Tenderstem^® teams up with Action Against Hunger to support hundreds of families facing food poverty

Social supermarkets in the UK

In the UK, we have been supporting Action Against Hunger’s Social Supermarkets, which give low-income households the opportunity to pay a small donation for a week’s worth of highly nutritious groceries every week, to keep their family from going hungry.

From donating delicious Tenderstem® to over 1,200 people through community pantries, to delivering cookery classes to help families develop healthy and low-cost meals, we have boosted the use of food pantries in key target areas and significantly improved the consumption of nutritious and varied diets.

Tackling food poverty in Kenya

Our partnership has also delivered a nine-month Climate Smart Kitchen Gardening project in the West Pokot County of Kenya, supporting local communities and building their resilience against recurrent shocks, such as erratic rainfall, floods, and drought, which lead to significant food insecurity.

We have donated funds, seeds and equipment to enable 100 women to establish a kitchen garden plot. The group also received training on a range of topics, including agricultural practices and agronomy, vegetable production, and business and financial skills, to enable them to feed their families and sell their produce at local markets.

With over 700 people benefitting, the Climate Smart Kitchen Gardening project has left a legacy on the community, improving food security, reducing unemployment and increasing income levels. Households growing vegetables has increased from 13.5% to 59.9% and vegetable consumption has risen to 86.1%.

Moving forwards

As the partnership enters its second year, we have even bigger ambitions to eliminate hunger by giving local communities access to fresh, healthy produce.

Not only will we be continuing our support of social supermarkets across the UK, but we will also be working with Action Against Hunger to expand the West Pokot Climate Smart Kitchen Gardening Project.

Phase two of the Climate Smart Kitchen Gardening project will support up to 15 mother-to-mother support groups, focusing on improving maternal, infant, and young child feeding practices by supporting groups of pregnant and nursing mothers. The groups will be trained to grow nutritious foods and engage in income-generating activities, leading to better food security and livelihoods for 720 community members in West Pokot.

We look forward to strengthening our relationship with Action Against Hunger and working together on projects that leave a lasting impact on the communities most impacted by food poverty around the world.

Dave Samuels, EMEA Brand Manager, Tenderstem® Europe, said: “Our partnership with Action Against Hunger is all about delivering projects that tackle food poverty head-on, leaving a lasting impact on the communities we work with. Over the past 12 months, we have done exactly that, from funding social supermarkets across the UK and Spain, to building climate-smart kitchen gardens in Kenya. Not only have we helped hundreds of families access healthy, fresh produce, but we have also given them the tools to build a sustainable income and future through fresh produce.

“As we move into our second year of the partnership, we have even bigger ambitions but our mission remains the same – to eliminate hunger by giving local communities access to fresh, healthy produce.”

Jemimah Khamadi, Action Against Hunger Programme Lead in Kenya, added: “Together with Tenderstem®, we have been able to support some of the most vulnerable communities in Kenya, equipping them with the tools and knowledge to run their own kitchen garden. This means that even in drought, the people of West Pokot County have access to fresh, healthy produce to feed their families. We are delighted to enter the second year of our partnership and look forward to extending our vital work in Kenya this year.”