Bersih and co relaunch MakanKongsi to feed the poor during total lockdown

Bersih, in partnership with The Good Kitchen and Engage, is relaunching the MakanKongsi campaign to help feed the poor during the total lockdown period which began on June 1 and is expected to last for at least two weeks.

This is a revival of a similar campaign during the first movement control order (MCO) last year which raised RM565,000 to assist some 51 NGOs as well as community activities to disburse food and basic necessities to communities that need them.

The latest initiative called Makan Kongsi 2.0 will be led by The Good Kitchen, a social enterprise and Engage, a human rights group.

Bersih will act as a partner to ensure transparency in the handling of funds.

"We aim to collect RM500,000 from now until the end of July in order to provide basic necessities to at least 30,000 individuals from marginalised groups such as the urban and rural poor, fishermen, Orang Asli, migrant workers and refugees in the country," they said in a joint statement.

Poor communities are the hardest hit during a total lockdown as many of them live a hand-to-mouth existence.

Many are unable to earn a living during the lockdown and have to rely on aid to survive.

Bersih, The Good Kitchen and Engage, in the joint statement, said the raised funds will be used to provide small grants to NGOs to help their targeted communities.

"This is so that they can focus on providing the basic necessities instead of worrying about fundraising," they said.

Details of the campaign can be found here.