MALNUTRITION PREVENTION PROGRAM
Our work expanded in 2022 when local authorities appealed to us to provide emergency food basics for some the of villages' students' families and community members suffering from acute hunger.
The area where we operate includes a full range of climates – from desert-like topography to forests near the entrance to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Since 2022, weather extremes have continued to impact the local population dependent on agriculture and livestock. The most vulnerable families (most often without a father) cannot feed their children even one meal a day.
UPDATE 2025:
Working with school, nutrition and social service officers, EdPowerment now manages a food assistance program for the families of those students identified as suffering from severe malnutrition.
We supply semi-annual food distributions consisting of maize, beans, cooking oil and sugar to roughly 54 families, many belonging to the Maasai pastoralist community. While some of these families reside in lower-lying areas where rainwater from the highlands has caused floods, others live in arid surroundings. Both situations result in the loss of animals and crops and even displacement.
Only through our help can these young people have the strength and focus to learn.
WOMEN’S SMALL BUSINESS INITIATIVE
Today our education mission extends to women, some from the Maasai culture, seeking ways to earn money not linked to favorable weather conditions. Most recently, these women, already strained by untenable burdens to provide for their families amid social or cultural restrictions, face even more dire challenges because of drought.
Working through community officers, EdPowerment has committed to helping two specific groups from different villages to develop the production and local marketing of two soap products: liquid and bar. Our mentorship encompasses financial and organizational guidance, product training through SIDO (Small Industries Development Organization), Moshi, and ongoing monitoring and supervision. Independent sustainability of these projects is the goal… with the hope of expansion to include other products.
