Nivea maker to give Sh32m for food security

Nivea manufacturer, Beiersdorf East Africa, will donate Sh32 million over the next 12 months towards combating hunger in Kenya amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the company has said. 

The donation is part of a regional partnership with the Global Food Banking Network (GFN) and local affiliate Food Banking Kenya (FBK) and is being carried out under Beiersdorf‘s “Care Beyond Skin” corporate social responsibility initiative.

The partnership seeks to provide food to vulnerable members of the community such as underprivileged women and children in organised groups, school children and inhabitants of informal settlements. This will reduce the number of street families and enhance nutritional delivery to the needy.

“Our funding of Food Banking Kenya serves a strategic purpose linked to the ongoing fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which Beiersdorf is active in globally,” said Beiersdorf General Manager, Central, East and West Africa Mathieu Levasseur in a statement.

“With the disruption this pandemic is causing to the economy, vulnerable members of society are at risk.”

Beiersdorf will fund a school feeding programme, agriculture recovery and capacity building of service delivery to beneficiaries.

This is expected to enable FBK upscale the feeding programme, improve the nutritional component in schools and increase retention of school-going children which will ultimately improve learning.

Among the beneficiaries is a home for girls rescued from female genital mutilation in rural Kenya as well as organisations assisting refugees in Garissa County.

Under the agriculture recovery programme, FBK will help to reduce food wastage by recovering good edible food that would otherwise have gone to waste, the statement said.

“By way of this grant, FBK will expand its agricultural recovery programme in Nairobi and other regions of Kenya, ensuring that more people have access to a nutritious and diverse supply of food,” it said.

“FBK will prioritise service delivery to the most vulnerable populations. Addressing food wastage also reduces carbon footprint which ultimately helps in conservation of the environment.”