This study identifies and explores the challenges faced by Local Women’s Co-operatives as service providers to the school feeding programmes in KwaZulu-Natal. It was motivated by the need to provide information, which could be used as a basis to ensure that the nutritional and educational objectives of the National School Nutritional Programme could co-exist with local women’s economic empowerment. A review of literature will demonstrate that, within the developmental framework, school feeding programmes are a valuable strategy and that there are diverse views as to whether co-operatives should be the preferred institutional model. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Graduation date: 1943

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar as estratégias de inserção dos agricultores familiares no Programa de Alimentação Escolar (PAE) de Capitão Leônidas Marques - PR. Para tal, foi realizada uma pesquisa com 19 agricultores familiares, visando caracterizar quem são os agricultores que acessaram o PAE do município entre 2010-2012; identificar se a adesão do agricultor familiar a esse mercado institucional promoveu mudanças e adaptações no processo produtivo para se adequar as normas do PAE; evidenciar os interesses que conduzem os agricultores familiares ao Programa e como esses conseguem atender as demandas e, com isso, intensificam a relação com o mercado. Constatou-se que, os agricultores entrevistados estão organizados de forma individual e contam com apoio da gestão do Programa no município para enfrentar as adequações às normas e ao processo burocrático que envolve o acesso ao PAE. Adaptaram-se as necessidades da logística de entrega e a organização produtiva de acordo com o proposto pelo funcionamento do Programa. Por conseguinte, são agricultores que mantém particularidades enquanto um formato social que não se define apenas pelas relações com o mercado, porque a relação terra, trabalho e família contem um patrimônio que é material, mas também sociocultural e está presente nas estratégias de inserção desses fornecedores na alimentação escolar. Esses agricultores familiares criam estratégias no sentido de dinamizar a produção contando com as condições necessárias e disponíveis para desempenhar seu trabalho, como o espaço para plantar e a mão de obra necessária para garantir renda familiar suficiente para sua reprodução. Evidenciou-se que os interesses que conduzem os entrevistados a acessarem o PAE estão relacionados à venda garantida com bons preços, agregação de valor ao seu produto com possibilidade de abertura a outros mercados e o reconhecimento social do agricultor familiar como fornecedor de alimentos de qualidade. Portanto, os agricultores entrevistados são motivados pelo desejo de continuar como fornecedores individuais devido à facilidade de negociação, garantia de preço, venda direta, agilidade no processo de venda e recebimento, além de aprovação do modelo de compra da agricultura familiar para o PAE. São atores sociais que demonstraram ser capazes de atenderem as demandas impostas pelas regras deste mercado, criando suas próprias estratégias de permanência nos mercados institucionais. / This current study aimed to analyze the strategies of insertion of family farmers in School Feeding Program (PAE) of Capitão Leonidas Marques - PR. To this end, a survey of 19 farmers was conducted. We sought to further to characterize whom are farmers who accessed the PAE of the county from 2010-2012, identifying the membership of the family farmer to that promoted institutional market changes and adaptations in the production process to suit the standards of PAE; highlight the concerns that lead farmers familiar with the program and how these can meet the demands and thereby intensify the relationship with the market. It was found that respondents farmers are organized individually and have the support of program management in the municipality to address the adjustments to the rules and the bureaucratic process involving access to PAE. Adapted to the needs of the logistics of delivery and productive organization according to the proposed operation of the program. Consequently, farmers are keeping particularities as a social form that is not defined only for relations with the market, because the relationship land, labor and family contains a heritage that is material, but also sociocultural and is present in the strategies of integration of these suppliers in school. These farmers create strategies to boost production relying on the necessary and available to perform your job, as the space to plant and manpower required to ensure sufficient reproduction household income conditions. Showed that the interests that lead respondents to access the PAE are related to guaranteed sale with good prices, adding value to your product with the possibility of opening other markets and social recognition of the family farmer as a supplier of quality food. Therefore, the farmers interviewed are motivated by the desire to continue as individual suppliers due to the ease of trading, price guarantee, direct selling, efficient sales and receiving process, and approval of purchase model of family farming for PAE. Are social actors who demonstrated able to meet the demands imposed by the rules of the market, create their own strategies for staying in institutional markets.

