Kampala — Vice President Speciosa Kazibwe has urged leaders to involve grassroots people in planning for their lives.

Kazibwe said Saturday that rural people may be poor but they have a lot to offer, as seen in the example of Hunger Project Uganda (HPU).

"There has been so much talk about empowerment of people at the grassroots," Kazibwe said. "Hunger Project has done this."

Kazibwe was presiding over the Hunger Project International's silver jubilee celebrations at Senge, Kalamba sub-county in Mpigi district. The event was telecast live via satellite and the crowd burst into a rapturous applause every time they saw their images on screen.

Kazibwe, who is also Africa's representative on the Hunger Project's Global Board, said the project was one of the few successful ones because it empowered women and rural people.

Addressing the world audience, Hunger Project International President Joan Holmes said at least 20,000 people die every day due to hunger-related causes.

Holmes said 'billions of foreign aid' had not done much to change the plight of poor people all over the world. She said people do not need charity but genuine partnership.

"People at the grassroots are the key change agents," Holmes said, adding that Hunger Project was working with these people for a sustainable end to hunger.

The Hunger Project, an integrated development NGO, has been operating in Uganda since 1999.

Country Director Sarah Kataike Ndoboli said the NGO hopes to start producing food at its epicentres, promote household food barns and undertake food processing.