Fighting poverty through village economic development

A non-profit organisation (NPO) in Mpumalanga is helping to fight poverty at grassroots level, by ensuring that children in early childhood development (ECD) centres are well-fed while receiving education. 

Based in Bushbuckridge in the Ehlanzeni District, the Bushbuckridge Crèches Confederation (BCC) was registered in 2022, as part of the BCC cooperative that was established in 2014. The NPO supports ECD programmes of the BCC cooperative, which consists of 55  ECDs. 

Speaking toVuk’uzenzele in an interview, the co-founder of the BCC NPO, Jan Vermeulen, said the organisation closely works with a faith-based organisation from the United States of America (USA) to donate nutritious foods to the ECD centres. However, handouts are only a temporary solution. 

Four years ago, the NPO came up with a long-term solution by starting layer and broiler chicken farms at seven of the 55 ECD centres. This was so that they could produce about a dozen eggs per day and chicken to feed the children and sell the surplus. They use profits to buy the next cycle of chicks to ensure sustainability. 

“This was made possible by the $10 000 funding that we received from the United States Embassy in Pretoria. The funding allowed us to buy equipment to build mobile broiler cages, and to also buy 100 chickens and 12 layer chickens for each of the seven ECD centres,” he explained. 

He added that the NPO strives to provide ECD centres with the necessary resources, support and training to fight poverty through farming initiatives that involve poultry and vegetables. 

“This approach ensures that young children are nourished, while enabling parents and teachers to work and sell excess produce to their communities, and ultimately creating employment and sustainability,” he explained. 

He said the mobile broiler cages allow the ECDs to produce their own fertilisers through chicken manure as they grow vegetables on fertile ground where the mobile broiler cages were initially placed, ultimately practicing permaculture. 

During the 2021/22 financial year, the National Development Agency (NDA) became aware of the existence of the BCC NPO. Impressed by its efforts to alleviate poverty in the area, the NDA approved the NPO’s application for funding to roll-out its poultry and vegetable farming project to 15 more ECD centres, bringing the total to 22. 

“We received the grant funding worth R 688 776 for the project. Over and above building the cages and buying chickens, the money also helped us buy chicken feed, including starter mesh, grower, and finisher pellets. This allowed the centres to grow the layers and broilers to a point of sale for both eggs and chicken,” said Vermeulen. 

He admits that not all ECDs are managing to sustain the model, but the majority are. The BCC NPO is planning to roll-out the programme to the remaining ECDs so all 55 centres are self-sustainable, alleviate poverty and create employment for locals. 

The NPO strongly believes that through village economic development, South Africa can win a fight against poverty because it is a model that uses available community assets supported by local labour. 

The NPO continues to work with the international faith-based organisation that recently donated nutritious food supplies for the 55 ECD centres. 

Child Protection Week 

Vuk’uzenzele highlighted the work of the NPO as the country commemorates the annual National Child Protection Week from 29 May to 5 June, to raise awareness of the rights of children as articulated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Children's Act (Act No. 38 of 2005).

The campaign is led by the Department of Social Development in partnership with key government departments and civil society organisations rendering child protection services.

Government calls on all South Africans to support Child Protection Week by ensuring that children do not suffer from abuse, neglect, violence and exploitation.