A Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Women Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE), has begun distribution food item to 2,000 vulnerable households in Kaduna State, under its COVID-19 Emergency Food Relief and Climate Resilience interventions.
Founder and Programme Director of WISE, Ms Olanike Olugboji, said in Kaduna on Wednesday that the interventions were designed to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and climate change on food security.
Olugboji said that the integrated interventions would address the issue of COVID-19 awareness, good sanitation and hygiene practices, hunger, climate change and food security through smart agriculture.
She said that the COVID-19 emergency food relief distribution officially marked the inauguration of the NGO’s Food Bank initiative called WISE Food Hub, being supported by Women Earth Alliance, California, U.S.A.
Olugboji identified the food items to include 120 bags of 50kg rice, 70 bags of beans, 200 cartons of pasta- 100 each of ‘spaghetti’ and ‘macaroni’, as well as 2,000 litres of liquid soap and facemasks.
She said that the items were being distributed through community-based women structure, adding that 10 community women leaders had been trained to serve as Food and Climate Resilience Crusaders for the project.
According to her, each of the women would reach out to 100 vulnerable households, internally displaced persons and persons living with disabilities in their communities across 10 local government areas.
She said that the selected women had been trained to mobilse and empower their communities to become more informed about COVID-19, climate change and smart agriculture to combat food shortage.
“After the distribution of the food items to the beneficiaries, the Food and Climate Resilience Crusaders will step down the training to women in communities.
“After the training, the women will join the crusaders in creating awareness around COVID-19 prevention, good hygiene practices and sustainable food production through smart agriculture while mitigating the impact of climate change.
“Households will be equipped with the needed skills to grow vegetables in their backyard as well as grow fruits and other food crops within available spaces in their homes and their immediate environment.
“Helping households to grow their own food is more sustainable than the usual one-off food distribution that will not guarantee consistent access to food by poor households,” the programme director said.
She explained that the COVID-19 emergency food relief and climate resilience initiative was an expansion of two earlier interventions where 180 households benefited.
Olugboji said that under the WISE Food Hub, the NGO would partner with individuals, corporate organisations, and restaurants to provide food to poor and vulnerable households.
“We are looking at how we can provide daily meals to poor people, by collecting food support from individuals, corporate organisations and restaurants, and channel them to those who need them,” she said.
One of the food and climate change crusaders, Mr Risikat Mohammed, Executive Director, Women with Disability Self Reliance Foundation, commended WISE for the initiative.
Mohammed told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the initiative would significantly support persons with disability household’s resilience to hunger, particularly during the festive season.
Also, Mrs Ladi Bonat, Coordinator, Women of Vision Development Initiative, told NAN that the intervention would create more community consciousness to take measures against COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and household’s food security.
Similarly, Mrs Asibi Hassan, Coordinator, Sabon Gari Peace Women Multipurpose Cooperative Society, said that the smart agriculture practices would provide food for the family and empower women financially.
