Need 2 Feed

Need 2 Feed is CMF’s flagship project that was launched in 2013 in Mazabuka with the feeding of 100 Orphans and Vulnerable Children between 3-10 years of age, from extremely vulnerable families and communities. Initially this project was school-based during its pilot phase however after identifying the need to the project was widened in terms of its reach in order to establish feeding stations and a mass feeding program in the heart of the most vulnerable and poor communities in our catchment areas using local community halls.

CMF still maintains this hybrid model that serves both schools and the wider community simultaneously in order to address the nutritional and food security needs of the majority of the children vulnerable children in this area.

Through the heartfelt donations that have been received, we are supporting close to a cumulative total of 1,000 pupils on a daily basis at multiple schools with breakfast/lunch at school for the entirety of every school term. Our findings are that once a child has meals at school, they have higher attendance rates and subsequently perform better academically in the core subjects of Maths, English and the Science.

Our partner schools are schools that serve the poorest communities and beneficiaries that live in households that fall below the global poverty threshold and have an income of less than $2 per day. 70% or more of the pupils that benefit from this project are either single/double orphans that attend school without a meal or food for breakfast which is why this project is so important as most of the children at our beneficiary schools are used to only having one meal per day. However, thanks to this much needed project our beneficiaries are now able to have 2-3 meals per day depending on the school they attend and our total donations towards this project.

Community Feeding

This is executed quarterly using Community Hall's in compounds (ghetto's) in partnership with the community Headmen and Leadership such as Community Chairperson, Ward Chairperson etc. We spend approximately 2 weeks before each feeding day after 10 weeks of fundraising sourcing all the food for the beneficiaries which typically comprises of Rice, Nshima (Maize Meal), Chicken, Potatoes, Soya Pieces, Tomatoes, Kale and Cabbage. After the fundraising and mobilisation period is completed in partnership with the Community Leaders and our volunteers the location that the feeding situation is situated which is typically a Community Hall or local Church is prepared as a feeding/distribution station as a well as base for all operations pertaining to the feeding day including the cooking of the meals. Once this is complete on the actual feeding day the doors are open to beneficiaries to collect cooked food or eat with us at the feeding station between the hours of 8am – 8pm. Our target beneficiaries for these events are mostly invited and vetted with home visits etc during our outreach in the community and typically consist of Orphan & Vulnerable children aged between 3 – 17 years old as well as the elderly and sick.

Household Nutritional Support (HNS) – during the execution of our outreach in various vulnerable communities we are able to identify families and households that are at high risk in terms of food security and nutrition due to the fact that they live significantly below the global poverty line. Families that fall under this category are then shortlisted in order for our organization to secure sponsors/donors for them and their households to ensure that the family (especially children) are supported in terms of provision of food on a consistent basis. A significant majority of the families and households on this programme are in households that have a total income of less than $50 per month, have parents/guardians living with HIV/AIDS, elderly or disabled therefore our intervention is ensure that the children under their care are being provided with the necessities and essentials required for a child nutritionally.