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Equity Group and the family of Dr James Mwangi have donated Kes 120 million (USD 1 million) to address the plight of Kenyans affected by the current drought in the country. The amount is composed of Kes 60 million from Equity Group and another Kes 60 million from the family of Dr James Mwangi.
Speaking at a consultative meeting presided over by His Excellency President H.E William Ruto to discuss the current drought situation in the country, Dr James Mwangi, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO said, “The drought issue is a recurrent problem and we commit to supporting the Government in its effort to find a lasting solution. On behalf of my family and Equity Bank on a matching basis through Equity Group Foundation (EGF), we will give Kes 120 million (USD 1 million dollars).
Further, Equity Group will support the Government and the affected communities to adopt new farming techniques including irrigation and climate-smart agriculture and through its social impact arm, Equity Group Foundation.
The Group will roll out financial literacy programmes to help the affected communities most of whom are pastoralists to view livestock farming from an agro-economy perspective where livestock can be harvested before drought and re-stocked when the environment improves.
Additionally, to find a sustainable solution to cushion the communities from the ravages of drought, Equity will work with the Government and other stakeholders in setting up infrastructure for abattoirs to facilitate the harvesting and processing of mature livestock.
“We hope that part of the support towards addressing the drought situation beyond purchasing of food, will also look into providing permanent water and pasture solutions and to support farmers to re-stock,’’ added Dr Mwangi.
Equity Group has been partnering with the Government and various development partners to rollout various social impact initiatives that have been implemented over the years through the Bank’s infrastructure including the facilitation of social safety net cash transfer payments to the less fortunate in society under programmes such as the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) and the Inua Jamii Programme which supports Orphans and Vulnerable Children, Persons with Severe Disability and Older Persons.
Other interventions include the Kenya Cereal Enhancement Program (KCEP) and refugee-focused social protection programs. The partnership objectives include transitioning the beneficiaries to become self-reliant and resilient through capacity building.
The Kes 120 million donation by Equity Bank and the family of Dr. Mwangi comes 3 years after Equity Group contributed Kes 1.3 billion (USD 13 Million) towards the fight to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
The investment was made up of contributions by Mastercard Foundation which contributed Kes 700 million, Equity Bank Kes 300 million, and the family of Dr James Mwangi Kes 300 million.
The funds has been and continues to be utilized towards the provision of PPEs for frontline healthcare workers in 116 government and faith-based hospitals including facilitation of psychosocial and case management training for over 50,000 health care workers.
