ADVANCE AID TO INJECT $1.5M INTO THE KENYAN ECONOMY IN 2011
In partnership with aid agencies World Vision (WV) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and logistics provider Agility, Advance Aid International will put $1.5 million of new business into Kenyan companies in the course of 2011 – Advance Aid’s first full year of operation in the country.
This money will have been spent on sourcing non-food items for emergencies for WV and CRS. Some of these goods, originally acquired as pre-positioned stock, are now deployed in the Dadaab refugee camp, and both organisations are in the process of replenishing their pre-positioned stocks.
All of these goods will have been bought in Kenya and more than 80% by value will have been manufactured in the country. This not only supports local employment, but also helps to build wealth and resilience in the community. Replacing imports also cuts down on the carbon emissions that are generated when emergency relief goods have to be airlifted in from outside the continent of Africa.
“We are delighted with this first year of operation and with the commitment shown to Advance Aid’s ideals of pre-positioning and local procurement that has been shown by World Vision and Catholic Relief Services,” says David Dickie, Advance Aid’s chief executive. “We’ve also had fantastic support from Agility, as our logistics partner, and from the local, Kenyan, manufacturers who have produced goods of excellent quality.”
For WV, Advance Aid sourced 5,000 Emergency Kits – these kits contain a tarpaulin for shelter, a family size mosquito net, three blankets, a kitchen set, two buckets and a hygiene kit. The basic items that a family of five need to survive when they have lost everything in a disaster.
For CRS, Advance Aid has acquired more than 14,000 plastic jerry cans and the same number of tarpaulins. Two thirds of the jerry cans have already been moved to Dadaab.
Under the banner ‘Emergency Response From Africa, For Africa’, Advance Aid and its partners are promoting the ideals of Africa being able to play a part in servicing its own emergencies and reducing its reliance on goods brought in from other countries and continents.
“Redeploying into the local economy as much as possible of the massive sums spent on humanitarian assistance is a very efficient way of bringing together the development and humanitarian agendas,” says Dickie. “Every Kenyan who has a job is likely to be supporting an average of six dependents, so the more people we can get into work, or keep in work, the more resilient the country will be to disasters”.