This dissertation is about the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) in South Africa. This Programme was introduced by government in 1994 with the aim of alleviating poverty; unemployment and improving learning capacity of children. Specifically, it is intended to help poor children and to empower poverty-stricken communities, particularly in the rural areas across all the nine provinces. The focus of this study is on the investigation of effectiveness and efficient management of the Programme in the Eastern Cape Province, with specific reference to Mhlontlo District. Mhlontlo district is one of the predominantly rural areas in the province of the Eastern Cape, a remote area characterized by high levels of poverty and unemployment, and low levels of infrastructural developments. Surrounding Schools in the area are also affected by these problems. Learners at these schools are from poor families. It is for this reason that this scheme becomes important as it is most needed and, to effectively and efficiently realise its intended objectives, it must be properly managed. The main theme of the study revolves around effective and efficient service delivery that must be taken as the first priority in the management of NSNP. Factors that contribute to efficiency and effectiveness must be taken into consideration by all stakeholders and are outlined as follows: The aims in this study is to assess the effectiveness of management of the National School Nutrition Programme at Mhlontlo district in the eastern Cape, to identity shortcomings in the management of the Programme and to suggest possible remedies to improve the management of the Programme to effective service delivery. Against the background of the problem statement, the following questions were posited. How can the management of the National School Nutrition Programme with specific reference to Mhlontlo district be enhanced to ensure that its intended objectives are realized? What effect will improved management have on service delivery in the National School Nutrition Programme? And how will adherence to the Batho Pele Principles improve service delivery in schools with regard to the National School Nutrition Programme? The target population in this study was the learners, teachers and community of Schools around Mhlontlo District whose children are being catered for at school as respondents. Statistics of learners who are beneficiaries of this programme were obtained from surrounding Schools. The percentage of the response to the questions led to the results that services are not delivered as effectively as expected. The study concluded by recommendations of what national and provincial department of Education are required to do together with the school, service providers and the community in order to improve service delivery in schools that participate in the NSNP. Finally, the NSNP is for the deprived citizens of South Africa. The onus is on the community of Mhlontlo District, service providers, teachers and education authorities responsible for the NSNP to work together to make the programme effective for advancing the development of young people.

The thesis focuses on the Primary School Nutrition Programme (PSNP), particularly in the Eastern Cape, as a government nutrition and education project, and its failure to achieve its stated goals. The programme experienced problems almost as soon as it was introduced. The press reported incidents of fraud and maladministration and the programme was halted and restarted numerous times. The thesis seeks to offer some insight as to why the government was unable to reach its stated objectives in the implementation phase of the programme. State theory informs the thesis in an attempt to further explain why governments often seem unable to attain their intended goals. The thesis provides an alternative to government development programmes, arguing that NGOs are better equipped to deal with the particular problems that people on the ground experience when dealing with issues like nutritional vulnerability. Operation Hunger provides an excellent case study for how development of this nature ought to occur. The essential argument of the thesis is that there is an inherent tension between what a government's stated intentions is and what, it, in reality, intends to gain from such programmes. It is the contention of this thesis that the Government of National Unity embarked on the PSNP, not to ensure nutritional development for its own sake, but rather to curry favour with its constituents. Operation Hunger, and other organisations like it, provide relief to vulnerable communities with no hidden agenda in mind. Their mandate is solely that they provide assistance. The thesis argues, then, that NGOs have a role in domestic and international politics, that they can make up for or do better, or at least well, things that governments struggle to do.

The Department of Basic Education classifies the NSNP as one of the critical omponents of the government's Programme of Action, which was specifically assigned the responsibility of addressing learners' ability to learn by providing them with nutritious meals. The success of the programme may therefore contribute towards the country's realisation of the Millennium Development Goals which include the reduction of mortality and the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty by 2015 as well as achieving universal primary education. The aim of the National School Nutrition Programme seeks to promote sustainable food production initiatives in all School Nutrition Schools in order to develop skills. It also aims to enhance learning capacity of a learner through feeding and to promote nutrition education in order to improve healthy eating and lifestyles amongst communities. This study seeks to assess the current status in administering the NSNP in selected schools in Peddie, Eastern Cape. Due to the extensive nature of the geographical area of Peddie, this study focused exclusively on 25 schools. For the purpose of this study, a quantitative approach was employed through a questionnaire constructed to obtain the perceptions of the sample group. The responses from the statements in the questionnaire were analysed by a Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University registered statistician. In the last chapter a number of recommendations are stated to aid in improving the current administering status of the National School Nutrition Programme.

