Project proposal

School Feeding Programme

Kaumuzya Basic School
Zambia
P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

Foreword

Ever went to school or work with an empty stomach? Then surely you can remember the difficulties you
had while trying to concentrate on the tasks given to you. Your attention gets drawn to that empty
feeling inside your body, the cry for food.

For us the above mentioned scenario is just a nightmare, a nightmare that doesnt happen. But for others
it is not an incidental thing but occurring day after day. Who can stand there and see it happen and still
do nothing.., just standing there and let those things happen without feeling pity for those people?

It also happens at the school we are working with in Zambia. More than half of the children come to
school with little or no food for breakfast, just chewing some bush fruits, if they found any on the way to
school. Getting in class with an empty stomach surely is not the right start for a day at school;
concentration is lacking, attention is drawn to that gnawing feeling inside. Those children dont have the
energy for sports; fall sick more often as their resistance is undermined by under-nourishment and drop
out more easily from school.

What would you do if you saw it happening? Would you just be the bystander or the one that would take
action? Surely it is impossible to help the whole world but this doesnt mean that we dont have the
obligation to help, even with just the little bits we can share.

That is why our foundation has the plan to start a school feeding programme. We want to give every
child at that school a lunch.., every school day.., throughout the year. It doesnt have to be a big meal
with lots of varieties every day; it has to be a nutritious and healthy meal with all the basic elements in
it.

In this programme you find all the information on the plans for that programme. Why we started it and
how we think we can make this happen. To manage this programme we will work closely together with
our people on the spot, the board members of the locally established NGO.

I really hope this programme gives enough information about the programme and faith in the
programme to convince any reader to support this programme.

J. Averesch
Secretary
Zambia Child Foundation
info@zambia-child-foundation.nl
P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

Contents

Introduction
Zambia Child Foundation .. 3
Area .. 4

The Project
The problem .. 5
Objectives .. 5
Considerations .. 5

The Plan
Introduction .. 7
School feeding programme .. 7
Steps ... 8

Reporting 9

Budget .. 10

Explanation of the budget .. 11

Appendices
Appendix A: Zambian meal

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P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

Zambia Child Foundation

Zambia Child Foundation

The foundation was established in 2006 after a few

visits to Zambia. The first steps towards this foundation
have been made in June of that year. It was a reaction
to requests from Kaumuzya Basic School, a school we
have been working with on different occasions. The
final reason to start with the foundation was the threat
that all orphans would be sent away from school as a
government initiative to pay their school fees got
cancelled.

Our objectives

The life of an orphan has many elements that need attention. Aspects of health, education and human
life circumstances have a high priority. Unluckily with the limited means of the foundation, it is
impossible for us to focus on all these elements at this moment. We had to make choices. The choices
we made were based on improving the future of the orphans within the limited possibilities of the
foundation.

Therefore our objectives are defined as:

To stimulate the education of children and especially orphans by paying all the costs to
follow an education. This includes school fees, school books and school uniforms.

To take care of orphans who have no acceptable place to stay. For this a orphanage home
is build with the possibility to shelter six orphans in a family-like environment.

Our goal is to be able to give the support, up to the moment that the school is able to pay those costs
itself by developing ways to do so with the help of the foundation.

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Area

The area we are working in is the rural area of Kayuni, north of Monze, in the Southern Province of
Zambia. It is situated between Mazabuka and Monze and around 160 kilometres south of Lusaka, the
capitol of Zambia.

The people in the area make there living by growing maize and sell the surplus to the government. Most
people in the area dont have a job but just a piece of land where they live and grow their food. The little
money they need comes from selling the surplus of maize to the government.

Other crops that are grown in the area are cash crops like sunflower and cotton but also many people
grow sweet potatoes and peanuts. Vegetables are grown for own
use, just a surplus might be sold to neighbours or to institutions
like schools or hospitals orn on the local market.

Most people live in huts as building a real house is too

expensive. Also no electricity nor piped water is available and
people are getting their water from a well or borehole.

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P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

The project

The problem

During our stay in Zambia we have been visiting our school regularly. While visiting the school we
found out that many children were too small for their age. After bringing this up during a meeting the
board told us that many of the children were sent to school without breakfast. As the school doesnt
provide lunch, the first meal of the day is also their last meal. Due to this also concentration at school is
lacking. Furthermore the lack of energy induces a higher level of absence and an increase in the number
of drop outs.

Objectives

After analyzing the problem we came up with a plan. The objectives of this plan are:

To provide a school lunch every school day to all children at Kaumuzya Basic School
To provide the children with all the nutrients they need for a healthy growth.
Considerations

On- or off-site preparation

The first and major consideration is the location where the lunch is going to be prepared. The
school is in a rural area, around 30 kilometres away from any town. If the preparation of the
lunch would be elsewhere the costs of transport would make up a considerable part of the costs
of the programme as the current prices of fuel are over $2.50 (ZMK 8600) per litre. Therefore
and including the fact that the school has no transport itself, the choice has been made for on-
site preparation.

