Seriti Institute feeds thousands of hungry households in marginalised communities during the Covid-19 pandemic
Seriti Institute is a development facilitation agency that works to develop marginalised communities. After COVID-19 struck in South Africa, we saw clearly that the most pressing need was for food relief and for alternative food provisioning systems. “People are hungry and as a development facilitation agent, we realised that no development could take place when the minimum basics of staying alive have not been met” says Juanita Pardesi, CEO of Seriti Institute.
This is how Seriti’s C19 Community Response was born. This programme aims to provide immediate food relief to the most vulnerable households, whilst we pave the way for more sustainable and resilient food systems post the immediate crisis.
Juanita mentions, “We pride ourselves on being an organisation that responds to the most pressing needs of the communities we serve. Since the start of lockdown, Seriti’s Community Response has provided food relief for over 7 000 people in the North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. Through our joint efforts with the C19 People’s Coalition community organising and food working groups, we facilitated the delivery of over 18 000 parcels in Gauteng.”
“This programme perfectly aligned with our community development strategy and was slightly adapted to incorporate food relief and food security as our main priority.” Since starting the programme, Seriti received several calls weekly from community leaders, faith-based organisations in remote and forgotten areas asking for help because food relief initiatives hadn’t reached them.
The number of people going without food is growing as the Covid-19 pandemic persists and Seriti want to feed as many hungry households as possible. Sustainability is a big part of every project they implement, C19 Community Response is no exception.
