Food bank rollout in full swing
Training has started for Rundu food bank street committee members, to pave the way for the programme to be rolled out in the north.
In July, food banks were launched in the Hardap and
//Karas regions - at Mariental, Keetmanshoop and Lüderitz - following the completion of a pilot programme in Khomas.
The Kavango East regional street committee training will take place at Rundu, following the completion of similar training in Kavango West last month.
The street committee teams will be responsible for the identification of beneficiaries and the eventual distribution of food items in their respective urban areas.
At the launch of the training this week, the deputy poverty eradication minister, Reverend Aino Kapewangolo, said food banks are one way of addressing extreme poverty, “since hunger is the lowest level of poverty”.
She noted an assessment to evaluate the impact of food banks on household food security, conducted by the University of Namibia (Unam) in collaboration with the ministry, found that the food banks established in numerous constituencies in the Khomas Region have had a “significant impact on household food security”.
Particularly, the food bank scheme has been effective in addressing hunger for beneficiaries without formal employment.
“About 90% of the beneficiaries were food insecure before the food bank intervention,” she said, adding 62% of the beneficiaries had become food secure as a result of the food bank intervention. About 15 519 households, representing nearly
68 000 individuals, were benefiting in seven Khomas constituencies by the end of the pilot phase of the food bank programme.
Following a new list of more “stringent criteria”, the ministry whittled down the number of beneficiary households by 5 000, in order to “ensure that those faced with extreme hunger poverty are benefiting”.
Kapewangolo said in terms of financial sustainability, the food bank programme is set to remain affordable with the current budget allocations for a three-year period.
JANA-MARI SMITH
In July, food banks were launched in the Hardap and
//Karas regions - at Mariental, Keetmanshoop and Lüderitz - following the completion of a pilot programme in Khomas.
The Kavango East regional street committee training will take place at Rundu, following the completion of similar training in Kavango West last month.
The street committee teams will be responsible for the identification of beneficiaries and the eventual distribution of food items in their respective urban areas.
At the launch of the training this week, the deputy poverty eradication minister, Reverend Aino Kapewangolo, said food banks are one way of addressing extreme poverty, “since hunger is the lowest level of poverty”.
She noted an assessment to evaluate the impact of food banks on household food security, conducted by the University of Namibia (Unam) in collaboration with the ministry, found that the food banks established in numerous constituencies in the Khomas Region have had a “significant impact on household food security”.
Particularly, the food bank scheme has been effective in addressing hunger for beneficiaries without formal employment.
“About 90% of the beneficiaries were food insecure before the food bank intervention,” she said, adding 62% of the beneficiaries had become food secure as a result of the food bank intervention. About 15 519 households, representing nearly
68 000 individuals, were benefiting in seven Khomas constituencies by the end of the pilot phase of the food bank programme.
Following a new list of more “stringent criteria”, the ministry whittled down the number of beneficiary households by 5 000, in order to “ensure that those faced with extreme hunger poverty are benefiting”.
Kapewangolo said in terms of financial sustainability, the food bank programme is set to remain affordable with the current budget allocations for a three-year period.
JANA-MARI SMITH
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