A constant rumble
How can data sharing help to solve the hunger issue in Malaysia? Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal finds out more
TAP. Tap. Tap. The sound of persistent tapping on my side window startles me. I’d been so focused on eye-balling the traffic light at this busy intersection, and willing it to change to green that I hadn’t noticed the presence of a figure that had somehow crept up on me like a shadow.
From the shield of that single glass that separates us, I cast a furtive look at the dishevelled man as he extends both his grimy palms in my direction, looking beseechingly at me. “Lapar (hungry),” he mouths as I contemplate my next course of action whilst alarm bells begin to ring in my head about the possible risks of winding down my window.
“Beeeeeeeeeeeep!” The drawn out, high-pitched sound of irate honking behind my car compels me to look up towards the traffic light. It’s green. “sorry!” it was my turn to mouth silently to the equally alarmed man as I quickly stepped on the pedal and a heavy sense of guilt began to gnaw at me like persistent ants.
“Bendera Putih? The intention is good.
And it’s similar to our platform. Of course, it’s a manual version of what we want to do. We want to create a system that not only preserves the dignity of those in need, but also ‘flags out’ where the hungry people are. To me, the bendera putih initiative, though noble in intention, will not be the solution. It’s short term because it may also create duplication.”
The voice emanating from my laptop screen reminds me that I’m in the midst of an interview with Farizul Baharom, chairman and co-founder of Zer0Hunger, a platform created to systematically address the issue of hunger in Malaysia. The organisation is also part of the MATCH hub, a public and private sector mechanism, leading the Food security cluster.
The image of the dishevelled man I’d met just days earlier dissipates as I turn my attention to the bespectacled Farizul, who’s talking to me from the confines of his car, en route to Putrajaya. “Don’t worry, I’ve pulled over,” he reassures me, smiling.
The 50-year-old, who started service as a government officer in the AttorneyGeneral’s Chambers, and whose forte lies in public policies, governance and project management, is keen to raise awareness on what his organisation, Zer0Hunger, is all about.
“Back to the initiative,” he continues, leaning in to make his point. “The white flag system is actually a component of what we want to do. But you need another component to inform the world that the meals needed have been received. And this is when the system will update itself, otherwise there’ll be duplication and wastage. This is the downside and also the rise of scams.”
In 2019, World Bank projects Malaysia Hunger statistics as being 2.5 per cent of the population (938,000 people). Meanwhile last year, with the new poverty line being adjusted, the number is at 5.6 per cent of the population under poverty (1.83 million people). With Covid-19, the impact is compounded and will impact the five million Malaysians identified as vulnerable.
Theoretically, there shouldn’t be hunger in Malaysia. We have enough resources in terms of current and potential food production, individual and corporate savings, tax income, zakat and Baitulmal. The challenge lies in the identification of the vulnerable, collection and efficient distribution of resources.
Rewinding back to when the idea for Zer0Hunger was first triggered, the Ipohborn Farizul confides that it all started because of the first Movement Control Order (MCO). “It began initially as a collaboration between a few friends when we discovered there were pockets of students who were quite distressed because of the lockdown. They didn’t have access to food.”
Adding, he recalls: “And because I had some friends in the Malaysian Red Crescent society, I enlisted their help to become the focal point. On our side, we did the fund raising and identified the students who needed help, but using Red Crescent’s facilities, as we were just a group of individuals.”
Pride lighting his eyes, Farizul, a law graduate from Leeds University and a masters holder in environmental law and policy remembers: “If I’m not mistaken, we managed to collect RM15,000 in a matter of days.”
With the help of Red Crescent, the group was able to distribute food aid to the students, mainly in Kuala Lumpur. “It started from there. And by that point, we realised just how disorganised everything was,” he adds.
Continuing, he tells me that by then, Nadma (National Disaster Management Agency) had been established .“They said all funds had to be centralised through Nadma and they’d distribute. Suddenly, all these non-governmental organisations, which had been popping up like mushrooms, got themselves registered. We discovered that when we gave to one community, other NGOs also gave. In the end, there was wastage.”
Nobody was actually coordinating all these efforts and everything was done on a piecemeal basis. “So following that mission that we did with the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, a few of us decided to officially set up Zer0Hunger,” he says.
Creating SolutionS
His organisation’s goal is unique, believes Farizul. Unlike the many NGOs out there, whose main mission is to collect money and then offer aid to those in need, Zer0Hunger aspires to create solutions. Namely, to come up with a digital platform where all the data would be gathered and where monitoring of all the supply and demand of the corporate social responsibilities can be done.
Elaborating, he explains: “The idea is that the donor could log in and find out how much is needed to help those communities. Then, everything would be displayed on a dashboard. So when someone says I want to help that community, it’d be notified on the dashboard.”
And once the aid has been delivered, a report would be sent. This way, the donor would know that whatever money he/she has given has been successfully delivered to the target recipient. Bottom line? No duplication.
