This article has as main goal to examine a set of actions of civil society organizations in Brazil, in order to deal with the question of hunger in the country. The article is divided in two parts; the first one will discuss the social question in Brazil taking into consideration two assertives: Brazil is an "economicist" country and it guarantees, constitutionally, social rights without, nevertheless, guaranteeing social policies. In the second part of the article, a set of NGOs, which have developed projects to fight hunger during the last decade of the Twentieth Century, will be examined.
civil society; third sector; NGOs; voluntarism; social rights