Health and education are two important aspects of human capital and form the basis of an individual’s economic productivity in any country. In South Africa, hunger and malnutrition continue to hamper the health, quality of life and survival of school going children such that some children drop- out of school due to these socio-economic problems (Tomlinson,2007:2). The introduction of previous School Feeding Schemes to address the question of hunger and poverty within schools was mostly left in the 1980’s and 1990’s to charitable and Non-Governmental Organizations such as Operation Hunger and ITHUBA (Swartz, 2009:38). According to Perlman (1993:14) South Africa’s track record of child deaths was more than double that of any other country of similar income levels worldwide, due to the apartheid government deserting its responsibility of feeding the nation. The White Paper for the Transformation of Health System (1997: 125) had also stated that improving nutrition within the rural schools is an imperative and a sound economic investment which is politically rewarding. Nelson Mandela (1996:8) once said “Our children are our nation’s future. Prospects for development are seriously undermined by the kind of large scale deprivation of children that South Africa has experienced. On the other hand investing in their health, nutrition and education not only improves our children’s quality of life – the gains reverberate into the future generations. ” From April 1994, through the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) the Government of National Unity under the leadership of Dr. Nelson Mandela identified the area of school feeding as a policy prime concern in redressing the imbalances and inequities of the past governments. Another initiative to redress the inequities of the past, was through the programme of Poverty Reduction which manifested itself in lack of income, lack of education and skills, lack of access to services and amenities and lack of ownership of land and housing (Public Service Commission, 2007.

The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) is a poverty alleviation strategy, which was introduced in 1994 by the Government of South Africa as part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). Studies of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), show that hunger, nutrition, and poverty, are strongly correlated. The same studies note that in the world as a whole, hunger impacts negatively on Millennium Development Goals, namely universal primary education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, management of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, and environmental stability. Hunger, specifically, has been shown to contribute to reduced school attendance, impaired cognitive capacity, high child mortality rates, high maternal death rates, increased migratory labour that increases the spread of HIV, and the unsustainable use of forest lands and resources (South African Department of Education, 2004: 3).” The National School Nutrition Programme aims at providing meals to mostly the needy learners, who come from poor families. Good food provides energy for the brain. The meals that are provided at schools are, therefore, intended to give energy for mental and physical activities for the body and brain to function, and to make learners alert and receptive during lessons (South African Province of the Eastern Cape Department of Education, 2008: 2). Currently, meals in South African Schools are provided to all learners in Quintile 1, 2 and 3 public primary schools from Grades R to 7. The programme was extended to Quintile 1 secondary schools in April 2009. All Quintile 2 and 3 public secondary schools will be included in 2010 and 2011 respectively (South African Eastern Cape Province Department of Education, 2008: 3). To collect information for research purposes, the researcher used a qualitative approach. This approach, which is used by the researcher, seeks to identify the impediments that pose challenges to effective and efficient implementation of the NSNP in the King William’s Town District of the Department of Education in Province of the Eastern Cape. The sample covers two rural schools participating in the NSNP in the King William’s Town District, namely Fort Murray Junior and Senior Primary School, and Qongqotha Junior and Senior Primary School. In each school, the principal, the chairperson of the School Governing Body, the teacher in charge of the NSNP, and Grade 7 learners, formed part of the sample of the study. Added to these participants have been the Service Provider and the District Coordinator of the NSNP in the King William’s Town District. The researcher chose these two schools that are locally based (within a 10km radius from the researcher’s place of residence) for convenience purposes, in terms of cutting down on travelling costs. The empirical findings were analysed and interpreted, and in presenting the findings, special reference to the research question is made, namely: “What are the challenges that impede the successful implementation of the National School Nutrition Programme in the King William’s Town District of the Eastern Cape Department of Education?” The recommendations reflected heavily on the purpose of the study, namely, that the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape has not managed the NSNP efficiently and effectively. The findings of this study reflect that there are still challenges that continue to plague the NSNP after seven years of the inception of the programme by Department of Education. The empirical findings of this study have revealed that the challenges confronting the implementation of the NSNP could be attributed to poor governance by the Department of Education officials. Some pockets of excellence of the NSNP are noted in the study. Recommendations are made to mitigate the problem situation.

The purpose of this study is to follow the W P A lunch program in the Williams High School District of Brown County, Texas during the school year 1941-1942, and the effect of this program upon the height, weight, attendance and grades of the children participating.

The purpose of this study is to show what foods were made available to the children in the year 1943-1944; what foods the children chose from the available foods; what nutritive value the chosen foods possessed; and what the chosen lunches cost the children.