Going far with friends: Ripple Effect and our road to #ZeroHunger

At the innocent foundation we dream of a world where no one goes hungry. We know it’s a big mission and we’re just one small foundation, but we’re committed to it. Having great partners helps. We’ve been working with Ripple Effect for more than 17 years. As our foundation’s partnerships go, we’re old pals.  

We got together in 2005 to provide emergency relief in Lesotho. We loved working together on that project so in 2010 we did it all again in Uganda. Together, those two projects helped over 16,000 people.  

Since then, we’ve partnered on a whole bunch of different projects. In 2011, we supported communities in western Kenya to take their dairy farming to the next level. Then, in 2014, we supported a project that changed the way over 1,000 Ethiopian farmers grow and market their food. In 2016, we funded them to take a deep look at the raw deal many young people are getting in rural Ethiopia.  

Recently, Ripple Effect worked with farmers to trial Push-Pull Technology, an all-natural way for smallholder farmers to control pests with just the plants in their fields. And the best thing about these pest-busting plants? When they’re done with them, they can chop them up and feed them to their livestock.  

Because we’ve come to know each other so well over the years, we’ve been able to support Ripple Effect with more than just funds. We’ve been able to connect them to staff volunteers from our donor innocent drinks with the right skills to help Ripple Effect get things done. Innocent’s Head of Sustainability and the Procurement Lead have been able to help. So has the Company Nutritionist. This year Tim Dorsett—the UK Culture and Office Manager, and a master yarn-spinner—will be joining the Ripple Effect team in Kenya for a participatory story-telling project, speaking with farmers about how they’re working with Ripple Effect to change their fields, their homes and their futures. 

Our friendship with Ripple Effect grew step by step, starting when they were still called Send a Cow (and doing exactly that: sending cows to farmers in Africa). 34 years since they set up shop, Ripple Effect has supported over 2 million people to learn more, grow more and earn more on their farms. And they have ambitions to work with another 5 million by 2030.  

We know we’ve got a long way to go to make our own dream of a world without hunger come true, but we know we’d be nowhere at all without partners like Ripple Effect. We’re committed to this work and so grateful to the people and organisations we partner with who deliver such amazing work with communities across the global south. So, to celebrate World Food Day, we want to say a huge great big thank you to our dear friends at Ripple Effect. 

Follow their amazing work on their website on Twitter @RippleEffectNGO or Linkedin. Or better yet, get in touch with us to talk more about how you or your organisation can support their work too.  

*Photo Credit: Send a Cow 2013. Pictured: Grace Amongin on her farm.