No child should ever go hungry. Yet in South Africa, more than 1.5 million children are battling malnutrition and its long-term effects, including stunting.
Stunting occurs when children are too short for their age, as a result of chronic undernutrition.

According to the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town, stunted children are more likely to face developmental delays, struggle in school, experience higher rates of unemployment when they become adults, and suffer from chronic health conditions like obesity, hypertension, and diabetes in adulthood.

FoodForward SA’s Mother and Child Nutrition Programme was launched to address this critical issue.

Since its launch in 2023, the programme has achieved significant success, with many mothers reporting noticeable improvements in their children’s growth and development.

The FoodForward SA team recently visited some of the mothers and children enrolled in our Mother and Child Nutrition Programme in Cape Town to check in on their progress—and we couldn’t be more inspired by what we saw.

Here are are some of their stories:

Nolubabalo, a 35-year-old mother, shared the progress of her 11-month-old daughter, Iyomaq Ngema: “Since joining the programme three months ago, my daughter has grown so much. She started at 6 kg, and now she’s a healthy 7 kg. We are so grateful for the support.”

ChristinaMuguti says her child, Tsinevimbo, is thriving: “Thanks to the food we received her every month, Tsinevimbo went from 11.1 kg to 11.9 kg. She eats well, and I can see how much happier and more energetic she is.”

Desiree Lottering says her daughter, Faith, was born weighing just 290 grams:
“Faith is one year old now, and she weighs 10kg. I’ve also seen my own growth—I went from 50kg to 70 kg. We’re both doing well.”

We’re excited to announce the expansion of the Mother and Child Programme with launches in Ceres and Worcester, where 100 new beneficiaries, including five pregnant mothers, will receive monthly high-protein food boxes to support their children’s nutritional development.

A heartfelt thank you to our sponsors—Do More Foundation, One Farm Share, Kellanova, Quantum Foods, Premier Foods, DBSA, FNB, Oceana Group, and PepsiCo—for your invaluable support of this vitally important programme.

If you’d like to contribute, consider joining our festive campaign by donating as little as R350 towards a Festive Food Box, or R750 to fill a whole box.

To donate, visit our website at https://foodforwardsa.org/donate/ or follow us on social media for more information.