The learners saw that there was no system in place for the food to be handed out which led to some learners claiming more meals and others not receiving anything.
Eastern Cape, South Africa – The winner of the secondary school category at the ninth annual Youth Citizens Actions Programme (YCAP) National Championships was Eastern Cape’s Solomon Mahlangu Secondary School which focused on the schools feeding scheme.
The learners saw that there was no system in place for the food to be handed out which led to some learners claiming more meals and others not receiving anything. They then created ID cards for each learner, to make the process run smooth and fairly. They have also created a vegetable garden, to help supplement the meals with fresh vegetables.
A report released recently by Statistics SA has claimed that approximately a third of children in South Africa are stunted as a result of chronic malnutrition.
“The report stated that South Africa had one of the highest low birth-weight rates with a 13.3 percent occurrence of live births of babies under 2.5kg nationally. It also showed that 7.4 million people reported experiencing hunger in our country while another measure showed that 12.3 million people reporting inadequate or severely inadequate food access.”
The YCAP National Championships form part of an initiative by Empowervate Trust – in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education – to provide young learners with project management, social entrepreneurship and life skills through the YCAP Toolkit and workshops, as well as give them a platform to showcase their impactful and sustainable projects at district, provincial and national level. YCAP Founder and CEO, Amanda Blankfield-Koseff says the event is the highlight on the YCAP calendar as it inspires, motivates and acknowledges South Africa’s future leaders. More than 700 schools, comprising of thousands of primary and secondary school learners from the country’s nine provinces, register to participate in the YCAP program.
Solomon Mahlangu Secondary School will use their prize money to purchase gardening equipment, seeds and plants to sustain their vegetable garden.
The programme’s major sponsors through Empowervate Trust are Deutsche Bank South Africa Foundation, DSV Mounties and CAF Southern Africa. Donations-in-kind have been received from Swadini Forever Resort, UNISA, Airlink, Europcar, FCB Foundation, Ster-Kinekor, Boston City Campus & Business College, Sanitech, Penguin Books, Nova Marketing and JaxonLink.
“We are grateful for our sponsors’ support and we need to get more support to expand our reach and depth. With their investment in the next generations of active citizens, we are able to encourage youth to be proactive members of society who find solutions to problems and have a service-mindset, “concludes Blankfield-Koseff
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