Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V. – or Welthungerhilfe (German for World Hunger Aid) for short – is a German non-denominational and politically independent, non-profit-making and non-governmental aid agency working in the field of development cooperation and emergency relief aid. Since it was founded in 1962, it has used about 2.84 billion euros to carry out more than 7733 aid projects in 70 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Welthungerhilfe holds the seal of approval of the Deutsches Zentralinstitut für soziale Fragen (DZI). In 2014, Welthungerhilfe and the aid organization World Vision International were announced the most transparent German organizations. In 2012, Welthungerhilfe celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Welthungerhilfe has set itself the goal of banishing famine and poverty from the world. Following the basic principle of help towards self-help, it works together with local partner organisations to support the efforts of people in developing countries to free themselves from hunger and poverty and to provide for themselves on a sustainable basis.
Welthungerhilfe was founded in 1962, as the German Committee of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign, on the initiative of the then Federal President of Germany, Heinrich Lübke. It formed the German section of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign, which was brought into being in 1961 by Binay Ranjan Sen, the Director-General of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In 1967 the organisation's name was changed to Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V.