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-- Donate Now Help increase a farming family's income today Toggle navigation Why Irrigation Africa’s Challenges The Solution Lessons Learned How We Work Our Tools Our Model Where We Work Innovations Hub Impact By the Numbers Impact Monitoring Methodology Success Stories About Us Our Mission Our Vision How It All Started Leadership & Staff Remembering Nick Moon Our Annual Reports, Financials, 990s & Newsletters Contact Us Get Involved Donate The Enterprise Council The Evergreen Circle Other Ways To Give Our Supporters and Partners Partner With Us Watch New Film: A Seed of Maize Watch: KickStart at Global Citizen Festival 2018 Careers Donate X COVID-19 Response and Mobilization We are rapidly adapting our operations to fight the growing hunger crisis as a result of this pandemic. KickStart’s field teams are committed to ensuring the safe delivery of our irrigation pumps to households across the continent, and to building the core capacities for food security and resilience, now, and for the future. Read More Help Now Through Our Respond Fund poverty to prosperity in just one season Watch Video KickStart’s mission is to lift millions of people in Africa out of poverty, quickly, cost-effectively and sustainably by enabling them to make more money. Africa's Challenge Africa is a continent made up of farmers that cannot feed themselves despite the fact that it holds more than 1/4 of the world’s arable land. This challenge contributes to rampant poverty, malnutrition in children and adults, and unfortunate yet avoidable health and education outcomes. The Solution KickStart designs and promotes very low-cost, high quality irrigation pumps, enabling poor farmers to make their own rain, significantly increasing yields, incomes, and providing a real path out of poverty. Learn More Small-scale farmers start profitable businesses growing and selling high-value crops throughout the year, and lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Our key purpose is to help people make enough money to lift their family out of poverty. Our Tools Our Model Where We Work Innovations Hub -- -- -- Our Impact 352,028 Pumps Sold 1,300,000 People out of Poverty People out of Poverty We define “out of poverty” as the ability to meet basic needs like food, clothing, education and also the ability to save for the future. On average, each family has five members living on their farm who are significantly impacted by the new income. Total people out of poverty is calculated as total businesses created x 5 people per family. 260,000 Businesses Created Businesses Created Approximately 75% of pumps sold are actively being used to create a profitable family farming business. This is a conservative approximate figure that has been verified in numerous follow-up surveys. Total businesses created is calculated as ~75% of pumps sold. 13 million People Fed Each Year People Fed Each Year On average, each business grows enough fruits and vegetables to feed their own family as well as 9 other families (~50 people) all year round. So, people fed is calculated as businesses created x 50. 240,000 Jobs Created Jobs Created On average, each family business creates 0.9 jobs on their farm. One job is defined as 150 days per year x 5 hours of work per day. Jobs created is calculated as businesses created x 0.9. $220 million Annual New Farm Profits and Wages Annual New Farm Profits and Wages On average, each family business generates $850 per year in new net incomes and new wages for their employees. This figure is calculated as the number of new businesses created x $850. Our Impact Aqwalina suffered the mistreatment of her abusive husband for thirteen years. One day, he left her and their young son, Dennis, with nothing but the land under their feet. Read her story Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Fighting Poverty The #1 need of the poor is a way to make more money Everyone today lives in a cash economy. When you have cash, you can pay for food, water, shelter, medicine, education and other basic necessities. If you don’t, you can’t. It is that simple. People need a sustainable way to earn more money. Poor people are not victims waiting to be rescued To define people by their conditions rather than their qualities is dehumanizing. When you look past the poverty, you see abilities, resources, and desires. The poor are extremely hardworking and entrepreneurial – they must be just to survive. They don’t want or need to be rescued. They want an opportunity to create a better life for their families. Giveaways can create dependency Many aid programs that give things away offer temporary alleviation at best. Giveaways make sense in response to a humanitarian crisis, but if not done carefully, they create dependency and undermine the local economy. Selling things creates a greater sense of ownership and provides a more sustainable and lasting solution. It’s all about the supply chain The greatest invention will have little impact if it does not get to the people who need it. This is especially true when inventing for the developing world. A private sector profit-making supply chain is the most cost-effective and self-sustaining way of delivering goods and services to the poor. High quantity AND high quality The world's poor deserve high-quality, long-lasting tools. We may have grown accustomed to products with short life spans; but the poor need reliable tools that can be easily maintained and repaired with readily available replacement parts. Individual ownership Africa is littered with broken-down and abandoned communally-owned assets. It's often a case of the "tragedy of the commons." If "everyone" owns something, then in reality no one owns it—leaving no one responsible for its care and maintenance. Individual ownership is the key to sustainable economic development. Previous Next Join us to change the way the world fights poverty. LIFT A FAMILY OUT OF POVERTY NOW Learn More GET INVOLVED Learn More Stay Informed Please leave this field empty. - USA 1385 Mission St, Suite 300 San Francisco, CA 94103 USA +1-415-346-4820 info@kickstart.org KickStart - Kenya P.O. Box 64142 Nairobi 00620 Kenya +254-20-3740176 kickstart@kickstart.org KickStart - Zambia Plot No. 9696 Chudleigh, Off Munali Rd P O Box 10 Private Bag E891, Manda Hill Lusaka Zambia +260-211-295-690 kickstart.zm@kickstart.org KickStart - Nigeria Infinite Grace Place, #4, Oyetubo Street off Obafemi Awolowo Way Ikeja Lagos, Nigeria +234 803 3996797 +234 806 5938427 1385 Mission St, Suite 300 San Francisco, CA 94103 USA +1-415-346-4820 info@kickstart.org KickStartInternational KickStart_Intl kickstart_international Channel News, Awards & Media © 2016. All rights reserved. Donor Privacy Policy...