More than a quarter of school-aged children in South Africa are stunted and malnourished. EduPlant brings nutritious food to young children by establishing and improving school food gardens.
Tiger Brands is one of the largest food producers on the African continent and the largest in South Africa. As such, the company actively works towards achieving greater food security where it operates, while building an inclusive economy.
With millions of South Africans going to bed hungry every day and many more at risk of experiencing hunger, the company views food security as an essential social priority. Its socioeconomic development strategy focuses on building resilient, food-secure, healthy communities across South Africa.
EduPlant was established by Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) in 1994 and is South Africa’s longest-running school greening and gardening programme. Tiger Brands commenced as core mission support partner of EduPlant in 2019 as part of a five-year CSI partnership with FTFA.
Against a background of climate change and the economic hardships brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, food security is becoming ever more critical. By initiating and improving school food gardens, EduPlant brings nutritious food to young children to supplement meals provided by the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) feeding scheme.
The programme includes education through FTFA ecopreneur-facilitated workshops, support through formal and informal networks, and providing resources such as tools, planting materials, soil additives, pest control and educational materials. The free, fun and interactive workshops are open to educators, learners and community
members, and cover various topics on food security.
The programme is endorsed by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the NSNP, enabling teachers to attend during school hours. The venue is usually rotated among the participating schools.
Project objectives
The EduPlant project addresses food insecurity in marginalised communities, with several communities within Tiger Brands’ operational areas. The project aims to improve food security skills and strengthen networks within and across communities through bio-intensive agricultural methods and techniques.
A unique element of EduPlant is the culture of support it promotes, including multiple layers of food security from school gardens to community gardens to homestead gardens. In this regard, the primary project objective is to increase productivity, potentially pushing them to the level where surplus production opens the door to possibilities within the food security space.
Specific objectives with targets and indicators included (but were not limited to):
- Increasing production at individual projects by at least 300% within the first six months of the intervention.
- Growing food for the school feeding schemes, measured by the number of meals supplemented.
- The number of teachers and community members the EduPlant curriculum measured through attendance registers and accreditations.
- Growing the number of learners benefiting from the intervention, measured by the number of learners who have supplemented meals at school and home.
- Growing the number of learners who see agriculture and environmental science as potential career paths.
- Increasing the number and percentage of gardens that employ agro-ecological/ permaculture/bio-intensive agricultural techniques.
- Improving the level of curriculum integration at the schools, measured through the lesson plans required as part of the portfolio of evidence.
- Improving the level of cross-community food security networking and interactions, measured primarily through the closedgroup social media platforms that house the cluster groups.
Social benefits: making food sovereignty a priority
The beneficiaries of EduPlant are found in communities in all provinces, starting with the schools at the epicentre, and include teachers, participating community members and learners. The project naturally extends to other beneficiaries in the community, including parents, community members and sometimes smallholder farmers.
External monitoring and evaluation (M&E) found that over 60% of learners and community members involved in the workshops mimic the activities learned in the household. This often means that the learners take control of their food sovereignty, and encourage their parents to start growing their own food.
During 2021/22, EduPlant implemented 30 school-based food security clusters nationally. Each cluster comprised around ten schools (300 schools in total), each receiving facilitated workshops, resources (for example, tools, planting materials, educational resources) and expert support. The resources enabled the schools to start or expand a food garden to grow fresh vegetables and herbs for the schools’ feeding schemes, act as a learning garden for curriculum integration and, in some cases, sell produce to the community to fundraise.
The total amount allocated directly to beneficiaries was R4.93 million (excluding M&E and administrative costs), equating to approximately R16 420 per school, depending on the resources needed in each case. This amount was not necessarily reflective of the value to each school, as schools were clustered into groups. If an individual school were to go through the same format alone, the cost per school would be closer to R30 000.
EduPlant benefits a proportionately high number of special needs schools. The programme has strong inclusive elements where these schools are on par with their mainstream counterparts. Currently, 15–18 special needs schools are participating in the programme.
Food security and nutrition outcomes
The total area under production and harvest records showed an increase in the quantity and quality of food. Gardens need to, at a minimum, double their average productivity within six months of starting the intervention.
Garden diversity (including biodiversity) and the number of crops increased, and included vegetables, herbs/plants, fruit and indigenous trees. Schools tend to improve diversity by 300–400% during an EduPlant cycle (consisting of entries, assessment and selection, followed by six workshops that align with the seasons and, lastly, a look at the results, M&E assessing/entries and a competition).
Schools’ portfolios of evidence saw improved soil health due to bio-intensive techniques. A change in water-saving behaviour due to implementing systems and techniques, such as grey-water systems and diversion drains,
was also evident.
Participating schools’ harvest records – which include usage records and specific evidence of diversity on the plate – showed a general nutrition improvement for the learners within the feeding scheme.
Education outcomes
Participating teachers received South African Council for Educators (SACE) accreditation in agricultural studies, while assessments done as part of the classroom activities under the curriculum integration segment of the project indicated how learners benefited from an improved understanding of food security and climate-related issues.
Business benefits: positive brand association, improving stakeholder relations
EduPlant significantly exposed Tiger Brands on social media platforms, online publications, traditional print media and community radio. The programme was widely communicated, and the support from Tiger Brands, the Tiger Brands Foundation and other stakeholders was highlighted.
The primary strategy of co-branding and the association of Tiger Brands with EduPlant showed a significant positive effect on the company’s reputation. The EduPlant programme’s Facebook and Instagram pages boast 170 000 followers across all linked accounts, and 30 WhatsApp group communities link directly into the clusters. Multiple positive news stories were sent to a press database of 118 recipients, while the partner-linked FTFA newsletter, which also ran the stories, reached 3 983 recipients and saw web exposure of approximately
10 000 site visits per month.
The Tiger Brands logo is also included on all invitations, attendance registers and other similar external documentation. The communities, where EduPlant features positively, associate with the Tiger Brands brand.
The project improved relationships with external and internal key stakeholders, including the DBE’s NSNP, the Tiger Brands Foundation, company employees and the communities where interventions took place.
EduPlant has been extended to the communities where Tiger Brands operates and the communities where Tiger Brands Foundation schools exist. There has been an improvement in employee perceptions in these areas. As Tiger Brands’ flagship CSI programme, EduPlant receives a significant proportion of the annual CSI spend. The programme resonates with employees who are proud of Tiger Brands’ positive impact on society
through the flagship programmes.
An interesting aspect of the intervention is the synergy between the company’s products and the fresh produce regarding complete community nutrition. It is possible that a nutritious plate of food in these communities could be derived entirely from Tiger Brands and their products – with the fresh produce directly complementing the bought products. When food is grown locally, there is more disposable income to spend on other food items with a lower LSM basket of goods.
Judges’ feedback
“Tiger Brands’ EduPlant projects aim to address food security in marginalised communities within Tiger Brands’
operational areas. The project aims to improve food security skills and strengthen networking using bio-intensive
agricultural techniques. This application was comprehensive, thorough and detailed. It was well considered and reflected Tiger Brands’ approach to this project. The application outlined the measurable outcomes and impact, and clearly articulated business competitiveness. The submission included supporting evidence and documentation. This is an excellent example of strategic CSI.”
Source: The Trialogue Business In Society Handbook 2022 (25th edition)