On Thursday, 25 July, Hungry for Action will activate the Empty Plates campaign in London and Rio de Janeiro. In London, prominent Chefs will serve approximately 750 empty plates – each plate representing 1 million people going hungry worldwide. They will be supported by advocates and numerous food champions, in person and remotely by others in various locations across the globe. The launch of the Empty Plates campaign will coincide with the announcement of the G20 Brazilian-led Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and the launch of the highly anticipated United Nations annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2024 report that will update the latest data on hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition worldwide. 

Hundreds of millions of people have nothing to put on their plates every day. They go to sleep hungry. It is outrageous and unacceptable that global hunger is rising in 2024 and that too many children are being robbed of their future potential due to malnutrition when we know many solutions exist; only concerted action from governments can fix it. 

Join us to take action!

On the 25th of July:

1. Take an empty plate and take a picture of yourself holding it.
2. Post the picture on social media on 25th July.
3. Use the hashtags #emptyplates and #G20.
4. Tag @HungryforAct on X and @hungryforaction on Instagram.

The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty

To accelerate progress towards SDG2, Hungry for Action has been calling for a global plan to drive collective action that would align policy priorities, improve coordination, reduce fragmentation, support country leadership and implementation capacity, mobilise adequate financing and promote greater accountability. A global plan would demonstrate much-needed political leadership to end the food crisis now and break the cycle of crises. This year, President Lula and Brazil’s presidency of the G20 have championed and plan to launch a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, embodying the global plan’s key components. This is a necessary step to mobilize the global community around a joint agenda to end hunger and malnutrition in all its forms. 

The SOFI report

Since 1999, the SOFI reports have measured progress in reducing global hunger. In the last several years, they have documented a reversal in the trend due to conflict, climate change, economic shocks, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and persistent poverty and inequality.  The world is not on track to achieve SDG2 by 2030, and urgent, coordinated action is required to address these multifaceted drivers of hunger and malnutrition. 

The 2024 report, according to the UN, will include a thematic focus on financing for SDG2, quantifying how much funding is needed to end food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition and will identify innovative financing options to address the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition as well as transform food systems. 

We applaud and celebrate Brazil’s leadership and call on other G20 governments to:

1. Join the Alliance
2. Work together on actioning a Global Plan
3. Deliver the financing needed

Together, we can end the global food crisis, now and forever. 

Follow the campaign on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Full assets and campaign messaging to include in social media posts are uploaded here.