hunger, poverty and climate change since 2009 through their “Partnership of Hope.” The LG Hope Family in Asia supports 12,000 families in Bangladesh and Cambodia through food-for-work projects that aim to lift people out of poverty. In the LG Hope School in Kenya and the LG Hope Village in Ethiopia, this partnership supports an additional 30,000 people.
Know more about what you can do in fighting hunger worldwide visit www.WFP.org.
