As the world continues to work towards zero hunger, good health, and well-being, the Sterling One Foundation has thrown its weight behind Community Pot, a social impact project focused on tackling infant malnutrition by providing healthy and sustainable diets.
The project, which aims to feed at least 1,000 children every month with healthy and nutritious meals received support from Sterling One Foundation for its February outreach in Ajegunle.
According to statistics, an estimated 2 million Nigerian children suffer from acute malnutrition, which contributes to under-five mortality and stunted growth, ranking the country, second highest in terms of stunted-growth children.
Launched in 2022 as an initiative of Whole Eats Africa, a fitness and wellness initiative, and Sterling Bank Plc, Community Pot’s goal is to reduce the cases of malnutrition across Nigerian communities, which often affects the physical and mental abilities of children faced with the challenge.
In discussing the Ajegunle outreach, Oluwakemi Jeje, the founder of Community Pot, revealed that the initiative has identified and targeted communities with malnourished children and devised plans to not only feed them but also train and support them to become healthier.
“We understand the far-reaching effects of malnutrition in children, especially in underserved communities like this one,” she says, “which is why this is more than just an outreach for us, but an investment in the physical and cognitive development of the children here.”
The organisation provides mostly organic protein meals, which have been shown to increase body metabolism and improve overall health.
While commenting on the impact of the outreach, Sterling One Foundation’s CEO, Olapeju Ibekwe, highlighted the opportunity it provided to interact with some of the children and their parents, and how important that touchpoint and the opportunity for mentorship and guidance it provides, could become throughout their lives.
Community Pot’s key beneficiaries are children between six months to five years old.