Friends,

Twenty years ago, the Presbyterian Hunger Program was invited and challenged by our global partners to deepen our response to hunger and poverty. Our partners were seeing and experiencing systemic injustices that cannot be addressed through "projects" alone.

At the invitation of our partners, we tried a different approach. One that brought together churches and civil society networks in many countries around the world with Presbyterians in the United States to challenge the global systems that create and maintain people in poverty. The approach was built on equal partnerships. Out of this new approach the Joining Hands initiative was born.