Bases neurobiológicas del emparejamiento humano

For the purpose of this study, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique received attention. Malawi and Zambia are among the countries that have implemented the School Nutrition Programme where it is being supported financially and technically by the United Nations through the (World Food Programme, 2006:23). SADC member states face challenges ranging from a scarcity of food and unpredictable changes in food availability due to factors, such as weather and climate; labour- intensive and dated agricultural methods; and HIV and AIDS and other health issues which affect agricultural production levels; they seek to improve the lives of their people by removing the serious obstacle of inadequate access to food.

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Reliable access to adequate food is a fundamental requirement for human well-being and for building a better future. The core focus of food security in Southern Africa is sustainable access to safe and adequate food at all times. Poverty, drought and chronic disease can result in food system failures or chronically inadequate nutrition which makes food security a top priority for SADC (htt://www.sadc,int/themes/agriculture-food-security/food-security/).

Stable access to food and its availability, nutritional value and safety are important aspects of food security. Food access means that the local population have the means to purchase or barter for the food they require for appropriate diet and nutrition. Food availability means there is a consistent local supply of appropriate food types, either imported or produced locally. Available and accessible food must be of sufficient nutritional value and be safe to consume if food security is to be attained. There should also be a stable supply and access to food for longer periods. This can be achieved with appropriate food production, handling and storage.

According to the website, htt://www.sadc,int/themes/agriculture-food-security/food-security, SADC addresses the Agriculture and Food Security issues within the Southern African region by focusing on five key areas, namely: Food Security, SADC supports efforts to ensure sustainable access to safe and adequate food at all times; Crop production, this has to do with protecting seed sources, fostering better work methods, and building food reserves; Livestock, improving work methods, capacity building and disease control; and Fisheries, which has to do with developing a reliable food sources, improved handling and processing agriculture. The implementation of school nutrition programmes is discussed in the following SADC countries.

2.12.1 Malawi

The Malawian government’s Free Primary Education Initiative has been successful in increasing school enrolments, but it has created a gender gap in favour of boys. Enrolment in primary schools in Malawi is estimated to be about 78%, but 30% of poor children do not even begin school and only 38% of children who enrol in primary school go as far as completing Grade 8 (World Food Programme, 2006:23).

Unlike South Africa, Malawi does not have a national government-run school feeding programme. At present, school feeding is conducted and funded by the World Food Programme (WFP) and organizations, like GTZ and Action Aid, which have supported school feeding

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programme in emergencies. The WFP provides most of the support for school feeding activities in terms of both numbers and geographical coverage. There is no direct financial contribution from the Malawian government, although it does provide logistical staff from within various government ministries.

According to Roka (2004:67) and the World Food Programme (2006:23), the objectives of the Malawian school feeding programme are aimed at improving school enrolments and the attendance of girls and orphans; reducing short-term hunger which slows the learning process and, thereby, improving children's concentration and their assimilation of information; and reducing disparities in enrolment and drop-out rates between boys and girls, especially in Grades 5 to 8.

In Malawi the programme is called Food for Education (FFP); it serves in-school meals and/or snacks in order to reduce short-term hunger and achieve the commonly intended aspects of improving school enrolment, attendance and learning and community-school links. The Malawian FFP programme also provides ‘take home rations’ which target girl learners, orphans and vulnerable children. In Malawi the rations are only for learners attending school regularly.

2.12.2 Zambia

Unlike Zimbabwe and South Africa, in Zambia the programme targets learners from poor families. Because of high level of poverty in the country, Zambian schools appear to struggle to deny learners access to the food because every learner seems to come from a poor background.

According to Del Rosso and Miller (1999:89), seven steps were identified to develop school feeding programmes that would improve education in Zambia, namely:

1) An agreement had to be reached on policy and objectives that focus on how school feeding could improve education.

2) Agreement needed to be reached on what problems the feeding programme should address; who would benefit from the programme; and what methods were feasible. 3) Targeting criteria needed to be develop to reach high-risk children. Targeting was

necessary to ensure that children who lack resources benefited from the school feeding programme.

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4) An analysis needed to be done to identify alternative financial options for schools, including food aid, the private sector, food selection, community support and sustainability.

5) Appropriate guidelines needed to be developed for the ration composition and time of school meals. Managers should determine the nutritional and health needs of children; find out how the community could participate; and identify potential bottlenecks in implementation.

6) Monitoring programmes needed to be instituted that look at programme processes.

7) Opportunities needed to be found to integrate interventions. If feeding learners at school could be integrated with other school-based health interventions, such as treating children for parasites, it would improve their appetites and the nutritional benefit of the food.

2.12.3 Mozambique

Mozambique is plagued by extreme rainfall that results in droughts and floods that have harmed food production, destroyed harvests and displaced families. UNICEF estimates that currently 44% of children in Mozambique suffer from chronic malnutrition (http://www2.jamint.com/wp- content/uploads/2014/07/).

Both the Angola and Mozambique school feeding projects are made possible by the Foreign Agricultural Service’s McGovern-Dole International Food for Education (FFE) and the Child Nutrition Programme, which helps promote education, child development and food security for some of the world’s poorest children (http://www.fas.usda.gov/excredits/foodaid/ffe/FFE.asp. Among the criteria necessary to receive an FFE grant, a country must have a lower or lower- middle per capita income; a population with more than a 20 percent prevalence of undernourishment; and adult literacy rates of below 75 percent.

School feeding beneficiaries in the four Mozambican provinces of Gaza, Inhumane, Sofala and Manica receive food every school day. JAM’s programmes in Mozambique have evidently promoted school enrolment, retention and regular attendance (http://www2.jamint.com/wp- content/uploads/2014/07/).

A review of the available relevant literature stimulated the researcher’s curiosity to learn whether malnutrition is a major barrier to education and whether the participants in the research believe

57 2.13 Conclusion

In terms of a literature review, this chapter has provided the history of the primary school nutrition programme and indicated how it developed into a national school nutrition strategy - one which is highly regulated and of international importance. The chapter also provided an in- depth discussion of the legislative framework in an international context. The next chapter, Chapter 3, describes methods and techniques that were used during the research; it also explains the ways in which information was gathered and disseminated.

58 CHAPTER 3