Local produce

As result of the area the school is situated, it is possible to acquire all vegetables locally,
hereby decreasing the costs of transport and giving a small boost to the local economy. This
practise needs to be done with care as buying from the same farmer over and over again might
create anger with others.

Cooking

The school has committed itself to organize the volunteers that will prepare the food. Major
consideration in this is to make sure that the quality and hygiene is of a high standard.

Time of lunch

To have a maximum positive effect of the programme on educational objectives, it is important

that the food is prepared and given to the children early during the day. Regarding the work
that has to be done to get the food prepared the best moment would be between 9:00 and 11:00.

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Appropriateness of cooking practices

To prevent diseases that are related to poor hygiene it is very important that the cooking site is
clean and properly maintained. Also the pots, plates and cups that are used to serve the food
should be thoroughly cleaned every day.

Integrating other nutrition and health supplements

As the lunch is an organized meal for the whole school it is a very

good opportunity to integrate other nutrition like extra vitamins. It is
also a very good opportunity to add health supplements for example
to cure worm infections, a very common infection with children in
Africa.

Moment of purchase

Most of the products used to prepare the school lunch can be stored over a long period of time.
It is recommendable to buy those products in large quantities to save on fuel costs. Furthermore
as many prices change during the year, it is worthwhile to purchase those products during those
seasons when the prices are low.

School garden

At this moment the school doesnt have a school garden. Our plan is to start developing it this
year, before the rainy season starts. The primary objective with the garden is to teach the
students responsibility on growing their own food and
teach them how to do it. On the other hand the school
garden can contribute to the school lunch and also will
contribute to the funds school has by selling surplus of
produce. In this way the dependence on other sources of
money will decrease and in the end hopefully will stop any
need for external support for the school lunch and school
fees for the orphans.

Other than vegetables is also possible to keep one or two

pigs or goats. The advantage of this is that left-over food, that else would have been thrown
away, can be used to feed the animals.

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P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

The plan

Introduction

To cope with the lack of concentration and the high absence of children in class, we made a plan. The
name of the plan is Project School Lunch Kaumuzya Basic School. This project will give the school
the possibility to provide all the children with a lunch. This lunch should provide all nutrients that
children at that age need to grow up in a healthy way. Within the scope of that project the availability of
local products has to be taken in account when acquiring the food. In this way, the project also will
create a market for local farmers thus increasing their income.

The school feeding programme

The school feeding programme will have the same food as what the children are used to eat at home (see
app. A). It should have all the necessary nutrients that are needed for growing up children.

Maize

Maize is the staple food. It lacks enough protein for a proper meal therefore this lack needs to
be addressed in other ways. This will be done by adding that protein with the products that are
used to prepare the relish.

Vegetables

The vegetables used for the school lunch will be mainly cabbage as this is available in
abundance, can be stored over a longer period of time and also has a good amount of vitamins
and minerals. It is a common habit to mix them with some tomatoes or onion.

Relish

The relish that will be used with the school lunch are kapenta, soy chunks and beans. They all
have a high protein content and therefore will complement the lack of protein in the maize.

Other

Other things that are needed are cooking oil and salt.

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P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

Steps

Those are the steps that have to be taken before the school lunch can start.

Build a small kitchen with a small storage to be able to do the cooking.

This small kitchen is budgeted for 750 euro. At the moment we are working on a project to
integrate this kitchen with the kitchen that is needed for the health post that is going to be
build. In this way there is no need to build two different kitchens and it is possible to build a
better one.

Buy cutlery, pots, plates and cups to distribute the children.

This will be paid by the foundation.

Create a stock of needed items.

The storage of the kitchen has a capacity for enough
products for a month.

Get a stock of firewood.

Due to the nature of the area and the few people that live
there it is possible to use firewood as it wont increase the
risk of deforestation in that area. The idea is to build a wood-saving oven in the future but for
the time being firewood and charcoal will be used.
As soon as there is electricity an electric stove will be added to the kitchen equipment.

Train the volunteers that will prepare the food.

To make sure that the food is prepared in a healthy way, all the volunteers will need some form
of training. For this a local cook has offered his services.

Prepare a place where remains of the meal can be disposed of.

This could be connected to a school garden where one or two pigs or
goats can be held to be fed by this, thus adding to the budget.

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P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

Reporting

Introduction

As foundation we are responsible for the proper use of the given donations. To satisfy the needs of the
donors we have a standard procedure that covers this subject. Outside that procedure other information
can be expected as any project will also be used for publicity purposes.

Procedure
Our foundation has a procedure where it comes to report to donors. There will be an initial report on the
start of the project the donor has supported. After that reports will be written depending on the nature of
the project.

