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

SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME

Introduction Zimbabwe has a population of 14.15 million Children constitute 35% of the population 5 933 Primary and 2 818 Secondary schools 10 provinces – 8 mainly rural and 2 metropolitan Nation facing serious drought

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

School Garden

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

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.

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

AS A NATION …. WE FEED

Thank you.