Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 90 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice. They are one of the 17 affiliates in the international confederation Oxfam. While Oxfam specializes in helping communities realize individualized solutions to their problems, their work takes on universal themes. From community to community and region to region, they see people facing like challenges—and pursuing like solutions to their needs.
Oxfam has launched the GROW campaign to build a better food system: one that sustainably feeds a growing population (estimated to reach nine billion by 2050) and empowers poor people to earn a living, feed their families, and thrive.
Why care about food justice?
One in seven people goes to bed hungry every night. Not because there isn't enough food, but because of deep imbalances in access to resources like fertile land and water. The power to control these resources sits neither with the billion-plus farmers who produce food, nor with the billions of consumers who eat it.
Instead, companies and governments control the global food system—and they often determine who eats and who doesn't.
A few facts on the deep imbalances in our food system:
• Our planet produces enough food for everyone, yet nearly one billion of us (1 in every 7 people) still go to bed hungry.
• About a third of the food produced for our plates ends up lost or wasted between farm and fork.
• One pound of ground beef for your family uses more than 28,000 cups of water to produce—that’s enough to fill 20 bathtubs to the brim, and then some!
While this may seem overwhelming, there are many ways that we, as individuals, can make simple changes in the way we grow, cook, eat and store our food to be more sustainable. So, as a special way to celebrate World Food Day, we’re asking people to:
• Sign up to host a World Food Day dinner discussion. Oxfam has tons of free materials including a discussion guide, placemats, and recipe ideas from acclaimed chefs Jamie Oliver, Mary Sue Milliken, and others. Everything can be found at www.oxfamamerica.org/worldfoodday
• Snap photos of your World Food Day meal on Instagram and tag them with #WFD2012, then check out our site (www.oxfamamerica.org/worldfoodday) to see photos from all over the world.
Disclosure: I did not receive compensation for this post. It is a campaign that I believe in and want to share with my readers.
You may have heard about Malala Yousafzai, a 14 year old schoolgirl in Pakistan, who was brutally shot by the Taliban in retaliation for promoting girls' education in her country. Millions around the world were saddened to hear that the Taliban went to such extremes to stop girls from being educated. Across the globe millions of girls are denied the opportunity to go to school. 
