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School food projects feeds over 2000 children in Tanzania
mgungani
Children at Mgungani School, Tanzania, who are a part of our school farming project in Tanzania

06/10/2011

For school children in Tanzania lack of food which can eventually lead to malnutrition is a major obstacle to their learning and access to education.

Our school farming project in the Moshi rural district in Kilimanjaro region works alongside six schools to produce crops which are used to provide school meals to over 2000 pupils.

Before this partnership schools were unable to provide children with meals which had a damaging effect on their health, nutrition and educational achievements. Measurements obtained from the schools health centres have found that an average of 20% of children are underfed in this specific region.


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Rose and Comforti at one of the schools working with the school farming project.
Another major barrier to accessing and participating in education is not only direct costs such as uniforms and books but also the potential income lost from a child’s employment or contribution to household income through working on the family farm. Misplaced priorities and a low value for education are also accountable for poor enrolment.

However research shows that school attendance rates increase when food is provided. Over the years, school meals have been used to encourage school enrolment, yet unfortunately as soon as these programmes end, the school dropout rate increases.

Childreach International’s discussions with local schools and communities have identified a solution to this problem. We support households to farm an acre of crop themselves by providing supplies such as seeds and fertilisers.

In return a pre-determined percentage of the yield is contributed to the local school to provide meals for pupils.

By December 2011 this project aims to:

- raise pupils’ academic performance from 45% to 70%
- raise pupil’s school attendance from 70% to 90%
- reduce the percentage of underfed children from 20% to 10%

School twinning

As part of our My School My Voice programme, Childreach International is twinning schools up and down the UK with schools in Tanzania. Children in the UK can become active agents of change by fundraising and promoting the partnership, and seeing how their work benefits the children in their partner schools.

See how we have already connected schools and get your school involved in My School My Voice.