Namibia’s multi-faceted social safety net programme, which is globally touted as resilient and shock-responsive, continues to lift thousands of Namibians from abject poverty through which food-insecure people access healthy and nutritious meals daily.
The country’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) Feeding Programme, spearheaded by the government through the gender equality and child welfare ministry with technical support from the World Food Programme, United Nations Children’s Fund and European Union, specifically targets vulnerable households in both urban and rural areas.
In its latest country brief report, World Food Programme records that under the ECD Feeding Programme, Namibia has enhanced child nutrition through the provision of fortified porridge, targeting approximately 2 000 ECD centres nationwide.
Through the feeding programme, government has reached over 12 038 school children through the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, while the strengthening of implementation through oversight, stakeholder engagement and training of trainers on nutrition has ensured more than 25 585 children are served warm meals at soup kitchens daily.
The overarching goal is to ensure a sustainable, high-quality national rollout of the ECD Feeding Programme, reinforcing regional ownership, resulting in improved preparedness for the programme.
The training of trainers on nutrition approach strives for inclusive of community volunteer cooks, educators and regional technical heads trained through interactive, culturally appropriate materials, guided by the Nutrition-for- Health method.
Food vouchers
According to the report, complementary nutrition sensitive value vouchers also ensure nutrition sensitive support for drought affected and poverty-stricken communities and has to date been successfully enrolled out to 58 764 beneficiaries.
Due to heightened needs, most of the food voucher beneficiaries are from the Otjozondjupa, Omaheke, Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions, where the programme targets pregnant and breastfeeding women as well as children under five.
Beneficiaries from all four regions are now registered and enrolled on the Namibia Integrated Digital Assistance Service (NIDAS) Beneficiary Management Platform, which enables the enrolled households to be supported with food vouchers worth N$500 per household, disbursed over four feeding cycles.
“These vouchers support the purchase of a variety of food items aligned with Namibia’s four food groups based on dietary guidelines: cereals and staples, proteins, fats and oils, and fruits and vegetables.
The programme contracted 46 retailers within a 5km radius of beneficiaries’ homes, which created employment opportunities, improved livelihoods and stimulated rural economic growth among the most at-risk populations,” reads the report.
The voucher programme concluded with the final distribution cycle at the end of last month, covering all enrolled beneficiaries across the targeted regions. In total, more than 96 387 people were assisted in July alone.
-ohembapu@nepc.com.na