Ngara, TZ – SODAT Breakfast Program Improves Test Results – 27 Feb 2015

Better Lives’ partner Solution and Opportunities for the Disadvantaged in Tanzania (SODAT) has delivered breakfast porridge to three primary schools in Ngara, Tanzania since July, 2011. In 2015 the program will provide breakfast porridge to 2,432 primary school students every school day.

The porridge is made from corn, soy beans, and groundnuts. These dry ingredients are mixed and ground into flour which is delivered to the three schools. Cooks at the schools boil the ingredients into porridge, which is served to the students. In 2015 almost 10 tons of dry flour will be delivered to the schools.

This breakfast porridge is the only meal many students eat all day. Attendance at schools nearly doubled when the breakfast program started. Children wanted to come to school to get a meal and many students walked over 10 km to school, even if other schools were closer.

A recent report compiled by Mr. Gideon Samson Mwesiga, the District Education Officer, shows that the three schools receiving breakfast porridge are outperforming the other 5 schools in the surrounding area.

The breakfast program delivers high-impact results with a relatively small budget. Each cup of porridge costs less than 6 cents, meaning that US $10.00 can feed a student breakfast for the whole year. The program is a great opportunity to make a high-impact donation.

The SODAT team is also working to increase the long-term sustainability of the breakfast program. Currently, 80% of breakfast ingredients are grown locally. The team is working with Better Lives to increase this to 100% locally grown ingredients. In order to achieve this, the team will have to identify a locally grown legume that provides as much protein as soy beans, which are not locally grown. Buying local ingredients helps improve the economy so that parents can begin contributing to the program.

The team has also begun supporting a Food Always In The Home (FAITH) Organic Vegetable Garden program to improve local food self-reliance and incomes.