Community-driven
Farmer groups and community structures lead planning and manage shared assets.
Try: “WASH”, “women's empowerment”, “Sierra Leone”, “climate resilience”.
Seasonal hunger and poor nutrition remain a reality for many rural households, driven by low yields, post-harvest losses and shocks such as drought and rising prices. The youngest children pay the highest price, in ways that can last a lifetime.
SDI strengthens food security from field to table: better production and storage, more diverse and nutrition-sensitive diets, and household strategies to withstand the lean season. We connect food security to livelihoods so that progress is durable.
Farmer groups and community structures drive the work, sharing knowledge, managing shared assets such as grain stores, and adapting practices to their own land and needs.
Practical, community-led activities that turn commitment into measurable change.
Growing more of the diverse foods that make diets healthier, not just fuller.
Reducing losses so more of every harvest reaches the table.
Practical gardens that improve diets and teach lasting habits.
Knowledge that helps families make the most of the food they grow and buy.
Access to quality seeds and inputs that raise yields sustainably.
Shared stores that steady food supply and prices across the lean season.
Additional income sources that cushion households against shocks.
The same principles guide every SDI programme, shaping how we deliver this one.
Farmer groups and community structures lead planning and manage shared assets.
We link how much food households have with how nourishing their diets are.
We work with agricultural services and local markets to sustain gains.
Storage, savings and diversification help households withstand lean seasons.
The farmers of Kholifa · Sierra Leone
In Kholifa, the problem was rarely the harvest itself but what happened after it. Much of each crop was lost to pests and damp before the lean season arrived, forcing families to sell low and buy high months later. Working with SDI, the farmers' group built a shared community store, learned improved drying and storage methods, and set simple rules for managing stock together. They paired this with kitchen gardens and nutrition sessions that widened what families ate. The change was quiet but decisive. Losses fell sharply, households carried more food and income through the hardest months, and the group began setting aside a reserve for the years when rains fail. The store belongs to Kholifa, run by a committee its own members elected, and the confidence to plan ahead has spread well beyond the harvest.
Rural households facing seasonal hunger and poor nutrition, with particular attention to young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Agriculture focuses on production; food security also addresses storage, nutrition, access and resilience so that families have enough good food year-round.
With local partners, prioritising areas with high food insecurity and strong community commitment to shared solutions.
Through nutrition-sensitive farming, kitchen gardens and education that diversify diets alongside raising yields.
Partners can fund stores, inputs or full programmes. Reach out through our contact page.
Climate-smart farming that lifts smallholder yields and protects the land.
View ProgrammeSavings groups, enterprise and training that put economic power in women's hands.
View ProgrammeCommunity-led adaptation that helps the most exposed places withstand a changing climate.
View ProgrammeFund a specific activity, support the whole programme, or partner with SDI to reach more communities. Every contribution is invested in results we measure and share.