World Hunger

The issue of world hunger can seem so large and complex that it can be hard to see how our choices and actions could make a meaningful difference. But what we do does make a difference – and the actions of many people can make the difference that is needed.
To complete this assignment…
A: Identify the action you will take and justify it.
Decide on an action that you will take this term to help reduce the number of people affected by hunger and malnutrition in the world. You may select an action from the examples included on the next page – or choose anything else you think would make a useful difference. You may choose something that you do one time (e.g., make a donation), something you will do differently in your life from this point forward (e.g., making plant-based food choices more often), or something that you will do for a set period of time (e.g., volunteering with a particular organization). Your action must take place this term as you are working on the assignment.
Identify and justify your chosen action in a one page (single-spaced) typed summary. Indicate what you have chosen to do and clearly describe how this action can contribute to ending world hunger. Be specific!
Describe your proposed action as a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Clearly justify your choice of action and identify its potential impact on hunger. Your written summary should be one page single-spaced (not including your reference list), with appropriate use of headings, paragraphs, and white space to enhance readability. You must include a minimum of three references from reputable sources, at least one of which is from a peer-reviewed source, to substantiate your justification. Examples of assignments and additional resources to support your work are available in Canvas. Submit this portion of the assignment (“Part 1”) by uploading it in Canvas

B: Take action.
C: Document your experience and reflect on it.
Describe your experience and reflect on it by answering the following six questions (the questions you need to answer are indicated in bold; some comments/prompts to help you with each question are provided in italics):
1) What did you do? Why? Your response should be clear and succinct. If your final action was different from what you originally planned, indicate how and why it was different. When indicating why you did what you did, consider: Why did this particular action appeal to you?
2) What was the experience like for you? Your response to this question will be personal and subjective. Consider: Was it difficult for you? Rewarding? Eye-opening? Challenging? Inspiring? Surprising?
3) In what way did your action affect world hunger? Be as specific as possible! Try to quantify your impact, if possible, and support your assertions with evidence. Acknowledge the limitations of your action. Your response should be clear, objective, and evidence-based.
4) Do you think you made a difference? Why or why not? Comment on your thoughts/feelings re. whether you made a difference. Your response will be personal and subjective.
5) What was the most important thing you learned by doing this assignment? Identify and clearly explain the single most important thing you learned. Your most important learning may have been factual or emotional, related to the content of this course or related to your life more broadly…
6) What will you do, moving forward? Be specific! Consider: Has this experienced changed the actions you will take in the future in some way? Will you now do anything differently in your life? What will you do now?

You may choose the format you would like to use to submit this portion of the assignment (“Part 2”). Most often, Part 2 is submitted as a written report in which you provide your answers to the six questions indicated in bold above. Your written report should be a maximum of two single-spaced typed pages (with appropriate use of headings, paragraphs, and white space; not including reference list or appendix) and you must include a minimum of four references from reputable sources (at least one of which is peer-reviewed; you may re-use some or all of the references you used in Part 1). However, you are not limited to submitting a written report. If you wish, you may choose to submit Part 2 in an alternate format, such as a brief video (7-8 minutes), blog, video blog (vlog), or audio recording (e.g., podcast). If you are considering submitting this portion of your assignment in an alternative format, please refer to question 6, below.
Note: Part 2 of your assignment must contain some sort of evidence of your action in an appendix. Appropriate forms of evidence include photos, receipts. journal entries, and/or materials that were part of your action (e.g., advertisements you created, posts you made on social media platforms, etc.) – anything that documents or illustrates your action in some way!
This portion of the assignment (“Part 2”) should be uploaded via Canvas before

Some questions you may have…

1. How much is the assignment worth?
   This is up to you! The assignment has a suggested value of 25% of your total mark, but you may decide on its exact value for you – anything between 0% (if you opt not to do this assignment) and 35% of your final mark. In all cases, Part 1 is worth 30% of your total mark for the assignment and Part 2 is worth 70% of your total mark for the assignment. Your submissions will be evaluated using the rubrics provided at the end of this document.
2. What are some examples of possible actions I could take to help end world hunger?
   • Make a donation to an agency working to reduce poverty/hunger
   • Contribute items or money to a food bank (e.g., Greater Vancouver Food Bank, UBC’s AMS Food Bank…)
   • Generate donations by playing word games at freerice.com
   • Organize an event to raise awareness and/or funds for a hunger-related cause
   • Volunteer with an agency that works to reduce poverty/hunger
   • Contribute to Kiva, a microfinance initiative (www.kiva.org), to provide small loans to people with limited
   access to traditional banks (join team ‘FNH 355 at The University of British Columbia’!)
   • Reduce the amount of food waste generated by you and/or your household
   • Consume a sustainable diet and make plant-based food choices more often
   • Make other specific changes to reduce your personal greenhouse gas emissions (“carbon footprint”)
   • Write to (or speak with) your elected officials and/or other decision makers to help influence the decisions they make about hunger and/or one or more of its causes
   • Almost anything you can think of that will help to reduce hunger (locally or globally) in some way!
3. Can I work with a group of students to do something “bigger” (e.g., organize an event)?
   Absolutely! Feel free to work with a partner or small group of students (maximum four in total) to plan and take action together. Each student must make very clear and valuable contributions to the group’s work and each student must prepare and submit their own individual assignment to be graded separately (identify your partner/group members in your written assignment). If your group decides to produce a video or other alternative submission format for Part 2 of your assignment, you may create and submit the video as a team – but each student must submit a personal response to Question #2 (approximately one paragraph in length). Note: if you work together in a group, we expect your action to be “bigger” and/or more complex than you would have been able to complete individually. Please do not hesitate to contact Candice with any questions you may have, if you are considering working together on this assignment (office hours are a great opportunity to chat about this
   – or anything else related to your assignment!).
4. What is considered a reputable source (e.g., to use in justifying my choice of action)?
   Reputable sources include articles published in the peer-reviewed literature, reports from governmental or non- governmental agencies (including United Nations (UN) groups such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Program (WFP), and UNICEF), news articles from legitimate news sources, and scholarly books. If you have questions about the credibility of a particular source, consider the information published by the UBC Library to help you evaluate sources – and come to office hours or talk to me after class if you still have questions!
5. How should I cite my references?
   You need to include both in-text citations and complete bibliographic information in a reference list at the end of your assignment submissions (the reference list is not included in the page limit). Use either APA format (described here) or the Vancouver style (described here). Note: only the references (including the in-text citations and the reference list) need to be formatted according to APA or Vancouver style guidelines – you do not need to follow any other formatting rules you may see associated with these styles (e.g., use of running heads).
6. I am thinking about making a video (or other alternative format) for Part 2. What should I know?
   You are welcome to submit Part 2 of the assignment using an alternate creative format. Please note that all submissions will be evaluated according to the same criteria listed in the rubric, so make sure it is easy for us to find your responses to the questions! (For example, if you create a video, you may wish to insert text headings to alert the viewer to when you answer each question.) If you decide to make a video or podcast for Part 2 of the assignment, it should be roughly 7–8 minutes in length (definitely not more than 10 minutes). Responses to questions should contain the equivalent of ~2 pages single-spaced typed material. All submissions should be uploaded (or linked) in the assignment submission location in Canvas (not sent by email).