• Other Global Locations
  • Search
Host an Event
Donate
  • Early Childhood Development

Littlest Ones: Early Childhood Nutrition and Community Empowerment in South Africa

on  August 1, 2023

Since 1998, Rise Against Hunger has expanded to include international offices in the United States, India, Italy, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and South Africa, with all of the offices working toward the common goal of a world without hunger. As Rise Against Hunger celebrates 25 years of commitment to this mission, we are highlighting stories of real impact this year from one of our six international offices: Rise Against Hunger Africa. We’re kicking off this story series today — with so much more to come over the next few months. Read below about how Rise Against Hunger Africa is working tirelessly to support children’s nutrition and education in South Africa! 

Food Insecurity Rates in South Africa

Approximately 20% of South Africa’s population faces moderate or severe food insecurity. In addition, food insecurity negatively impacts the health of a significant percentage of South African children. In the FAO’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 report, it was estimated that 22.8% of children under the age of 5 in South Africa were affected by stunting (when a child is low height for their age primarily due to poor nutrition) in 2022, and 3.8% were experiencing wasting (which is low weight-for-height). 

To combat these statistics, addressing food insecurity and hunger in South Africa, especially hunger in young children, are very important. Rise Against Hunger Africa works to address the critical issue of hunger among young children through the Early Childhood Development Connect program (or ECD Connect). One of Rise Against Hunger Africa’s core programs, it focuses on ensuring South African children between the ages of 0 and 6 have access to quality education and nutritious meals. 

How Rise Against Hunger Africa Supports Children’s Nutrition and Education Through Early Childhood Development Centers

Early childhood development centers (ECDs) in South Africa support children’s physical, mental and emotional development. Rise Against Hunger Africa assists the ECDs by providing Rise Against Hunger meals. 

The benefits of the donated meals are twofold. First, adequate nutrition is crucial for early childhood development. The Rise Against Hunger meals provided to the young students ensure they have the nutrition needed for their health. 

Second, the nutritious meals generate cost savings for the ECDs. When the centers don’t have to pay out of pocket for food for the children, they are able to put the money saved into improving the school’s infrastructure. This enables them to work toward higher levels of certification to meet the Department of Basic Education standards and obtain proper registration. These standards and registration help the centers receive support from the government, which in turn helps improve resources. Improved resources strengthen the academic opportunities for the children, supporting their education. 

Creating Impact With Garden Projects and Community Programs

Rise Against Hunger Africa’s work to support the nutritional needs of South African children and communities extends beyond providing meals. Community programs and home-grown school garden projects are also implemented to further support the early childhood development centers and address a multitude of needs for the surrounding communities.  

Working alongside the local community, school gardens are established to provide fresh vegetables and fruits to the early childhood development centers and to the community. These fruits and vegetables complement the distributed Rise Against Hunger meals, improving the participants’ quality of life and supporting long-term food security. The community programs and garden projects supported by Rise Against Hunger Africa also create new jobs and skills development opportunities, particularly for women in the community.

Rise Against Hunger Africa staff members
Rise Against Hunger Africa staff members supervise a community gardening program outside of Johannesburg

Place of Hope, an ECD in Gauteng, is a prime example of how these gardens enhance children’s nutrition and education. Place of Hope has established a vegetable garden and has 300 laying hens. Half of the produce is able to not only feed Place of Hope’s children, but also children at six other ECDs. Additionally, the other half of the produce is sold to generate income to sustain the school’s operations.

The Results (So Far)

The facets of the Early Childhood Development Connect program — both providing meals and implementing community projects — create a positive ripple effect for the children and communities served. In the past year alone, over 1,180 ECDs were supported, 38,100+ people were served and more than 2.9 million meals were provided. These figures led to outstanding outcomes. The donated meals not only support children’s nutritional needs, but also their education by assisting ECDs with infrastructure improvements and educational resources needed for higher certification levels. The community projects develop long-term food security, generate income for the ECDs and introduce new jobs for the broader community.

Learn more about the project in the video above. As Rise Against Hunger celebrates 25 years of impact this year, stories like this show what we know to be true: real solutions to end hunger do exist. Rise Against Hunger Africa’s ECD Connect program shows the importance of addressing hunger. A meal can lead to resilience and bright futures for the children and families served through the ECDs in South Africa — and for the people served around the world by Rise Against Hunger and our international offices. 

This impact starts with a meal — and it starts with you. In celebration of Rise Against Hunger’s 25 years of global impact, please consider making a monthly donation of $25 (or a gift of any size) to pave the way for bright futures in South Africa and around the world. 

About the Author

Hannah Payne is the Public Relations & Communications Manager at Rise Against Hunger. She facilitates communication between Rise Against Hunger and the media.

More Posts by Hannah Payne

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.