Improve helping

Helping to improve helping

Together, Perry Heijne (left) and Hein Fleuren (right) were the founders of the Zero Hunger Lab (ZHL). Fleuren: “We’ve been at it for about three years now, but in the ten years before that it had been in the back of my mind. Together with Dick den Hertog, I came up with the concept for the Zero Hunger Lab. With Perry, I then developed and built the lab into a research institute with social impact.” Heijne: “When Hein and I sit down together, the ideas immediately start flowing and suddenly there’s a plan, which, by the way, can also be an overly ambitious or wild plan. We ask each other critical questions, there is some chaffing and polishing, and often this results in a concrete project or research. In this way, science and practice greatly enhance each other.” Fleuren: “Ultimately, the Zero Hunger Lab stands for two things: emergency relief and sustainable development. We are using mathematics to provide more effective food aid in disaster situations and to make our global food system smarter for the sake of the health of the planet and all its inhabitants. In other words, we are helping to improve helping.” Heijne: “Academia and the NGO world don’t always speak the same language. My role is to translate the math into humanitarian practice and to make sure scientific ideas are embraced and have real impact.” Fleuren: “Perry and I always find common ground in our desire to make this world a better place for everyone: less poverty, more equality, more well-being. In short, the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. We can become very enthusiastic and driven when thinking about solutions to, for example, refugees, child poverty, famine, water pollution or child welfare.” Heijne: “With the Zero Hunger Lab, we recently won the Franz Edelman Award as a scientific partner of the World Food Programme. That was a real recognition of what we do. Many people involved in development cooperation and humanitarian aid see that, for example, smart algorithms can help them, but they find it difficult to translate this into practical solutions and concrete results. With us, it’s really about the application. A striking example is what we have demonstrated using data analytics with the World Food Programme in South Sudan.” Fleuren: “I am sometimes asked if we will ever be rid of the problem. You can look at it in two ways: optimistically or realistically. If you want to eliminate hunger structurally for 800 million people, it has been calculated that you need about 250 billion euros. That’s a huge amount of money. Still: financially and technically, we are able to solve this problem. But then you encounter global politics and things move slowly.” Heijne: “I don’t know whether the world food problem will be solved by 2030. But the knowledge, skills, and money are there. I believe that together with governments, businesses, and social and knowledge institutions, we can radically improve our food systems. And everyone who puts a healthy and sustainable meal on the table today is helping to do that.” Text: Jim Jansen