Project Background
Many families in rural Cambodia depend on farming for their livelihoods, however the region is susceptible to erratic weather events like floods or droughts. When crops fail due to these events, it can mean that families don't have enough food to eat and children go to school hungry. The adverse affects of this hunger can mean that children stay home or are unable to focus on schoolwork; causing them to fall behind or drop out of school all together.
The project seeks to address this issue by providing food and training to effected areas in order to reduce the impact food shortage can have on these children and their families.
Project Details
The School Vegetable Garden Program has been successfully implemented in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) across four provinces in Cambodia; Siem Reap, Kompong Thom, Battambang and Oddar Meanchey. The program included the direct distribution of food and meals to those in need, as well as capacity building and preventative initiatives; health and nutrition training, safe food storage, prevention of malnutrition and establishment of vegetable gardens
Project Outcomes
The project has managed to reach out to 1016 primary schools in the key regions, supporting a total of 244,640 students. Specific outcomes achieved by the program include:
- 150,593 students directly benefiting from the school feeding program, ensuring they receive at least one nutritious meal a day
- 14,717 students from poor families selected to take home food rations
- 3,001 children council representatives trained on their roles and responsibilities in ensuring the sustainability of the program
- 1,767 teachers trained in good health and nutrition, as well as how to identify and prevent malnutrition
- 615 school vegetable gardens established with seed support
- 153 training sessions on food commodities management - how to safely store and ration food
Measuring Success
The project has detailed monitoring and evaluation systems in place which enable it to track participants and measure the programs success against very detailed markers.
For example, even where schools provided breakfast it was reported that 683 students out of 2,379 were not eating it. Further investigation found that for 34% of these it was because they forgot to bring a plate. Additionally, only 1766 students out of 4017 reported they regularly washed their hands with soap before eating.
By tracking and continuing to focus on increased awareness and training to address these markers, the organisers can improve the quality and effectiveness of program implementation in the future.
What next?
The project will continue into 2016 and, due to its success, is being looked at by the Government of Cambodia as a model they want to replicate throughout the country.
Can I visit this project?
Yes.
Background
For children, the effects of prolonged hunger and malnutrition are devastating, stunting their physical and mental development.
Poor harvests, inappropriate farming methods, limited access to credit, food-price hikes – these are just some of the things that can put regular, nutritious meals beyond the means of poor families. Plan’s challenge is to work with families to overcome these obstacles and ensure children's health and well-being.
Many families in rural Cambodia depend on farming for their livelihoods, which is susceptible to erratic weather events such as floods and droughts. This means that when crops fail, families often do not have enough food to eat and children go to school hungry. Sometimes, children from poor families stay home from school or are even forced to drop out altogether because they feel sick from hunger and are unable to concentrate on their schoolwork. Another reason children drop out of school is to work in times of financial hardship to help their families earn extra money.
Objectives / Outcomes
This project is being implemented in 447 primary schools in Siem Reap in partnership with the World Food Program (WFP) and the Department of Education, Youth and Sport in Cambodia.
Daily meals for students
The overarching objective of the program is to ensure that the children receive at least one nutritious, decent meal a day. This is implemented through various activities, including providing school breakfast, providing students with take-home rations and providing cash scholarships to particularly vulnerable families.
School gardens
Another key component for ensuring nutritious meals are available at schools, centers around building students and teachers understanding of what food items are included in such meals and teaching them how to grow or procure the necessary items.
As part of the project Plan is helping to build 594 school gardens and support 428 existing gardens through the provision of seeds and gardening supplies. The most common vegetables planted are morning glory and Chinese kale. School cooks are able to use these vegetables in the morning meals.
Plan is working to train 1,188 school support committee members and 594 teachers on vegetable growing and how to connect the children to plant vegetable. The children then take those skills and often create home vegetable gardens to help improve their nutrition and family food security.
As the proverb goes, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Here we are ensuring the children don’t go hungry and meeting their immediate nutrition needs, but also ensuring that they learn new skills on how to grow nutritious food.
How was it this funded?
Thanks to hundreds of tiny donations from these online businesses and their customers.
- World Nomads USA
- World Nomads Canada
- www.WorldNomads.com
- ***World Nomads UK
- ***Temando.com
- World Nomads Australia
- World Nomads NZ
Put simply, we’re the charity
for girls’ equality.
We tackle the root causes of
poverty, support communities through crises, campaign for gender equality, and
help governments do what’s right for children and particularly for girls. We
are a secular organisation with no religious or political affiliations.We believe a better world is
possible. An equal world; a world where all children can live happy and healthy
lives, and where girls can take their rightful place as equals.
Visit: plan.org.au