Ambassador of Kenya appreciates CFC’s role in alleviating poverty
Kenya is a country where CFC has had a few successful scalable projects and Kenya highly appreciates the work of CFC over the years. Kenya also wishes to see CFC not only continues its good work in Kenya and the continent, also to significantly increase its investments, in both size and numbers, so that alleviation of poverty could be sustained. H.E. Ms. Margaret Shava, Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to the Netherlands observed this when she visited CFC recently.
Concurring with the CFC MD’s statement that the situation of poverty has aggravated in some parts of the developing world and thereby making achievement of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) far more challenging than it was anticipated before the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Kenyan Ambassador advised CFC to significantly reinvigorate its investments in the member countries.
Excellency Shava is seen with Managing Director Ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal at the Secretariat of the CFC. H.E. Ms. Margaret Shava came to visit CFC, for the first time, to know more about the activities of the CFC and its impact on the ground.
Ambassador Shava was accompanied by Mr. Nigel Mwaura, Legal Officer and Ms. Josephine Opili, Second Secretary/Trade Officer of the Embassy of Kenya. Ambassador Belal was accompanied by Ms. Annemarie den Tex, Legal Adviser to the Managing Director.
Following an introductory presentation on CFC, Ambassador Belal welcomed Ambassador Shava and shared the basics of the CFC’s structure and working process. Also shared insights on how innovations in agriculture, which, in his views, are in abundance in the Netherlands and in the region, are being used in the implementation of CFC’s projects. Ambassador Belal also shared with Ambassador Shava stories from CFC’s projects where new innovations have been incorporated to bring higher productivity. Ambassador Belal also elaborated on how a project led by a woman entrepreneur in Africa has been able to provide much-needed nutrition for children. The realization of nutrition security is perhaps a stark lesson of this pandemic that we all have been sadly going through. They also discussed other innovations that the CFC is either implementing or contemplating to implement in the near future. Highlighting the ongoing challenges following the enduing pandemic, war in Ukraine and challenges of climate change, Ambassador Belal shared the realities of developing world who suffers most of the vulnerabilities.
During the discussion, Ambassador Belal further informed Ambassador Shava of the approval of the recently concluded 33rd Governing Council to formulate the CIIF (Commodity Impact Investment Facility). The facility, which is now in the legal process, will be a public-private partnership fund to invest in commodity value chains in developing countries for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ambassador Belal assured to pursue more innovative outreaches in the days to come to make the services of CFC available to as many people as possible in the commodity-dependent developing world, with a heightened sense of innovations and creativity.
In response, Ambassador Shava, while expressed her satisfaction on the activities of the CFC, shown keen interest in the workings of the CFC and assured that she will do her best to bring more suitable project ideas from her country and the region as well as promoting the idea of impact and necessary investment required for such impacts, as best as she could.