Kenya’s latest social innovation: Mobile “Bonga Points” help families access food amid Covid-19
Due to movement restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 virus, a significant number of Kenyans now largely stay indoors. One of its effects has been a surge in internet subscriptions, as more people utilize the web for work, schooling, and entertainment.
Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telco, recorded a 70% jump in data usage between March and April. It is also one of the most innovative companies in the country, and is behind the successful M-Pesa mobile money transfer system. Another of its key innovations is ‘Bonga Points’, which are loyalty tokens awarded to subscribers for data usage.
As data subscriptions increase, many subscribers are accumulating thousands of tokens on their phones. In the face of Covid-19, the telco has made these points redeemable into cash to purchase food and other essentials. This is meant to help vulnerable households access food in the face of massive job cuts.
And this is how the Bonga Points are finding their way to the shopping baskets of families in Kenya’s informal Majengo settlements.
Reaching families in Majengo
Almost every major town in Kenya and Tanzania has an old estate named Majengo. The Kiswahili name literally translates to ‘buildings’, but a more accurate description would be ‘settlements’. During the 20th century, these estates served as among the first settlements people from rural areas moved into as the region urbanized. Many of the new urban dwellers worked as daily wage earners in the informal sector, in industries, as well as domestic staff in the wealthier parts of town.
Although times have changed, the socio-economic demography of residents in a Majengo has not changed much. All Majengos in Kenya are slums, including those in the capital, Nairobi, and other major cities and towns, such as Nyeri and Mombasa. The majority of the residents depend on daily wages to feed their families, and any slight disruption to incomes significantly limits their access to food and other essentials.
Covid-19 has been one such disruptor.
Confined to their homes, and with a nightly curfew in place, both skilled and unskilled workers have nowhere to earn a living. Many places of work, including beauty salons, offices, clubs, hotels, places of worship, schools, and construction sites, have either shut down or down-scaled labor.
Some households have fired their domestic staff as employers minimize outside contact. As they join the masses of unemployed, these people are now unable to feed their families. Worse still, they know not how long the situation will last, as Covid-19 cases continue to rise.
Such is the fate of residents living in Majengo, Kitui County.
When Patricia Muli read “Look At Us”, a recent article by by Jackson Biko, it galvanized her into action. The story described the fate of a woman who you may typically come across in any estate named Majengo. Reading the story helps one understand what drove her to start an initiative that provides food for such women, via Safaricom Bonga Points.
A day after reading the article, Patricia reached out to her friend Antonia Musonga, an experienced community organizer. She shared her idea by asking, “Beyond us redeeming our own points for food, why don’t we identify needy households and rally our friends and friends’ friends to do the send donations?” Antonia bought into it, and together they started a Bonga Points food drive. I heard about their project through a high school friend’s WhatsApp post and soon after organized a Zoom call.
Antonia was available, and she explained how they are going about it:
Hi Antonia, what is the name of your project?
We actually have no formal name for it. I guess the most important thing at the moment is to ensure that families which have lost livelihoods due to Covid-19 get access to food.
Why Majengo?
When Patricia presented the idea to me, Majengo was the first place that popped in my mind. My family lives near the area, and so I am familiar with its residents as well as some of the problems they are facing during this difficult time. It was the most natural place to start, you could say charity starts at home. However, we have also just started doing the same in Nanyuki (in the Mount Kenya region).
Isn’t it the government which should be feeding them?
One of my personal beliefs is that access to food is an inalienable human right. I also believe that even as we continue holding the government to account, people themselves have solutions to most of the problems facing our communities.
What does the project entail?
Safaricom recently made Bonga Points redeemable into cash as part of their commitment towards fighting Covid-19. We decided to take advantage of this opportunity by tapping into our networks. The food drive receives Bonga Points as well as cash donations from well-wishers.
We rely on word of mouth and sharing of our posters across social media to spread the message. The Bonga Points are redeemed into cash which, alongside the donated money, is used to purchase food for the affected families.
How do you handle the logistics?
The initiative is slightly more than a week old and we have been relying on my family to coordinate activities. Patricia and I collect the Bonga Points and cash donations. My siblings Charity, Dennis and Pacific make the purchases and deliver food. Our Aunty Catherine handles the operations in Nanyuki. We also rely on community leaders who help us in locating the neediest of families and in doing distribution.
Which food items do you provide?
Each family receives 2 Kgs of maize flour, 2 Kgs of baking flour, 1 Kg of rice, a liter of cooking oil, 1 kilogram of salt, and a kilo of sugar.
What has been your impact so far?
So far we have received 44,166 Bonga Points, which is equivalent to 14,722 KES (approximately 140 USD). We have also received 5,000 KES in cash donations and another 5,000 in form of a direct payment to a shop’s paybill number. The bulk of these donations were used in purchasing food distributed to 32 families. 20 are in Majengo while 12 live in Nturukuma slum in Nanyuki, Nakuru County. We used 500 KES to purchase masks for those doing distribution and also to facilitate their transport.
How do you ensure that there is accountability?
We keep all the records of all the donations received as well as payments made to outlets. We also intend to do regular reports to summarize outcomes, and have so far done one for the first week. All these records are made public. It also helps that we are a small team and keep one another accountable.
Any parting shots?
Our target is to continuously feed as many needy families as possible throughout this period. However, we have no solid sustainability plan since we solely depend on donations. Many families, including our own, are definitely struggling right now. However, we can still share even the little we have with the neediest among us. Our lines are open and I would encourage anyone willing to send whatever they can as well as help us spread the message.
We say our goodbyes, and Antonia removes her headphones. She adjusts her grey turban, which had been slightly skewed by the device. I remove my earphones too, and close my notebook. I wave at her, and she reciprocates. While clicking on the “Leave Meeting” button, I reflect on the gift of digital technologies.
They allow us to hold meetings, even when thousands of kilometers apart. They also allow one to write, read and share inspiring stories. Furthermore, they enable us to send donations, in form of Bonga Points or cash transfers. These donations may be the only difference between a family going to bed hungry or getting a meal which will help them stay healthy in these difficult and infectious times.
Written by Atula Owade
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative under TMG ThinkTank for Sustainability’s SEWOH Lab project (https://www.tmg-thinktank.com/sewoh-lab). It aims at providing a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Also follow @CovidFoodFuture, our Video Diaries From Nairobi, and @TMG_think on Twitter. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
