Canadian Foodgrains Bank impact report - Summer 2025

An update on Canadian Foodgrains Bank projects

A woman from South Sudan named Martha squats in an open area next to a food distribution. She's holding food she recently received.

South Sudan Kenya — Aug 2025

menu_book Impact report

Food

August 01, 2025

A humanitarian crisis in South Sudan

Your gifts are providing emergency meals for thousands of displaced children

In South Sudan, extreme flooding, conflict and economic crisis have led to crop failures and worsening hunger. There has been a significant global humanitarian response to South Sudan’s food crisis, but food insecurity remains at acute levels. Over nine million people are in dire need of support — including five million children and over two million women.

For the near half-a-million people living in the Rubkona Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) Camp, there is no means of agricultural production or employment — making them entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance for survival.

With your generous support through MCC’s account at Canadian Foodgrains Bank, 822 families at the Rubkona IDP Camp received an additional three months of critical emergency food support including sorghum, beans, cooking oil and salt. Of these families, 620 also received corn soya blend supplements for infants and toddlers.

Banner photo caption: Martha collects her monthly food package at an IDP camp in South Sudan. Through MCC’s account at Canadian Foodgrains Bank, donors like you have ensured her two children have enough to eat. (MCC photo/Nelson Mandela)

A lifeline for struggling parents

A woman from South Sudan named Martha collects food from a distribution area. — You’ve helped provide the monthly package of sorghum, beans, cooking oil and salt for a small family like Martha’s, a young mother of two. She also receives a small amount of cash each month to offset the cost of milling the grain. (MCC photo/Semei Kakungulu)

Your support is providing food rations for children in South Sudan today

Martha lives in South Sudan’s Rubkona Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) Camp with her growing children. Ensuring that they have food to eat every day is an overwhelming task within the camp where there are no formal employment opportunities.

But your generous gift through MCC’s account at Canadian Foodgrains Bank has provided Martha’s family with monthly food rations, allowing her to feed her children.

Now that she has some food security, Martha has invested her time into tending a vegetable garden. Her garden is small and mighty, providing fresh produce for her family and a small surplus she can sell to others. With this income, Martha has purchased school supplies for her children.

The food assistance gave us life and hope. Now, I can see a brighter future for my children.

Martha

Rubkona IDP Camp South Sudan

Partner spotlight: The Episcopal Church of South Sudan

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan-South Sudanese Development and Relief Agency (ECSS-SSUDRA) is the relief and development arm of the Episcopal church. The organization was established in 1979 to respond to a sudden influx of Ugandan refugees into the area.

With a mandate to reduce poverty, hunger and effectively deliver lifesaving services, the organization has been helping people since then through sustainable, community-led programs. ECSS-SSUDRA has been a longstanding and trusted partner for MCC in delivering food packages and other critical assistance throughout South Sudan.

Climate-smart farming

Elizabeth Kimuyu of Kenya stands in her farm where she grows food for her family and to sell in the market. — Elizabeth Kimuyu is a single mom who runs a small farm in Nguumu village, Kenya. With your support, she has learned new climate-smart farming techniques to increase yields on her farm — providing more food for her family as well as generated income at the market.
(MCC photo/Rick Cober Bauman)

Kenyan farmers adapt with training and your support

In Makueni County, Kenya, 80% of the community depends on the rain to irrigate their crops. Makueni has been classified as arid to semi-arid land — making rain-dependent agriculture an increasingly risky and unreliable source of food and income.

With your support through MCC’s account at Canadian Foodgrains Bank partner Utooni Development Organization is diversifying and strengthening livelihoods through climate-resilient agriculture projects.
Three thousand households learned about new conservation agriculture techniques, resulting in:

2,491 kitchen gardens cultivated
659 tree nurseries established
131,359 tree seedlings potted
7,764 chicks hatched

The impact of these initiatives has been significant. By the end of the training, more than 60% of households now report having 10-12 months of sufficient food during the year, up from just three months at the start of the project.

Agriculture continues to play a vital role in Kenya’s rural economy. It employs more than 40% of the total population, including more than 70% of those who live in rural communities. Agriculture provides employment, income and food security needs for more than 80% of the population. (FAO, 2021)

Your impact around the world

With the support of donors like you, MCC is providing emergency food and
helping farmers earn more income and grow more food to feed their families.
Here are a few recent examples of your support at work:

Initiative: In Ninawa, Iraq, your support is opening doors to new, sustainable farming opportunities for farmers, such as beekeeping. Participants’ household income for the season was almost doubled as a result of this investment.

Partner: Zakho Small Villages Project

Initiative: With your help, farmers in Rwanda are implementing conservation agriculture techniques. Farmers are seeing doubledigit increases in yields of bean varieties and potatoes, even during long, dry spells of weather.

Partner: Peace and Development Network

Initiative: Your support helped farmers in rural Ethiopia with training and materials to rebuild more than 2,300m3 of waterways. These efforts will improve soil quality and yields, providing farmers with more crops in the years to come.

Partner: Migbare Senay Children and Family Support Organization

Initiative: Your generosity has helped improve food security for 2,100 families in rural Nepal. With tools and training, there has been a 40% increase in vegetable production. A better yield improves nutrition and income for families.

Partner: Group of Helping Hands

A donor's family legacy

Legacy donor, JoAnne Janzen, sits in a booth with mug in hand. — “I support MCC with all my heart,” reflects JoAnne Janzen. To honour the life-changing support her own mother received from MCC as a child, JoAnne has left MCC a gift in her will.

As a child, JoAnne Janzen’s mother was provided meals at an MCC soup kitchen in southern Russia (present-day Ukraine) in the 1920s. This personal family connection to MCC instilled a deep sense of gratitude in JoAnne and a commitment to support the organization.

To honour her family’s history, JoAnne has left a gift in her will for MCC. Through her thoughtful generosity, JoAnne will continue to make a difference beyond her lifetime, reaching people around the world with the same compassionate, practical help her mother received over a century ago.

Learn more about how you can leave MCC a gift in your will at mcc.org/legacy