Food for Work is an Emergency Relief Program
From time to time, there are droughts of such extreme proportions that many people’s lives are endangered due to lack of water and food. When this happens, SASOL Foundation’s Food for Work Program provides Kenyans with food in exchange for their work in participation with ongoing water and food security projects for partnering communities.
Due to the famine that struck almost every part of Kenya in 2008-2009, SASOL requested support from the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and their partner Canadian FoodGrains Bank (CFGB). Their emergency response to hunger supported 7,500 beneficiaries in lower Yatta district in Kitui Country during that time. It supported farmer groups and other vulnerable groups while attending to their daily household and on-farm activities. The target beneficiaries were the groups working with SASOL’s main food security project at the time. The intervention programme started in August, 2011 and ended February, 2012.
SASOL strives to build the capacity of the farmers in Kitui County so that when severe droughts hit, they are confident and capable in their own abilities to sustain themselves and their families. The Food for Work program is only implemented in times of extreme need.