Deogratias Niyizonkiza
Founder & CEO, Village Health Works
A Burundi non-governmental organization has begun producing its own lifesaving peanut porridge, with support from a Canadian partner.
In the tiny and mountainous East African country of Burundi, more than half of children under five suffer from malnutrition. Doctors and nurses treat them with a shelf-stable peanut paste, fortified with powdered milk, soy, sugar, oil, and vitamins. A child who eats three packets a day can go from wasting to thriving in just six to eight weeks.
For years, USAID has produced this lifesaving food in Georgia and delivered it to Village Health Works (VHW) in Burundi. But when the Trump administration abruptly ended USAID in February, staff members at VHW were faced with the challenge of stretching what was on-hand, choosing which children would get fed first.
It was a wake-up call. VHW realized that rather than depend on imported therapeutic food, it could make its own product from locally sourced ingredients.
Bringing innovation home
Alongside Hope, the relief and development agency of the Anglican Church of Canada, was keen to support VHW’s innovative idea. It not only solves the supply chain issue, but also creates jobs and income for the community. Much of Alongside Hope’s funding will support the cost of training local people to run and own a social enterprise business.
Farmers have begun planting peanuts, and a space for the new production facility on the VHW campus has been allocated.
“I cannot tell you how excited I am to be building this collaboration with Alongside Hope,” says Deogratias Niyizonkiza, VHW’s founder and CEO. “Whenever there’s a problem, it can be an opportunity to come up with a lasting solution. Relying on what’s produced locally and what’s grown locally is just the way it’s supposed to be done.”
You can treat malnutrition in Burundi. Your gift of $85 supplies a six-week course of peanut paste for one child. Click the button below and make a world of difference today.
