Garden project aims to boost food security

The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures have exposed huge deficiencies in the food supply networks of the poor and vulnerable. Meyer Conradie of Mosaic Community Developments spoke to Glenneis Kriel about how his organisation is addressing this challenge in various communities.

- Meyer Conradie

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Mosaic Community Developments, which helps family members care for orphaned children, is establishing a garden to boost food security.

Residents are taught to grow food, but someone is due to be appointed to look after the garden.

The garden is also intended to have therapeutic value.

Since its founding in 2009, the non-profit organisation Mosaic Community Developments (Mosaic) in Wellington has cared for the physical, emotional and mental well-being of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) participating in its programmes. And over the years, it has evolved ever-better ways of achieving this, improving its techniques and its facilities. For example, to better address the needs of these youngsters, Mosaic recently developed OVCmeasure, an easy-to-use yet scientifically rigorous measuring and evaluation tool specifically designed for OVCs. The tool is the first of its kind in South Africa.

“We tend to focus on the emotional well-being of our children, but they need more than affection and good care to thrive. The aim of OVCmeasure is to take the emotion out of decision-making, and identify and address risks before they turn into real problems,” says Meyer Conradie, CEO of Mosaic.

The tool is used to measure the well-being of children based on emotional, educational and nutritional parameters, and has been made available commercially for other organisations. A group of farmers near Groblershoop in the Northern Cape, for instance, is using the tool to monitor the well-being of children who attend a communal farm school and aftercare services.