Single reports
These reports are sent to donors that donate to short running projects. Most of these projects are
building projects or projects were for example a school garden is established. Those reports are
also written for projects that run shorter than six months.
Bimonthly reports
Bimonthly reports are reports that are only written with projects that have a running period of
six to twelve months
Six-monthly reports
Those reports are written for every project that has a planned running period longer than one
year. Projects like this are mostly planned for a two year or longer period like for example this
school lunch.

Other
For publicity reasons the foundation will use pictures of the project. Other ways that will be used for
publicity are newspapers, radio and TV. In every publicity the name of the donor will be mentioned.
Furthermore the donor will be informed on all publicity that has been given to the project he or she has
been supporting.

Conclusion
This project, after an initial report concerning the start up, will be reported every six months. The reports
will contain all information on budget and the current situation of the projec

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P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

Budget

Notes:
To prepare this budget we used the advised average amount of vegetables and relish for
children in the age between 5 and 15.
At the moment of preparing this budget, 25th October 2008, the exchange rate was
ZMK 5,200 for 1,00. (ZMK 4,485 for $ 1,00)

Costs of school lunch for 1 year

Basic
Mealie meal 120 bags @ 25 kg 1.131 $1.311
Vegetables 5000 kg 769 $892

Relish
kapenta 14 bags @ 50 kg 942 $1.093
beans 14 bags @ 50 kg 808 $936
soy chunks 14 bags @ 50 kg 673 $781

Other
Salt 50 kg 14 $17
Cooking oil 50 liter 96 $111
Fruits 575 $489
5.008 $5.629

Statistics (195 school days and 155 children)

Total cost per child per year 32,31 $36,32

Total cost per meal per child 0,17 $0,19

Total costs per school lunch per day 25,68 $28,87

rates: ZMK 5200 for 1,00

ZMK 4485 for $ 1,00

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Explanation of the budget

Introduction

As a meal in Zambia is divided in two parts, the budget was also build up that way. There is the staple
food (nshima) with vegetables that form the base of all meals. Going with that is relish which can be
meat, as well as fish, vegetables or even a mixture of this.

Basic food:

With basic food is meant the base of every meal; mealie meal and the vegetables. The prices of both
products vary with the season.

On average the prices are ZMK 48.500 per 50 kg of mealie meal. This differs per region; especially in
urban areas the price is higher due to the demand.

The prices of the major vegetables doesnt fluctuate that much and is around ZMK 800 to 825 per kg.
The amount of 150 grams per child per day is used in the calculations.

Relish:

These are the products that add extra nutrients, especially protein, to the dish. All three of the mentioned
items can be stored quite well as they are all sold as dried produce. Those products are available in
50kg bags.

Kapenta is the most expensive and costs around ZMK 350.000 per bag. It can be bought throughout the
year. Beans and soya chunks also are available every month of the year and are priced at ZMK 300.000
and ZMK 250.000 per 50 kg respectively.

In the calculations an amount of 70 grams of dry produce per child is used.

Other:

Other things used for cooking are salt and cooking oil. Another very important element of the meal is a
piece of fruit. As this is depending on the season and also can be donated by farmers in the area as it is
not commercially grown, it is very hard to put a price on it. Therefore a cost of ZMK 100 ( 0,02) per
piece of fruit has been used.

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Appendices.

Appendix A: Zambian meal

P ROJECT PROPOSAL SCHOOL LUNCH

Appendix A

A Zambian meal

An average lunch in Zambia consists mainly out of nshima (grounded

maize), vegetables and relish.

Nshima (see pic 1) is a food cooked from plain maize meal or maize
flour known as mealy-meal among Zambians. Zambians are generally
raised to believe that only nshima constitutes a full and complete meal.
Any other foods eaten in between are regarded either as snacks or a
temporary less filling or inadequate substitute or even a mere appetizer.

Vegetables

Pic 1: Nshima
The main vegetables used in Zambia are rape and cabbage. Those
vegetables are also grown by almost every person that has its own garden. On top of that also tomato is
a very common vegetable but not everyone is able to grow it as its a seasonal product. Other less
common or seasonable vegetables are onion, sweet potatoes and beans.

Relish

The most common relish to go with the nshima is kapenta (see

pic 2). As it is being dried, it is easy to store over an extended
period of time. It has a high level of protein and therefore can
be considered very nutritious.

Other relishes are fish, chicken, beef and pork. Not only fish
or meat are used for relish. Also other things where vegetables
are mixed with grounded peanuts, or other products are
commonly used for it.

Pic 2: Kapenta
Other

Other things that are used by almost everyone are cooking oil and salt. Spices are less
common as most people dont have the money to buy them or dont have an idea how
to use them.

Pic 3: Cooking oil