“We’re still gathering information and data and we hope to come up with a beta version to see how it can work,” elaborates Farizul, adding that it’s a similar concept to Grab. “If you book Grab and you say you want to travel from A to B, then the nearest driver to you would pick you up.”
That’s pretty much the concept in a nutshell, but the group does hope to produce a more comprehensive solution. “We can even come up with a profile of what’s required in detail,” he says, adding: “For example, there are those in certain communities who don’t just want to be fed. They might also need diapers or clothing. So we want to be more informative and accessible to everyone.”
The aim is also to provide transparency where funds can be audited and tracked. “If all the NGOs subscribe to this system, then say there’s hungry people in Kelantan, it’d show in our geomap. Then, the NGO nearest to that area can go there rather than someone having to come all the way from KL. That would be more efficient.”
Another aim is to preserve the dignity of those receiving the aid. Continues Farizul: “Sometimes they’re also embarrassed to ask for help. Eventually the platform will be able to allow donors to give out e-vouchers. We’ll link up with retailers and the recipients of those vouchers can go and redeem to get their provision.”
The organisation has hooked up with many partners over the months; however, according to Farizul, the number of partners they currently have represents less than 10 per cent of the NGOs across the country.
“I think we’ve been collaborating with roughly 30 NGOs so far,” he muses, brows furrowing under his glasses. Adding, he says that because the landscape is so big and it’s imperative to avoid duplication, they need at least 80 per cent (of NGOs in the country) to subscribe to this platform.
“It’s my hope that everyone will use this platform as a default,” says Farizul, adding: “If they want to help, just look at this platform. Those in need can just send
an SOS and their red dots will appear so we’d know there’s requirement for help in that area. This is our aspiration in addition to doing the normal flood relief initiatives and food packs.”
The big challenge is how to galvanise everyone to get on board. Apparently, data sharing is something that doesn’t sit too comfortably with some NGOs. “I’m guessing they
have their data and they’re serving those communities. They probably feel that there’s no need to share the data otherwise there’ll be duplication,” muses Farizul, looking thoughtful.
His expression earnest, the soft-spoken chairman says: “But I think once they see the benefit of the platform, I believe more NGOs will be willing to share data, which would then allow for efficient allocation or matching of supply and demand. At the end of the day, it’s not about serving one community exclusively. We should allow for whoever is able to provide help to the community.”
The organisation has set itself a target — to collect about 400,000 data points by end of the year. Shares Farizul: “With all the programmes that we carry out and have carried out — like the Sabah Food Aid, the flood relief — once we’ve identified the recipients, we’ll collect their data. Once
we have the data, they’d be dumped into our system. At least we’ll know the number of people that we’ve helped and also to monitor them to ensure that we don’t keep on spoon-feeding.”
Once adequate data is obtained, profiling can be done. Explains Farizul: “Our people can go on the ground and get to know the communities better to find out what their issues are. Why are they always in this marginalised situation? Hopefully, we can then enrich our data with more information and provide the right solution to get them out of that condition.”
At the moment, it’s step by step, he says. The first step is about gathering data and eventually that data would be enriched with more information. Continuing, he elaborates: “Then we’d be able to do some analytics to find out why those people are stuck in that situation and how to effectively help them once and for all. Because there’ll eventually be donor fatigue. That’s why we think the platform will appeal — eventually.”
Modus operandi
Asked whether he has a big team to drive this noble mission, a small chuckle escapes. “Zer0Hunger itself isn’t that big,” replies Farizul, the smile still lingering. “But we have Sharizal, who’s heading the technology development initiative and alhamdulillah, MaGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre) has given us some grants to develop the system. For starters, we can at least come up with the design, the beta version etc.”
Farizul shares they’ve been fortunate to strike a partnership with OutSystems, an Australian tech company, who’s helping the team to develop this platform without cost. “Our team is big in that sense because we have partners who are willing to help. But Zer0Hunger itself, there’s only five of us. Each person has a specific area of expertise and we try to contribute to the whole organisation based on our capacity.”
Asked how programmes are determined, Farizul replies: “Ideally, everything should be planned. And we do have plans right up to the end of the year with regards to our target activities. But as you know, so many things popped up to make planning challenging.”
He points to a charity hub that they have in Kampung Baru, the Malay enclave in central Kuala Lumpur, in collaboration with Kelab Pemuda Kampung Baru. “It’s called
Pentas and comprises a soup kitchen, food bank, collection centre, urban farm and clothes distribution centre. It also serves as a volunteer hub for numerous activities to help the poor.”
Farizul shares that they had plans to conduct training for volunteers and the homeless, and to make it a showcase for urban farming. A soup kitchen offering suspended meals to the poor was also on the agenda.
Well, that was the plan.
And then January came and so too did the big flood in Pahang, which affected thousands of families. Recalls Farizul: “We quickly converted the whole centre into an operations centre to coordinate the delivery of goods and clothes.”
They managed to provide immediate food relief, household items, rebuild and repair homes and send monetary contributions. In addition, assistance was extended to 50 PVATM (Armed Forces Veterans) families in Temerloh and Pahang.
