USAID Launches Fund for SMEs and Farmers in Kenya ('Drip' Projects)

USAID Launches Fund for SMEs and Farmers in Kenya ('Drip' Projects) is sponsored by USAID Kenya. USAID has approved three catalytic projects to stimulate the growth of Kenya's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and strengthen the agriculture sector.

The page promoting funding for entrepreneurs internships was created in February 2020, and refers to non-existent projects #### The page promoting funding for entrepreneurs was created in February 2020, and refers to non-existent projects The post claims that USAID has launched a new fund named ‘Drip’, to provide training and direct funding to small and medium enterprises in Kenya.

The post further states that Kenya is the first country in Africa to benefit from the project, and that it is similar to the ‘Roar’ project that has contributed to job creation in South America and Asia. In order to benefit from the fund, applicants need to be involved in business or farming within Kenya, and the post contains a link to a Google site with a form to apply.

The project site states that the total investment being made available is US $1,900,000 to finance ‘capacity-building of emerging firms’ and the development of a ‘sustainable knowledge and learning platform’, while $1,000,000 would be spent on ‘increasing the affordability, accessibility and incentives for fertilizer use among smallholder farmers in Kenya’, with the end goal being to create over 10,000 jobs for women and youths.

However, the Facebook page with this information was created on 28 February, 2020. While there is no legitimate USAID Africa page, there are verified USAID Kenya and USAID East Africa, where this information would appear if it was legitimate. The content on the project page also appears to have been copied directly from the USAID website.

Screenshot of legitimate USAID website Screenshot of the fake USAID website Drip and Roar, the two programmes mentioned on the Facebook post, also do not show up on the legitimate USAID site. The advert was posted on February 28, the same day that the USAID Africa Facebook page was created. _Page transparency on the fake USAID Africa page_ _Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook?

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