1. Home
2. News
3. CoE Articles

The South African Constitution provides for the progressive right to food security, and guarantees children’s right to nutrition without qualification. A number of social protection and health policies – including school feeding programmes – provide tools through which to ensure these rights are realised. However, the impact of policy recommendations remains uncertain.

Researchers, policymakers and civil society organisations recently met in Cape Town to evaluate the impact of the national school feeding programmes. Organised by the SA-UK Bilateral SARChI Chair in Social Protection for Food Security, Professor Stephen Devereux, attendees at the two-day event also included school principals, teachers, and regional representatives from Namibia and Lesotho.

The aims of the workshop were to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), and to share regional experiences in an attempt to uncover strategies for effective design and implementation in South Africa and beyond. The objectives of the NSNP are to improve the health and nutritional status of school-going children (food security), and to improve learners’ school attendance and performance (education). In 2004 the emphasis shifted, from improving the nutritional status of learners to “reduce hunger and alleviate the effect of malnutrition on their learning capacity”.

Although the programme provides daily meals to more than 9 million children – more than 75% of all learners – in over 20,000 public schools across South Africa, the lack of clarity in policy objectives may be hampering the impact and of the programme.

Policy coordination, evaluation and monitoring

Bureaucratic red tape emerged as a key issue affecting the success of school feeding programmes. “Bureaucracy combined with a lack of cross sectorial political interventions to promote partnerships at national and provincial departments results in poor coordination and qualitative partnerships between various level and sectors of government,” explained Tristan Gorgens of the Western Cape Government’s Policy and Strategy Unit, Department of the Premier.

Presenters highlighted the need for impact evaluation mechanisms through which to conduct adequate cost-benefit analysis of policy implementation. This is because despite the amount of money spent on school feeding programmes in South Africa, very few impact assessments of these programmes are conducted.

Food quality, procurement and capacity important for school feeding

While there is agreement about the importance of feeding, the quality and nutritional value of the food served by school feeding programmes is of equal importance. A balanced diet is among the key components for child development and good education outcomes.

Participation by officials from Lesotho and Namibia added an international and regional dimension to the debate. Matseliso Morahanye from the Ministry of Education and Training in Lesotho said that “more than 300 000 children benefited from Lesotho’s National School Feeding Programme.” However, capacity restrictions limit government’s ability to reach more children. Although South Africa fares comparatively better, there were notable similarities in some of the challenges faced.

Out of the three elements of South Africa’s NSNP programme – feeding, nutrition education and school gardens – feeding, receives the largest share of the budget. This imbalance should be addressed if the programme is to have the desired impact.

An often-overlooked objective of school feeding programmes is the need to support the development of school gardens as a key component of school feeding programmes. Presenting on sustainable food production at schools, PhD student Grace Nkomo said “community gardens present sustainable options to support school feeding in South Africa.”

Although the school feeding programme reaches many, there is no standardised approach to procurement practices across provinces – this is problematic. If well supported and developed, school gardens can offer a source of employment for members of the community and could help provide fresh vegetables for school meals.

Therefore more research is needed to explore in more detail; the impact of the programme, uncover what innovative practices are used (at local or provincial levels) to provide healthy and nutritious meals, and to see how to maximise the impact of the programme across all none provinces.

Nevertheless, it is hoped that the regional input will help deepen South-South cooperation to optimise policy impact.