Nearly 1 in 4 South African children
experience severe food poverty (UNICEF, 2024)
According to the World Food Programme, inadequate nutrition in the first 1,000 days can permanently hinder a child’s physical and cognitive development.
Ladles of Love
Early barriers to education
We all know how difficult it can be to concentrate when hungry, let alone focus on a lesson, take in new information or learn something new.
Now imagine being a child who starts every school day that way. This hunger can mean missing out on learning and development that can shape their future.
For thousands of children in South Africa, this hunger is a barrier to learning.
In South Africa¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s low-income communities, early childhood centres often lack the resources, trained staff and tools to provide proper nutrition. Without nutritious food, they struggle to concentrate, participate and learn, setting them back before their education even truly begins.
This is not primarily a hunger crisis; it is a developmental crisis.
Children play energetically at school after their nutritious meals
Ladles of Love Partnership
¹ú²úÊÓƵ has partnered with South African charity Ladles of Love to bring vital, life-changing nutrition to early childhood development (ECD) centres across the country.
Focused on vulnerable children aged 1 to 6, Ladles of Love deliver fresh produce, bulk foods, ingredients and cooking gas to over 60 centres, feeding 4,000 children with two healthy, nourishing meals per day.
Together, our shared reach extends across 168 centres in the Western Cape (Cape Town and surrounding areas), Gauteng (Johannesburg and surrounding areas) and the Northern Cape. Through regular support and weekly monitoring visits, dedicated teams field staff work side-by-side with local leaders to ensure meal consistency and elevate nutritional standards.
Bulellia Vangqa in the Ladles of Love¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s Dignity Kitchen
More than 14,500 children
have been receiving two nutritious meals a day across 168 ECD centres in three provinces.
Through funding, resources, and technical guidance, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ has helped Ladles of Love scale training for more than 250 principals, teachers, and cooks. This support also strengthens child development tracking and sustains collaborative workshops where participants share vital skills, resources, and knowledge.
When Ladles of Love came in, I noticed a difference. The community had confidence in us that the children are eating good food and provided balanced food. Now, we are running a proper school, it¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s a learning environment. And parents are telling each other there is a good school in Delft.Bulellia, Ladles of Love
Sanda¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s story
Sanda¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s son attends Khula Educa ¹ú²úÊÓƵ“ an early years centre that receives meals from Ladles of Love which feeds thousands of local children.
This project forms part of Ready to Learn, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ's early years programme bringing together five organisations across Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Lebanon and India. More than a funding programme, Ready to Learn creates a peer-learning cohort where partners share expertise, lead practical workshops, tackle implementation challenges together and adapt successful approaches for different contexts.
Alongside financial investment, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ is also providing programme co-design, capacity building and technical support to help scale the impact of local solutions that are working.
I think it¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s very important that they are receiving food because it makes them focus and makes them relax.Sanda Jikiti ¹ú²úÊÓƵ“ father
[Before] he couldn¹ú²úÊÓƵ™t write, he couldn¹ú²úÊÓƵ™t do anything. There are a lot of changes from him. The positive thing is that now he wants to go to school every time, even sometimes on weekends.
The journey of a meal doesn¹ú²úÊÓƵ™t end with an empty plate
It ends with a full heart and a child ready to learn and play. Through Ready to Learn, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ helps partners like Ladles of Love strengthen and scale evidence-based solutions that improve children’s earliest learning experiences. No child should have to learn on an empty stomach and by supporting ¹ú²úÊÓƵ, you can help more local innovators reach more children and give them the strongest possible start in life.
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Early childhood development
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