1. CSTL Sharing Meeting 2016 NUTRITION
Hannah Maisiri
Zimbabwe
Coastlands Hotel – Durban, South Africa
22-24 November 2016

2. SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME

3. Introduction Zimbabwe has a population of 14.15 million
Children constitute 35% of the population
5 933 Primary and Secondary schools
10 provinces – 8 mainly rural and 2 metropolitan
Nation facing serious drought

4. EFFECTS OF DROUGHT Reduced concentration at school
Increase in absenteeism and school drop outs
Reduced concentration at school
Decrease in pass rates
Children at high risk of abuse, especially sexual abuse in search of food.

5. EFFECTS OF DROUGHT
In February 2016 the Head of State declared the nation a state of disaster.
A Command Centre was put in place to manage the El Nino induced Drought Disaster
Grain is being distributed to all schools in the 8 rural provinces

6. Objectives of the programme
Improve enrolments, attendance and retention
Improve nutritional and health status of learners
Build a strong foundation for the implementation of a sustainable home grown school feeding programme

8. SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME
Programme targets the infant department i.e ECD A- Grade 2.
Allocation of grain is according to enrolments
Each school has a weekly balanced diet menu
Parents come to cook meals everyday
Schools provides relish

9. ACHIEVEMENTS
All children in the infant department are being fed on daily basis
Inrcease in enrolments, stability in attendance and retention rates
Policy guidelines have been developed on the implementation of the programme

10. Command agriculture – farmers being assisted by Government to produce more to help school and community
Multi –sectoral approach has brought national ownership of the programme

11. Parents in poor communities cannot afford relish
Challenges
Feeding of Infants only has an effect on other children who are in other grades
Children in Peri- urban or resettlements near metropolitan towns are disadvantaged
Parents in poor communities cannot afford relish
Reports of children being sent away because of not having money for relish

12. Opportunities/Emerging Issues
Emergence of the Home Grown Feeding Programme
Minister led a delegation to Brazil to learn how Brazil has managed to avert hunger in their country through the SFP
Regional meeting was held in Addis Ababa where a school Feeding Practitioners Network was set and Zimbabwe was appointed to host a workshop in SADC

14. Zimbabwe was tasked to adopt the Home Grown Programme and domesticate it to Zimbabwean situation.
Programme was launched and is being done in three phases infant, Junior and secondary level.
A task force comprising of several ministries and stakeholders is represented at each level
Schools encouraged to strengthen gardening, orchard and livestock keeping and expand feeding to other grades

16. School Garden

17. Strong collaboration by stakeholders
Implementation of the Agriculture, Sciences and Technical-Vocational learning areas in the curriculum
Boosting the nation’s agricultural sector
More gardens coming up in schools
Use of surplus food for income generation
Competition on projects amongst the schools

18. CONCLUSION
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s main focus is on building the capacity of every school to implement a suistanable, Home Grown Feeding Programme that contributes to the social protection and optimal learner performance while increasing economic benefits to local agricultural producers.

19. The Ministry with all its stakeholders are working together to make the Home Grown Feeding Programme a sustainable programme that will have a positive impact on human capital development for the nation

20. AS A NATION …. WE FEED

22. Thank you.