Serving Children through Cooking: The Strength of Ladies’ Cooks
In the village of Berano, district of Amboasary, one of the most affected by recurrent droughts and depleted resources like water in Southern Madagascar, going to school is a challenge for thousands of inhabitants of the village and of the district, hosting more than 40.000 people.
Most of the time, schools are situated far from the villages and children walk many kilometres to get there. Drought has negative impacts on crops and on households’ access to food. Inhabitants say that is has not been raining since October 2019. “In addition to that, a large area in our region is planted with sisal which leaves little cultivable areas for the farmers” Haova says. She lives in Berano.
The Government-led Integrated Food Security Phase Classification document indicates that 730,000 people in southern Madagascar face severe acute food insecurity and need urgent assistance.
However, there is a happy and lively Berano public primary school, where nearly 600 children are thriving and regularly attending school. They are provided school materials and daily diversified hot meals at the school canteens.
The Berano primary school is jointly supported by WFP, UNICEF and ILO, each UN agency supporting the school in Berano, since 2017, in provision of school meals (WFP), construction of a basin made in cement to capture rainwater and building of classrooms (ILO), and UNICEF providing school materials, school desks and training to teachers.
“School meals not only motivate children to go to school but also lessen the burden of the most vulnerable parents who struggle to give three meals a day to their children during the hunger season” Haova says.
The school feeding programme is made possible thanks to the work and dedication of the cooks among other actors. They are often children’ mothers themselves. At Berano school, they are a strong team of five women. They work on a voluntary basis.
“I see the Happiness in Children’s Faces, and I am deeply satisfied and fulfilled whenever I see that they are eating and they are coming to school every day” tells us Kaji Claudine, Chief Cook of the Public Primary School of Berano.
With a total of 626 children for the school year 2019–2020, the school is composed by 16 teachers (5 men and 11 women) being at the forefront of education, while five ladies’ cooks who feed children’s appetite and dreams every day, with more than 100,000 school meals served yearly, composed of dish of rice and beans, and fresh veggies from the local markets.
The five ladies are relentlessly working, five days a week, arriving at school at 6 am, to cook a warm and nutritious meal for all the children.
“It is hard work to cook for 600 children. But we do it with extreme love because we want them to continue coming to school” starts Benefice, interviewing her while cooking the rice.
In support to Madagascar’s Ministry of National Education, the national school feeding programme covers 300,000 children from 1,000 primary schools in southern Madagascar which represents only 44 percent of primary schools in this part of the country.
Thanks to the generous contribution of Norway, Japan and Russia, children are offered daily meals for 5 five days a week. Schools are also provided with kitchen tools and equipment, such as bowls, plates, pots and spoons, and management tools for the School Management Committee to evaluate and monitor children’ attendance, stock of food available in the warehouse, consumption and amount of food used in the school kitchen.
Benefits are real: As a matter of fact, the latest cost-benefit analysis of the impact of school canteens on children’ education, jointly carried out by the Ministry if National Education of Madagascar, Mastercard and WFP show that every 1 USD invested in school meals generates 6.1 USD in economic return during the child life. This “return on investment” is measured based on the school life of a child (increase of duration and quality of education) and on the active life (better productivity), as well as on the community well-being.
The Berano school is a recipient of WFP School Feeding Programme since 2002, contributing to increasing students’ retention, to improving concentration, learning and cognitive development analytical skills, and to enhancing school performances to have better work opportunities in the future.
Moreover, the “Ladies’ Cooks” are carefully trained by WFP staff on healthy nutritional practices, how to cook food by applying all hygienic measures, and how to better diversify food for children’ healthier growth. A special emphasis is given to community sensitization over the importance of setting up hydroponic school gardens that can help diversify even more the food intake for school children. A good mix of vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and glucids are essential for children’s body and brain development.
“This is something we are working on and it is one of primary perspectives we envisage for 2020” adds Miss Koumba Kamano, head of WFP Field office in Amboasary, South of Madagascar “we hope that, by 2030, the zero hunger sustainable development goal can be achieved, and us, at community, district and regional levels can ensure that food security is reached, and nutrition levels are improved to end hunger in these zones”.
We at WFP believe that the Future of a Generation starts from a good and healthy nutrition, in a thriving and conducive school and community environment, Alefa Madagascar!
