Persistent hunger and malnutrition in developing countries requires integrated and innovative approaches from civil society. At the mid point of the Millennium Development Goals, and with 854 million people going hungry worldwide, local NGOs need to be strengthened to address and voice the hunger needs at grassroots level. With strong knowledge of the contexts they are embedded, and as dynamic organisations representing the problems of the poorest, hungriest and most vulnerable, their potential to act, advocate and network is often very limited. The overall objective is to strengthen the capacity of 10 local partner NGOs in 7 countries (Asia: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines; Africa: Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Zambia) as independent and sustainable agents for change, into a trans-national south-south network of organisations committed to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition. In particular this project is aimed at: (1) improving the technical and operational capacities of local partners in relation to the core activities in the eradication of hunger and addressing malnutrition: nutrition, food Security, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Advocacy; (2) strengthening the capacities of local partners in relation to their organisational management, systems and programmes; (3) creating a network of local south based organisations with active roles in a forum dedicated to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, sharing learning, and solutions to address hunger problems. We adopt a results based approach to determine the concrete capacity results which we can expect for each local partner. Through a learn by doing approach, each capacity building initiative, will be directly linked to the a service delivery component where, together with the most affected communities, activities will be implemented to address nutrition, food security, water, sanitation, hygiene and advocacy needs. Special emphasis will be put into transversal issues and their impact on children and their families, as relevant for each context: HIV/AIDS, gender, urban hunger, environment, disaster preparedness and emergency response, community development and empowerment through local knowledge/wisdom. we will work simultaneously at two different levels of capacity building: organisational (systems and management), operational (programmes and technical competencies). Activities will include but not limited to: (1) technical (nutrition management, WASH, disaster preparedness, HIV/AIDS mainstreaming, gender…) and operational (assessments, PCM, M&E …) training; development of training materials; facilitation of workshops; coaching / mentoring – all the activities will be linked to at least one service delivery activity through the learn by doing approach; field exercises / activities with technical support; design and implementation of service delivery activities: e.g. seeds distribution, agricultural training, construction of water facilities, training water committees, community mobilisation, awareness raising (2) coaching / mentoring; training (in finance, HR management, log systems…); technical training; facilitation of workshops; e-learning support; capital support; strategic planning support activities; (3): development of a local NGO network website; training of local organisations re: development of website initiative, management of website; development of contents on website: e-learning; stories from the field; lessons learnt / taking stock: networking seminars/ local NGO meetings; training of capacity champions Brief Financial Breakdown: £877,902 over 4 years (£283,218 year 1, £237,636 year 2, £239,189 year 3, £117,859 year 4).