When the pandemic hit, followed by the ensuing MCOs, the Zer0Hunger team decided to address the issue of the urban poor who were hungry. “For this year, we’ve been driven by crisis rather than actual planning,” shares Farizul.
The only plan they’ve been able to adhere to is tech development. Work continues with the community mapping exercise and data collection, in collaboration with Putra, a youth NGO, to collect data and map out the hungry in Kuala Lumpur. Capacity building, meanwhile, remains ongoing but in terms of programmes and reaching out to the poor and the hungry, it’s on a needs basis.
Their programme, Meals for Heroes, is on track. Shares Farizul: “We discovered that our frontliners don’t have time to prepare their own meals, let alone nutritious meals. They go out and buy so we activated that programme. We’ve been sending hot meals to hospitals in the Klang Valley.”
In February, they also initiated a project called Burpee Challenge, partnering with 13 trainers to raise funds for stateless families in Sabah to provide food aid and home repairs.
Change Your World
Why did you all choose the name Zer0Hunger
for your organisation, I blurt out before realising it’s probably self-explanatory. Is that really attainable, I add, scrutinising Farizul, who suddenly looks sheepish.
“Well, it’s idealistic,” he replies. “Are you an idealist?” I couldn’t help interjecting. “No, I’m not. I used to be,” he replies, chuckling. “Now I have to be a realist. It’s about changing your world. We can’t boil the ocean right? We can only do whatever we can within our own environment.”
Looking earnest, he continues: “And in so far as our own environment — our country — is concerned, I think Zer0Hunger is achievable. I don’t see any reason why we can’t achieve zero hunger in a country as rich as Malaysia.”
Malaysians, he adds, are generous and it’s all about matching the supply and demand as we already have resources in abundance. The problem? It’s just not going to where it needs to go. Offering an example, he says: “Look, I always have three meals a day. I can always provide meals for those in need. But how? If I were to cook extra every day, I wouldn’t be able to deliver to the people who need the meal because I don’t have access or facility.”
Passionately, he continues: “I’m sure in Kuala Lumpur, at least, we have more than enough food to provide for our urban poor. The question is how do we make the value chain shorter? There were movements I heard, before the MCO, where people collected excess food from restaurants and then distributed. But there were wastages. So how can we reallocate these surplus to those in need and avoid wastage?”
The platform, he reiterates again, is designed to eliminate this problem. “Just by logging in into the dashboard, you’ll know where aid is needed,” says Farizul, adding that the system is also designed to create some form of accountability to those who have the power and means to help. “We hope to show red dots where hungry people are in distress and that in turn would create accountability to those in power.”
Call To aCTion
As days turn to months, if there’s one thing the pandemic has shown, it’s triumph of the human spirit. Malaysians, it has to be said, are a compassionate lot, ever willing to champion a cause and support a cry for help.
That said, Farizul cautions that we should be more discerning when it comes to donating. “Pay attention to whom you’re channelling your funds to and how it’s being spent,” he warns, continuing: “We don’t want your good intentions to be abused.
Because once you get scammed, you’ll be put off. We don’t want Malaysians to be discouraged to donate.”
That’s why the Zer0Hunger platform is ideal. “It’ll help donors to contribute in confidence because they’ll know who the recipients are, who’s handling the funds, and everything’s transparent,” says Farizul.
To civil society, his appeal is for all to work together. “Data sharing is important,” he reiterates, adding: “It’s not a business; it’s about helping people so there shouldn’t be silos, or wars, or bad areas between civil society, the NGOs etc.”
Zer0Hunger, he points out, is a good example of collaborative partnership. Despite the team’s modest size — five cofounders and one employee at the moment — they’ve been able to enjoy commendable success.
Proudly, Farizul shares: “If I’m not mistaken, up to now, at least 5,000 to 10,000 families, through our Sabah Food Aid and our flood relief programmes, have benefitted. It’s all been done with other NGOs. We can’t do it alone.”
Collaboration is key in ensuring that the missions they undertake are effective and efficient. Says Farizul: “Without collaboration with the NGOs in Sabah for example, we couldn’t have done it. The funds were coming in from all over the peninsula and we needed somebody in Sabah to help identify which villages or families were in need. Sharing and collaboration are key.”
As the minutes tick and I realise just how long I’ve kept the affable gentleman from his appointment in Putrajaya, I signal to Farizul that I have a final question.
What drives you? Are you a cause person, I ask, as he chuckles good-naturedly from behind the steering wheel. “If I were to be retrospective about it, probably my age has something to do with it,” replies Farizul, expression sheepish.
Adding, he confides: “I’m 50 now and it’s time to give. I’ve been involved with public policies since I started my career at the A-G’s chamber; it’s always been about serving the country. Whatever decision or effort that I make, professionally, it’s about helping to develop the country.”
What drives him is coming up with good decisions to help people, confides Farizul. “So this Zer0Hunger is probably an extension of that. What’s even more fulfilling is that you actually see the fruits of your labour almost immediately.”