South Africa unrest: We are not a failed state, but a failed global system
South Africa encapsulates global inequalities – and the kinds of tumult we’ll see more and more of worldwide – inside national borders....
22 July, 2021
The Crisis in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng with Mervyn Abrahams
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ouadevNAVnI&feature=share...
22 July, 2021
Streamlining Governance challenges in Civil Society Organisations – how not to scare funders?
In early 2021, Seriti Institute, through one of its programmes, Seriti PARTNER, identified good governance and financial management as a serious challenge in NGOs, CBOs and CSOs. Seriti PARTNER was designed with an intention of strengthening CSOs contributions to the communities they work with and...
22 June, 2021
A child-centred food system
The 2020 Child Gauge contends that the current food system is driving the double burden of malnutrition and damaging both children’s health and the environment. This is because it does not consider children or their health and is increasingly flooded by cheap, unhealthy food....
04 March, 2021
Strengthening local food networks for food systems transformation
The objective of the Strengthening local food networks for food systems transformation Project is to reconnect and recalibrate local food systems in eThekwini Municipality and iLembe District Municipality. Much of the initial groundwork of this project has been based on dialogue, but in order to transition...
28 January, 2021
Turning Short-Term Crisis Relief Into Longer-Term Social Innovation
Civil society responses to COVID-19 in South Africa have shown remarkable agility, scope, and impact in the last nine months, especially in responding to the most-pressing problem in many vulnerable communities: hunger. However, these civil society efforts are now facing new challenges....
05 December, 2020
Covid-19 Roundup | Food and water shortages
22 May 2020: Graffiti reminds residents of the Matharea settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, to sanitise during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rich countries have already secured more than a billion doses of vaccines. (Photograph by Reuters/ Baz Ratner) Food aid not distributed The KwaZulu-Natal department of social development has...
24 November, 2020
South Africa’s children are too short and too fat, going against the global trend
A Lancet article reporting on children’s height and weight changes over the past 30 years makes for grim reading when it comes to South Africa. ...
24 November, 2020
The Eastern Cape is South Africa’s land of hunger
Jobless people in the country’s most impoverished province join the growing social grant queues before dawn on empty stomachs, having run out of food for the month....
24 November, 2020
Covid-19 relief grant misses the mark for children
More than seven million caregivers and 13 million children have been plunged deeper into poverty as payouts of the R500 caregiver grant top-up ended in October....
24 November, 2020
Covid-19 has taught us we cannot separate social from environmental justice
With more than 200 days of lockdown disruptions under our belts, many of us have found that our understanding of the world in which we live has shifted and we don’t want to return to (ab)normal, nor should we....
27 October, 2020
What Will it Take to Transform the Food System? Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
What thoughts, actions and capacities are required to build a more equitable food system in SA. We hear from Community Chest CEO, Lorenzo Davids, WWF Programme Impact Lead, Tatjana von Bormann and UCT Professor, Ralph Hamann. ...
19 October, 2020
Building a sustainable food system for SA post-COVID
The immediate impacts of the COVID-19 public health crisis and the lockdown imposed from 27 March 2020 revealed the deep fragility of the South African food system. This disruption has clearly led to a period of deep uncertainty and change, but has also created an...
16 October, 2020
Food Systems Webinar: What Will it Take to Transform the Food System? Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
What will it take to transform the food system? Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us on Friday 16 October 11:00-12:00 as we explore what thoughts, actions and capacities are required in order to build a more equitable food system....
05 October, 2020
A broken system: The hunger crisis plaguing South Africa
In a Jacana ‘Don’t Shut Up’ conversation with Maverick Citizen editor Mark Heywood, author Tracy Ledger explains the direct link between malnutrition and a propensity for violence. From abused farmworkers to a lack of coordination at all levels of government, the food system not only...
22 September, 2020
The effect of Covid-19 on the food system: ‘The cost of feeding a child increased by 5%’
In South Africa, more than nine million children live in food-insecure households, and according to findings of a local survey, South Africans count the fear of food shortages and loss of income a close second to the fear of contracting the coronavirus. "The novel coronavirus...
10 September, 2020
Reports from the coalface: Informal traders share their lockdown stories of survival and making do
By Lelona Mxesibe - 27 August 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the spotlight on the importance of the informal economy as a means of survival for South Africa’s 2.9 million citizens without access to formal employment – as well as their resulting vulnerability. This is another...
10 September, 2020
The impact of FoodFlow through COVID-19
Through the past 5 months, Food Flow have spent over R1.6 Million in purchases from small scale farmers, fishers and producers supporting more than 400 livelihoods all while getting food into more than 30 communities in 3 provinces. The organisation's Impact Report tells the story of...
28 August, 2020
Obesity increases risk of Covid-19 death by 48%, study finds
Obesity increases the risk of dying of Covid-19 by nearly 50% and may make vaccines against the disease less effective, according to a comprehensive study using global data. The findings, which the lead researcher described as “scary”, show that the risks for people with obesity are greater...
27 August, 2020
Webinar: The Crucial Intersection Between Human and Planetary Health
Yesterday (19 August 2020) the Food Lab together with Community Chest co-hosted a webinar considering the link between human and planetary health. Marcelle Mentor (from Columbia University) highlighted the critical importance of education when it comes to nutrition and noted that food insecurity is not...
20 August, 2020