Educational School Gardens and Feeding Programs

TPP has consistently supported Naitolia Schools' feeding program since it first partnered with Naitolia in 2011. TPP first constructed a school kitchen with an efficient stove and food storage room to help Naitolia qualify for World Food Programme (WFP) aid. The WFP supported Naitolia's feeding programs through mid-2014. Villagers contributed funds to purchase water for cooking meals until late 2012 when the village government began covering the cost of weekly water deliveries to the newly-installed water storage tank.

In 2014, WFP was restructured and ended its support to Naitolia. Therefore TPP assisted the Monduli District in mobilizing communities to revitalize school farms. Naitolia began cultivating a three-acre school farm with green gram, a high-protein legume, and ngwara, a drought-resistant cowpea. A drought in the 2014 and 2015 seriously affected harvest yields. Nevertheless, ngwara was harvested and sold to purchase supplies like oil, salt, and soda ash for the feeding program. TPP purchased an additional 2,000 kilos of beans and maize and MSU study abroad students fundraised to purchase 2,000 kilos of maize for school meals. These efforts allowed the program to run uninterrupted, providing more than 400 school lunches per day through June 2016.

Later in 2016, students and teachers planted a 1.5-acre school garden for additional food and experiential learning. Teachers made lessons on various subjects in the garden setting such as plant science, nutrition, and agricultural economics.

To reduce vulnerability to drought, an expert from the ECHO East Africa Impact Center met with Naitolia teachers and TPP staff in 2017 to recommend alternative agricultural techniques. In 2018, ECHO and TPP supported Naitolia in constructing a specialized 75,000-liter water collection pond called a hafir next to the primary school farm. The hafir captures enough water to meet the needs of the farm and ensure a successful harvest.

TPP continues to partner with Naitolia's school committees to manage the feeding programs. School committees have been mobilizing the community to improve the gardens' rainwater collection systems and bring manure from the cattle dip to compost for fertilizer. In 2019, the committee covered 25% of program costs by organizing community contributions. TPP provides additional funding as necessary to ensure all 500 of Naitolia's students receive a free lunch daily. TPP will continue to partner with village school committees and Monduli District to better understand how to create sustainable school feeding programs in resource poor communities.