Feeding hope: How corporate SA can change a child’s life

A hungry child cannot learn, but a nourished one can thrive. Sue Wildish, CEO of the Lunchbox Fund, explains how the organisation, with help from corporate partners, feeds South Africa’s most vulnerable children every day, giving them the strength to attend school and the hope for a better life.

The scale of hunger in South Africa and its effects on children and education are staggering. Almost one in three children under the age of five is stunted. A total of 80% of children enter primary school without adequate early childhood education. And 81% will not be able to read for meaning by grade 4, and around half will drop out of school before matric. These statistics are symptoms of a national emergency.

In the face of such an enormous crisis, it can be hard to know where to start in the search for solutions. But there are meaningful interventions by the public and private sectors which can be made to tackle the crisis head-on, like helping to ensure that children who attend school can have access to the nutrition needed to learn effectively.

Sue Wildish is the CEO of the Lunchbox Fund. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

The Lunchbox Fund, which feeds 150 000 of the most vulnerable children, many whom are too young to benefit from the national school feeding scheme, knows that feeding a child each day drastically increases their attendance and punctuality at school.

Investing in children’s well-being

Children who are more likely to attend school are, obviously, more likely to finish school, have better employment prospects, and avoid the high chance of spending a lifetime unemployed.

This means school feeding programmes that encourage school attendance and prevent malnourishment are perhaps the most cost-effective investment South Africa can make.

In fact, the World Bank estimates that for every $1 spent on reducing stunting and improving early childhood nutrition within South Africa, the return is $53. It calculates that when the country invests in young children’s formative years to ensure proper physical and intellectual development, it will receive some of the best returns on investment.

Equally striking is who makes this possible. Corporate South Africa, often painted incorrectly as self-interested or exploitative, is one of the main funders of the Lunchbox Fund. These companies realise that their future workforce is sitting, hungry, in under-resourced classrooms, and change is possible.

This is the same corporate South Africa so often vilified as merely profit-driven with no care or regard for broader society.

More than a meal

Take large food retailers, for example. They are often viewed through the narrow lens of profit margins and market share. But behind the scenes, players like South Africa’s largest retailer, the Shoprite Group, along with other corporate sponsors, have been committing to large-scale actions that address hunger.

The group invests consistently and significantly in the Lunchbox Fund, a feeding scheme that started feeding 800 children in 2005 and now nourishes thousands of children with porridge or lunch meals across South Africa, Lesotho, and Mozambique.

It is very easy to be sceptical about corporate social responsibility, but the reality is that for 150 000 children, the bowl of nutritionally balanced, vitamin and mineral-enriched porridge or protein-rich lunch is not just a meal, it’s a reason to attend school, and the first step to a chance at a better future.

At the Lunchbox Fund, each meal is designed for optimal nutrition and simplicity: it offers a variety of meals, either a protein-rich porridge with fats and carbohydrates that can be easily prepared even in shacks where some creches are held, or a pantry of provisions with which to prepare a full lunch It is also actively encouraged that schools use savings from food costs to improve learning materials, infrastructure or to pay employees’ salaries.

The fund also ensures accountability through unannounced school visits four times a year to check if children are being fed. Failure to adhere to the requirements leads to removal from the programme. Accountability is key.

Empower small-scale farmers to end SA’s hunger crisis now

Partnerships, sponsorships are crucial

Another aspect that is key aspect is ensuring the Lunchbox Fund reaches children in every geography. The forgotten children of Lusikisiki and other deep rural areas need food and educational intervention too. But some of the deepest poverty is in urban informal settlements in large cities, where single mothers have no community support.

Corporate sponsors, however, are doing what they can. They are key funders in ensuring that schools like creches, that do not benefit from government school feeding schemes, are supported with a daily meal for each child.

And yet, the narrative around corporate South Africa remains mostly cynical. Many are quick to criticise companies for what they don’t do, but slow to recognise what they do, and do consistently. Luckily, long-term commitment, transparency, and measurable impact are challenging this set narrative.

Tragically, there is a waiting list of 40 000 children requesting to join the Lunchbox Fund for a daily meal, so severe is the scale of hunger. While many South Africans are aware of hunger and poverty, more needs to be done to address them, and more needs to be spoken about them.

Ultimately, economic growth and employment are really needed to ensure all children have enough to eat every day.

In the meantime, tackling the problem requires partnerships between the government, the private sector, and ordinary citizens and companies. In other words, a whole-of-society approach is required to end hunger, realising that offering children a meal is a start towards improving their development, education, and their ability to one day contribute meaningfully to the economy.

Sue Wildish is the CEO of the Lunchbox Fund. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Food For Mzansi.