Cape Town. 2 November 2022. The Western Cape is the second province most affected by child hunger and malnutrition in South Africa according to research conducted. In response, Tiger Brands in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, launched Isondlo, a child nutrition programme, to support 10 000 children aged five and under, as well as their families.
Isondlo provides monthly nutritious food hampers to each child and their family. The contents of the hamper were carefully selected to address the nutritional needs of children aged 5 and under, the age group found to be worst affected by malnutrition and hunger related deaths. The programme includes a sustainability element with the provision of a once-off home garden vegetable starter kit designed to encourage beneficiaries to grow their own produce to sustain themselves in the long run.
‘As a food company that is over 100 years, we see it as a moral obligation to improve food security in our communities especially in vulnerable households, and through this, secure the future of our country’s children,” says Mary-Jane Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer at Tiger Brands.
Of the 10 000 child beneficiaries, more than 1 800 based in the most affected areas in parts of the Western Cape will receive a monthly food hamper over the next 9 months.
November marks the first distribution month and to kickoff the programme in the Western Cape, Tiger Brands, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and one of its grassroots implementing partners in the province, Early Learning Resource Centre based in Lansdowne, Cape Town, as well as students from the University of the Western Cape, got together this week to pack the first month’s food hamper allocation. More than 1 800 hampers were packed with 25 food items which will each feed a family of four to five people.
Image caption: From left: Mary-Jane Morifi, Tiger Brands Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer, Dr Stanley Maphosa, CEO Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and Tracy Fortune, CEO Early Learning Resource Unit (ELRU) during the packing of 1 800 food packages for children in the Western Cape
As an enabling partner, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund provides Tiger Brands access to qualifying beneficiaries with young children through their grassroots implementing partners across the country. The monthly food hampers are distributed through these NGOs who are well entrenched within each community. This also provides the opportunity for Isondlo to track the progress of each child beneficiary and to ensure that the programme is addressing the need.
Isondlo is aligned to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund’s Child Survival and Development and Sustainable Livelihoods Programme which address poverty challenges of communities where the child beneficiaries are located.
“The Fund is committed to ensuring that children under the age of five benefit from this fantastic initiative as part of our strategic focus to reduce child mortality and promote the health development and growth of children across the country. Furthermore, we are aware that children exist within family structures which will also benefit from growing their own produce,” says Dr Stanley Maphosa, CEO, Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
Number of beneficiaries per province per month:
|
Province |
Beneficiaries |
|
KwaZulu-Natal |
3 685 |
|
Western Cape |
1 835 |
|
Eastern Cape |
1 400 |
|
Gauteng |
1 130 |
|
Northern Cape |
600 |
|
North West |
500 |
|
Limpopo |
400 |
|
Mpumalanga |
250 |
|
Free State |
200 |
In addition to Isondlo, Tiger Brands distributes 35 000 food hampers per month through its existing food nutrition programmes, one of which is Plates4Days which benefits food insecure students at university campuses. The University of Western Cape is part of the Plates for Days University Nutrition programme which Tiger Brands has implemented at 8 partner universities across the country.
