Chelsea in Kenya

This week I parked myself at the FSD office to work on my grant. FSD offers a grants program for interns that stay for over three months to apply to. They have a small pool of funds and the board reviews and approves those they deem worthy. Although I have lots of experience working with grants through my fundraising work, I’ve never actually written one so it was good practice doing the research, collecting all of the data, and organizing the budget.

I requested funding for a training for the women’s group leaders on how to prepare balanced, nutritious foods. High levels of poverty in this area of Western Province in Kenya result in high rates of malnutrition. Given the limited number of resources and funds, many women and children do not get the nutrient-rich food they need; they are maintaining themselves on ugali which doesn’t have a lot of nutritional value. Training these women on the preparation of nutrient-rich affordable meals will help reduce the malnutrition rates in the area while staying within their budgetary constraints, usually less than $1 per day. The women’s group leaders will then be able to go to their individual groups and train them on this. Hopefully making it a sustainable program.