News & Events

Growth Continues for Healthy Futures South Africa

Tiger Brands grant marks program’s second expansion in a month

Ashburn, Virginia (October 19, 2009) — INMED Partnerships for Children’s Healthy Futures South Africa program is expanding for the second time in less than a month, thanks to a new corporate funding partner, Tiger Brands, INMED President and Chief Executive Officer Linda Pfeiffer announced today.

“We are honored that the Tiger Brands family, under the banner of Unite Against Hunger, the group’s corporate social investment initiative, which is instrumental to the emerging South African economy, has recognized the success and importance of our Healthy Futures program by allowing us to serve more children and families who so desperately need access to healthy foods,” Pfeiffer said.

Headquartered in South Africa, Tiger Brands is an international corporation that offers a wide range of food and home-based care products, with a philanthropic arm of Unite Against Hunger focused on the Group’s core business: food, home and personal care. The corporate social investment activities are therefore vast, as they include food security, nutrition, home-based care and community development.

With a $63,000 grant from Tiger Brands (equivalent to 500,000 rand in South African currency), the Healthy Futures program will expand into the Limpopo Province at the northernmost point of South Africa, an area that INMED South Africa Program Director Ethel Zulu describes as economically depressed, with a high rate of malnutrition and poor school attendance.

“Among the children who do attend school, many arrive hungry, and for most, their only significant meal of the day is the food they receive through the school lunch program,” she added. “Healthy foods are not only important for their nutrition, but also an incentive for them to be in school.”

Often, Zulu said, school lunches lack the nutritional value students need, and though there is an agricultural base in the area, many of the local subsistence farmers lack farming and business training to sustain food security and economic development.

The four schools selected for the program are: Napo Primary near Mediba Village; Malopang Primary near Jupiter Village; Rantsho Primary near Diana Village, and Matuma Combined near Bellingsgate Village. The schools were selected by King Mashashane of the tribal group of the same name in the Limpopo Province, based on those with the most need as part of his determination to improve resources to adequately feed the children.

According to Tiger Brands Corporate Social Investment Manager, Boni Dlamini-Makola, growing vegetables and herbs in community and school gardens has been shown to develop communities, reduce malnutrition, improve the environment and generate income. The Healthy Futures program, she explained, addresses those concerns through a multi-faceted approach including (A) nutritional education in the schools and using school gardens as both a laboratory for educators and students and as a source for healthy foods, (B) encouraging families to start their own gardens for homegrown produce as well as an income source, and (C) gaining the support of local governments and businesses to support greater garden development.

The program started in 2006 in the Orange Farm township of Gauteng Province, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, reducing hunger among school children by increasing the availability of nutritious produce through school gardens and delivering nutrition education for teachers, school food workers and families.

“We have established a solid program model that has gained community ownership and has demonstrated a commitment among local governments, schools, families and their children to sustain the program long after we, INMED, leave,” Pfeiffer said. “We are excited to partner with Tiger Brands to bring the program to even more children.”

About INMED Partnerships for Children:
Since 1986, INMED Partnerships for Children has worked around the world to prevent irreversible harm to children, whether through disease, neglect or lack of education or opportunity, helping them develop the skills they need to succeed and empowering them and their communities to create hope and opportunity for themselves and generations to come.

About Tiger Brands:
Tiger Brands is a highly diversified company operating largely in the food, home and personal care industries. The company has manufacturing units throughout South Africa, internationally and in emerging markets.

The group’s corporate social investment vehicle, Unite Against Hunger (UAH) is a Section 21 Company, registered as a Public Benefit Organization (PBO), which allows the organization to accept support from external organizations and to channel this support to those in need of assistance. UAH is dependent upon a variety of sources for funding, including an annual CSI contribution of 1% of post-tax profits from Tiger Brands.

Other beneficiaries include the African Children Feeding Scheme (Gauteng and Western Cape), Heartbeat (nationally), Olive Leaf Foundation, which operates in five provinces, St. Clement Home Based Care (Kwazulu Natal) and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. Tiger Brands’ Unite Against Hunger initiative is feeding over 100,000 people on a daily basis. Unite Against Hunger is continually extending its network to more rural parts of South Africa.

Contact Info:

INMED Partnerships for Children
Mary-Lynne Lasco, Director of Development
281-465-4693, or contact@inmed.org