Manos Unidas has presented today its new campaign «.«Declares war on hunger»The call to action focuses on the close relationship between armed conflict, structural poverty and food insecurity that affects millions of people around the world.
The campaign was unveiled at a press conference at the Press Association of Madrid in which Cecilia Pilar, president of Manos Unidas, and Fidele Pogba, coordinator of studies of the NGO, spoke, accompanied by the testimonies of three local partners from projects supported by the organization in Syria, Sierra Leone and Colombia.
Testimonials from the field
During the event, Brother George Sabe (Syria), Sister Sandra Ramos (Sierra Leone) and Father Jesús Albeiro (Colombia) shared the harsh reality of their communities, deeply affected by violence, political instability and lack of access to basic resources.
Their interventions put a face to the figures of hunger and showed how Manos Unidas accompaniment is key to sustaining vulnerable populations, strengthening local resilience and offering development alternatives in conflict contexts.
A historic commitment against hunger
«Fight Hunger» is a reminder of the founding manifesto of Manos Unidas, born in 1955, when the women of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations (WUCWO) pledged to try to eradicate hunger in the world.
More than six decades later, this shortage remains a grim reality for nearly 700 million people, and continues to be both a cause and a consequence of many of the world's active conflicts.
Manos Unidas works to break the vicious circle between hunger, poverty and violence, placing peace at the center of its mission, both through humanitarian action and development cooperation projects and social awareness in Spain.
The campaign's proposals for action are framed within Pope Leo XIV's invitation to abandon the «paradigm of war» and to opt for models of coexistence based on justice, equity and dialogue.
A world increasingly violent and less prepared for peace
The data presented during the press conference reflect a worrisome global scenario. Seventy-eight countries are currently involved in wars beyond their own borders, evidencing the weakening of multilateral conflict resolution mechanisms. There are 59 active armed conflicts, the highest number since World War II and three more than the previous year.
According to the Global Peace Index 2025, the world is not only less peaceful, but also less able to build peace.
In 2024, global investment in peacebuilding and peacekeeping was just $47.2 billion, representing just 0.52 % of global military spending, which reached a record $2.7 trillion.
Violence, natural resources and inequality
Armed violence is closely linked to resource exploitation and economic inequality, as four out of ten internal conflicts in the last 60 years have been related to the exploitation of natural resources (UN, 2024). One in eight people in the world were exposed to conflict in 2024, yet a December 2025 Manos Unidas survey indicates that 90 % of Spaniards believe that world peace is the responsibility of all countries.
The impact of Manos Unidas in 2024
With 67 years of experience, Manos Unidas consolidates its international impact with the following data for 2024:
- Scope: 1,600,743 people supported directly by means of 575 projects at 53 countries from Africa, America and Asia.
- Collections: 51.1 million, with a 83.5 % from private funds, The organization's independence is strengthened.
- Efficiency: The 89,8 % of income went directly to the mission (84.7 % to projects in the South and 5.1 % to awareness-raising in Spain).
- Human structure: 6,710 volunteers, 72 delegations, 68,398 members and a technical team of 157 professionals.
- Key sectors: Education, health, water and sanitation, food, women's rights, human rights and environment.
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