Ambassador Jacek Bazański visits the Mukuru kwa Njenga informal settlement in Nairobi

29.01.2021

On January 27, 2021, Ambassador Jacek Bazański, at the invitation of the Kenya Office of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), visited Mukuru kwa Njenga - an informal settlement located on the outskirts of Nairobi, inhabited by a community of around 120 000 people. It is one of several such places in the capital of Kenya, whose inhabitants received food support financed by Polish Aid in 2020.

Visit of the Ambassador of Poland in Mukuru kwa Njenga

Polish contribution in the amount of nearly 117 000 USD, summed up with the funds donated to the same project by Finland, Sweden and the United States, allowed the WFP to implement two projects in the informal settlements in the capital of Kenya: direct cash transfers to most needy families, as well as nutrition support for children up to 5 years of age suffering from malnutrition, pregnant and lactating women and the elderly. Within both of these projects, the WFP has reached over a quarter of a million beneficiaries.

In Mukuru kwa Njenga the Ambassador met with people who benefited from the cash transfers and nutrition support co-financed by the Polish Aid last year and had the opportunity to discuss the impact of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic on the socioeconomic situation of their families.

In June 2020 the Government of the Republic of Poland has decided to provide a voluntary contribution to the budget of the UN World Food Programme, Kenya Office, in an amount of 470 537 PLN (which is approximately 117 000 USD) to help in the fight with COVID-19 pandemic, especially related to growing food insecurity in the refugee camps of Kakuma, Kalobeyeyi and Dadaab.

The above mentioned contribution added to the 400 000 USD that Poland contributed to the budget of WFP Kenya in 2018 and around 200 000 USD in 2019 respectively. Poland’s activities aim at complementing and supporting the efforts of the Government of the Republic of Kenya towards accomplishing one of the priorities of the Big Four Agenda, namely the target to achieve 100% national food and nutrition security.

This support is also part of Team Europe’s wider collective efforts to help Kenya tackle the coronavirus pandemic. The contribution of Poland added to the amount of over 21 000 000 EUR already provided by the European Union and its Member States to fight with food insecurity in Kenya at a time of crisis due to COVID-19.

To read more about WFP’s COVID-19 Emergency Response in the informal urban settlements in Nairobi, please refer to this press release.