Food Program for Children
Project location: Congo, Democratic Republic, Kemi Valley, Kinshasa
Project start date: September 2009 -
Project end date: September 2011
Project number: 2009-25
Beneficiary: FIDESCO
The objective of the project was to improve the living standards of the dwellers of the Kemi Valley through the implementation of a nutrition project for school children and the creation of a cooperative around a community mill.
The project area suffers from bleak poverty: Kémi Valley is a slum district of Kinshasa characterized by extremely restricted access to electricity and drinking water and high exposure to floods. During this last year, three severe rainfalls (October 2010, January and April 2011) destroyed roads and shelters, seriously affecting the 800 families living in this area (about 4.800 people, amounting to an average of 6 persons per household). The already restricted access to food has become more difficult and most children suffer from malnutrition, illnesses and infections are spreading quickly.
This final report presents the activities and the results achieved during the whole duration of the project (from September 2009 and July 2011).
The beneficiaries have expressed their gratitude about the opportunity they are given to improve their living standards through the project.
Project Team
Three people: Martin Tujibikile, Blaise Mulopo and Jean Chrysostome Mayaka have taken the responsibility of the project on-site, on a semi-voluntary basis. They have conducted the activities described below, receiving little fees as compensation for their commitment as well as the reimbursement of their transportation costs.
Main activities and achieved results
1. Creation of a women cooperative and installation of a mill
First, the project team purchased a mill and installed it in rented premises that had been equipped to serve as a community mill and as a storehouse to store corns and flower.
The mill is managed by a miller who grinds corn for the members of the cooperative. He receives 10% of the sells as a contribution for his work. Additionally, he uses the mill for his own production of flower, paying some fees to the project.
At the beginning of 2010, 13 people started with a cooperative around the mill in the first months of the project. A group of ten other people joined them during the summer 2010. The idea is that the mill is at the disposal of the members of the cooperative, who bring corn to make flower, and then go and sell it on the streets and market of the area.
Most of the members of the cooperative are mothers or head of households. Within the framework of the project, they all received a start up quantity of corn. Part of the flower obtained is used to produce mash for the children of one school of the area, and the other part is sold at the local market: part of the benefits of the sales will be reinvested in new corn and the rest will be used to cover the basic needs of the families.
2. Production and distribution of nutritive mash to children at school
As mentioned above, part of the flower produced with the community mill is used to produce nutritive mash that is distributed in one of the schools of Kemi Valley. Since March 2010, over 280 children receive one meal 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) during the school period. For some children, this meal distributed at school is the only meal they get during the day.
Some of the children's mothers prepare the mash for the children on a voluntary basis and the project team coordinates the production and distribution of the nutritive mash together with the school director and the teachers.
Nutrition is fundamental for the pupils, as they become strong enough to follow the courses. The meals they get help their physical development and help them to better fight against infections and illnesses. Additionally, as they are fed at school, the children do not go and beg on the streets and attend class instead of begging.
3. Awareness and formation of the mothers in micro-management and basic hygiene skills.
The members of the cooperative around the community mill started with training courses at the beginning of the project, in small groups of five to six people. The members joining the cooperative were trained as and when they joined the group.
The training courses covered two main areas:
1. Basic hygiene skills
This training provided the beneficiaries with basic knowledge on hygiene and basic health that improve their living standards and those of their families through the implementation of simple changes into their households and into their neighborhood.
2. Micro-management
This training provided the members of the cooperative with basic management tools: Keeping basic records, participation in a community mill, sharing of benefits, selling techniques (fixing a price, bargaining, etc) and other business issues. The beneficiaries got a better sense of management of their family budget and of their income generating activity.
All together, about 23 people participated in at least one of the courses provided by the local team. They declared that the classes developed their interest in income generating activities and hygiene issues, as well as they have increased their motivation to participate into the project. Additionally, they declared that the consideration of their husbands, family members and dwellers of their communities has increased: their households are cleaner, they have learnt basic hints to heal common illnesses and they feel proud to become better mothers.
Nonetheless, the beneficiaries did not participate into all the courses and most of them left the project of the cooperative (today five women continue), as they got very demotivated by the external obstacles that prevented them to make the expected benefits with the sale of the flower:
- Repeated important floods due to strong rains destroyed part of their shelters and the beneficiaries had to spend considerable time to rebuild them: they could not attend the courses on a regular basis.
- A steep decrease of the price of corn (more than halved within 6 months) due to a gift from the Indian government drove down the price of corn and flower on the local market: the price of flower is much too low and the beneficiaries sell their flower without making any benefit.
Initially, the expected benefits from the sales of flower were supposed to cover the costs of the miller, the production of the mash for the school children as well as to provide the members of the cooperative with some little additional income. As long as the local corn market suffers from distortions due to an important arrival of free of cost foreign corn, this project cannot attain the necessary profitability. Therefore, the project team decided to concentrate efforts on the production of the mash for the school children.
