Searching for your next challenge? Sign up to the 40 Hour Famine and help raise funds to fight poverty in the process. Hope William-Smith reports

World Vision is celebrating forty years of the 40 Hour Famine this weekend, an initiative that has raised more than $200 million around the world.

More than half the schools in Australia have participated in fundraising for World Vision’s most well known project, through which more than two million people have benefited from food assistance over the past seven years alone.

The initiative is open to individuals, groups and organisations who are sponsored by the community to give up something important for 40 hours, raising funds and awareness to help alleviate world hunger. Although originally a food famine, participants are now able to give up furniture, technology or even talking.

This year, money raised through the 40 hour famine will be channelled into World Vision projects in Bangladesh, East Timor, Malawi, Nepal, Uganda and Swaziland. The funds will go towards providing fresh water services, nutrition training for parents, improved agricultural practices and new health services as well as an improved availability of them.

Belrose’s Emma Cooke has been participating in the 40 hour famine annually since 2009 and has raised an impressive $10,000. “I’ve often decided to do no talking, because I knew that would be a challenge for me,” she said.

“I also tend to challenge myself to do more than the forty hours. It’s important to me to help people out and it makes me feel great to even do a little bit.

You can give up a lot of different things like talking, furniture, electronics, social networking and more. Anything that you can think of really, maybe something that is a challenge for you.”

Hunger and malnutrition is the world’s number one health risk, yet the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by more than half since 1990, to 836 million people.

Registrations for the 40 hour famine are still open and signing up is as simple as visiting the website. Any amount of money raised can make a significant difference and help children break free from the cycle of poverty and hunger.

For more information, or to donate or register, visit www.40hourfamine.com.au