13 Kenyan youths emerge winners in the UN World Food Programme Challenge
Kariuki Gatiba, a trader, arranges groceries at Nyeri Town Market on May 3, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The winners were selected from 27 finalists who made it to the top at the Regional Boot Camp and Pitching Competition which saw 99 participants battle it out
- Key aspects considered by the jury of experts in picking the winners include high-impact, innovative solutions led by youths that can transform food systems, reinforce their resilience to climate change as well as create employment for young people and women.
A total of 13 Kenyan youths have been crowned winners of this year’s National Youth Innovation Challenge through a newly launched program by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
The winners were selected from 27 finalists who made it to the top at the Regional Boot Camp and Pitching Competition which saw 99 participants battle it out in a highly contested competition that attracted 1,973 applications.
Among the 13 triumphant contestants announced on Friday, the six who clinched the Ideation Stage Innovations Award include Technophiles Research and Innovation Club, Gurar Youth Group, Candycream Dairies, Tusmo Farm, iPop Africa, and Empire Innovation.
Ajema Foods, Yarsi Foundation, Agri Innovation Hub, Kitirikamba Seed Multiplication, SwiftRiver Growers, Aadin Limited, and Greenmeal Feeds Limited bagged the Scale-up Innovations Award.
Key aspects considered by the jury of experts in picking the winners include high-impact, innovative solutions led by youths that can transform food systems, reinforce their resilience to climate change as well as create employment for young people and women.
WFP Innovation Head Naccarato Sartori said the successful youths will receive cash grants as direct investments towards improving and scaling their innovations.
“Besides the financial grant, the 13 innovations will undergo an incubation and acceleration programme allowing them to mature and bear greater influence in Kenya’s food security leveraging a WFP-supported network of innovation centres across the country,” stated Sartori.
Sartori expressed confidence that WFP and the United Nations will “offer support to Kenyan youths and entrepreneurs in the most remote locations by acting as a bridge and a de-risking factor for the private sector.”
The Vijana in Kilimobizz program which is funded by Canada’s Mastercard Foundation was launched earlier this year on May 15, 2023, through a partnership between WFP and E4Impact Kenya, an entrepreneurship firm.
The contest is aimed at empowering Kenyan youths in agribusiness and improving their access to employment within food systems in the country, as explained by the WFP’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Marcelline Gakobwa.
To ensure national coverage, an open application process was employed in the debut program that attracted contestants from the main regional blocks categorized as Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB), comprising Siaya, Bungoma, Migori, Busia, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Kakamega, and Siaya counties.
Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Trans Nzoia, Samburu, Baringo, and Uasin Gishu counties which make up the North Rift Economic Bloc (NOREB) while the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) includes Isiolo, Marsabit, Tana River, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera and counties.
The South-Eastern and Aberdares Region Economic Bloc category has Makueni, Meru, Nakuru, Narok, Nyandarua and Tharaka Nithi.
The Mastercard Foundation official, George Apaka, applauded the winners particularly those from Arid and Semi-Arid areas pointing out that their inventive ideas on agribusiness and technology could revolutionize agriculture in their respective regions and put a stop to incessant cases of malnutrition and food insecurity.
“We want to change the attitude that young people cannot do agriculture, to clear this notion that when we talk about agriculture, it is about taking a jembe and digging. Today none of you even showed me a jembe because when you talk about agriculture you must have a jembe, panga, slasher. Today you have confirmed that you can actually do agriculture using technology.”
“Many of you were actually bundling services to support farmers, some of you were very ambitious with the feeds, the seeds whether it is in potatoes or fish. Some are doing very interesting things in value addition.”
