our mission
ARK partners and co-invests alongside farmers and fisherfolk in the developing world, starting in the Philippines, who want to secure their food, health, kids’ schooling and a self- sustaining future all on their own.
ARK has two programs that solve hunger and food security: ARK Lunch – a P2.50 (or 5 cent USD) self-sustaining school lunch, and ARK Feed Back – a neighborhood-based, community wide vegetable exchange that solves hunger and creates food security in just 5 weeks.
In the second half of 2021, we will be piloting a venture-based solution called ARKitaKita – a gathering and series of workshops to upskill and arm new entrepreneurs in communities that have graduated from ARK Feed Back with basic tools to help them start or grow their ventures on their own or with ARK and its partners.
born + bred in the countryside
ARK was founded in 2009 in Capiz province in the Philippines. Over a decade later, ARK has served close to a million lunches, helped 5,000 kids return to school and provided scholarships to more than 200 kids to advance to high school and college.
We believe that the solution lies next to the problem and the people with the best solutions are those who have been living with the problem. Over 80% of the ARK volunteer core is made up of parents, teachers and farmers who live in rural areas. Together, we created Feed Back, a response to Covid, to provide a permanent solution to hunger in rural communities.
WHAT WE DO
(AND WHAT WE DON'T!)
we co-invest
(we don't do handouts)
A solution is only sustainable when the community can fund it and implement it on their own. Our 50/50 partnership starts with believing in our community and their agency. Followed by our championship and guidance, and if needed the start-up funding to catalyze or create a path for the execution of their solution.
we solve from within
(we don't believe in the benefactor-beneficiary model)
What differentiates ARK is that we believe in our partners and their agency and with them we create markets. This contrasts to the “traditional” relationship model of benefactor-beneficiary where the beneficiary is not involved in their destiny and where the solution is an “asset” drop or a service for specific timeframe that does not consider how the community will sustain the impact without the benefactor’s involvement.
create backyard gardens + new markets
(we are not a feeding or seed program)
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we exit, fast
(we don't support never-ending systems of dependency)
We measure and track our impact. Iterate. Create an exit faster than you can say, "Thanks, ARK!"