Farmers Helping Farmers will celebrate two impactful projects at their 40th Annual BBQ fundraiser being held August 10, 2024 at the North Shore Community Centre in West Covehead, P.E.I.: the
Gender-Responsive One Health Project and funding for school garden expansions in Meru County, Kenya.
Farmers Helping Farmers is lead implementing partner for the Gender-Responsive One Health (GROH) Project, in partnership with Alinea International, a Canadian- based development consultancy. Funding for this four-year project, which will work in both Kenya and Ethiopia, was recently approved by Global Affairs Canada.
Farmers Helping Farmers will bring awareness of zoonoses, diseases such as rabies that can be transmitted between animals and humans, and how to reduce the risk of these diseases. The One Health approach, which recognizes the interdependence of human, animal and environmental health and the need for multidisciplinary approaches, will be employed throughout the project. Farmers Helping Farmers and Alinea will work collaboratively with human, animal and environmental health and education stakeholders in the County and address the risk of different zoonoses based on usual gender-roles in livestock handling.
Kenyan women farmers and their families will be empowered through improving dairy farming, poultry/egg raising, and tree nurseries, tree planting to improve environmental health in Meru County, and health promotion and gender equality activities at the community level.
Farmers Helping Farmers is also celebrating the Pindoff Foundation for three-years of funding to expand and improve the garden infrastructure at 23 Kenyan schools. Vegetables and staple crops harvested from school gardens go directly into the hot lunches for more than 5,700 students in Meru County every day.
Through these formal partnerships and the generosity of individual and group supporters, Farmers Helping Farmers is able to truly and positively impact the lives of Kenyan families today and set the stage for the adults of tomorrow to sustain their country and community.
Global Affairs Canada (GROH Project) and the Pindoff foundation are providing project funding for the next few years. That said, the needs in the project areas in Kenya far exceed the funding. Farmers Helping Farmers relies on the continued strong local support for the Holiday Campaign and Annual BBQ to help meet these needs.
The BBQ brings together the Farmers Helping Farmers community to share a meal and reflect on the bounty of this Island and our collective ability to be able to share with Kenyan farm families. Everyone is welcome.
Asante Sana, Thank you.
