This week we welcomed CEO John Gathungu  and project manager Mwanzia Muasya from our partner organisation, Food Banking Kenya (FBK), for a week of strategic planning on the expansion of virtual food banking in Kenya.

FBK has been using FoodCloud’s food rescue platform, Foodiverse, for over a year, successfully redistributing the equivalent of over 3 million meals to people experiencing food insecurity in Kenya. Yes, 3 million meals!!

In partnership with the Global FoodBanking Network and with thanks to funding from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs through Irish Aid, the food bank is using Foodiverse, FoodCloud’s food donation platform, across several counties in Kenya to connect those with surplus food to local agencies and communities that can use it.

A year to the day since we met the Ambassador of Ireland to Kenya Caitriona Ingoldsby and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in Nairobi with John, Mwanzia and their team, once again this week we’ve felt the power of this connection between an Irish and a Kenyan non-profit working together to create a more sustainable food system. FBK has already redistributed over 775 tonnes of surplus food on Foodiverse, demonstrating the success of technology in redistributing food to vulnerable populations. The project has also had a significant environmental impact, with approximately 1,405 tonnes of CO₂-eq emissions saved from going to waste.

With Kenya losing over 5.2 million tonnes of food each year while millions face hunger, expanding virtual food banking is more urgent than ever. With the goal of redistributing 30 million meals by 2028, the insights gained from this visit will help drive the continued growth and impact of Foodiverse, demonstrating how a tech solution from FoodCloud, a small Irish nonprofit, can tackle food waste and hunger on a global scale.

We had such a productive week shaping strategies together to achieve even greater impact. Highlights included visiting major food donors  Lidl and Tesco, participating in tech workshops and planning sessions, visiting Irish Aid and the FoodCloud Kitchen. We even squeezed in some sightseeing! Thank you to Irish Aid and our partners in Lidl and Tesco for generously sharing your knowledge with our FBK counterparts during their trip. Thanks also to our volunteers from Sage for sharing insights about our corporate volunteering programme and of course to Janice, Karen and the team at FoodCloud Kitchen for dishing up a delicious surplus to spectacular lunch at Richmond Barracks before we said goodbye.

Safari njema nyumbani!