Moshi, TZ – Chekereni primary school takes first step towards sustainable school feeding – 30 Nov 2021

Tupendane has provided organic vegetable gardening training and mentoring sessions to the teachers and children of Chekereni Primary school. These sessions have paid off, because now the school students are successfully harvesting and feeding themselves from their first vegetable beds.

This marks a new page for the Grow–own–Breakfast (GoB) program in Kahe district, because it is a step closer to a sustainable way of implementing a school feeding program. Tupendane’s focus is on creating a stable future for a self-sustaining program that does not rely on outside support. The approach is to continuously improve in order to develop an approach that has low assistance and operating costs.

The school has the advantage of good quality virgin land that can support starting vegetable growing without requiring much soil amendment with compost, rice hull charcoal and manure. Inputs like seeds and water are needed, so the school plans to grow vegetables for both feeding and selling. The earnings from the selling will pay for the necessary inputs for the expansion and maintenance of the continuously harvested garden beds.

The Tupendane team hopes that this improved design will enable their Grow-own-Breakfast program to prosper with less need for funds and mentoring time. If this is possible, the team will be able to impact the lives of more teachers and children.