Mary's Meals Liberia Project

Duns Rotary Club first became aware of Mary's Meals in 2007-08 and decided to support the charity by raising funds to build a kitchen in Malawi, now at Kabango.  Fundraising for Mary's Meals struck a chord with people in Berwickshire and we received more funds than were needed just for the Kabango School kitchen.

In 2009 Mary's Meals was a featured charity at the Rotary District 1020 Conference in York and this stimulated more interest. At the same time Rotary International established its Future Vision pilot and District 1020 was one of the 100 Districts to participate. In January 2010 the new grants system set up by RI Foundation was explained and clubs were encouraged to work together to harness its potential.

At the District Assembly in May 2010 the Rotary Club of Duns made the case for supporting Mary's Meals as a potential Global Grant and secured the support of 15 other Rotary clubs in the District. We discussed with Mary's Meals how best we could support their work in the Districts covered by the Future Vision pilot and, with the agreement of our 15 supporting Rotary Clubs, their operations in Liberia were thus identified. To help take the project forward we sought the help of the Sinkor Rotary Club as an international partner, because of their proximity to the project on the ground and their experience in working with the grants framework.

With the backing of all these Rotary Clubs, the approval by Rotary Foundation of a Global Grant will enable a project worth $48000 US to be put in place in Liberia, consolidating the existing school feeding programme and enabling a 25% expansion in the number of children it reaches.

This will make a very big difference to poor children in Liberia. Mary's Meals is targeting the estimated half a million children enrolled at schools in Liberia who are not covered by the World Food Programme. Currently Mary's Meals provides school meals to 24,000 children and with this funding would be able to increase that number by 25% in the next year.

The benefits of school meals have been identified (in a 2008 external evaluation of World Food Programme activities) as "an important factor in revitalising the education system in rural areas and encouraging the return and resettlement of displaced populations." (see link below).  This is particularly important given the practice of enforcing the participation of child soldiers in the internal conflicts.

Mary's Meals enhances that effect by its focus on grassroots support and the involvement of farmers as well as parents and teachers. Day to day running of the programme is carried out by volunteers and managed by each school's parent teachers association (which is required by law in Liberia). Local volunteers cook and serve the meal, which comprises rice and sauce with fish (at a cost of approximately $27.00 per year ) and the local community provides some of the meal ingredients (greens/oil). In addition, because farming has been so disrupted by the long internal conflicts which ended only in 2005,Mary's Meals has established a rice farm as an agriculture project to encourage local people to start farming again, and to provide some locally produced rice in the meals that are served. These arrangements create local buy-in to the programme and help minimise costs.

The funds channelled through the Duns and Sinkor Rotary Clubs will go specifically to renewing and enhancing the charity's local transport facilities for taking foodstuffs to schools.

Two vehicles will be bought for the school feeding programme in Liberia to replace vehicles that are coming to the end of their life, and to assist Mary's Meals to expand the programme from 24,000 children to 30,000 children. The small village roads in Liberia are very testing for any vehicle and as the programme is scaled up more and more reliance will be placed on the vehicles. One pick-up is 22 years old and no longer viable to repair, while the other is 18 years old and is in constant need of repair. For the school feeding programme to expand as intended and as required both these vehicles must be replaced with newer ones and the funds secured with a Rotary Foundation Global Grant will ensure this happens.

Liberia faces many constraints in terms of its infrastructures, and its recovery from the destruction of farms, livelihoods and social networks as a direct result of years of war. Ventures into long-term development, which have sustainable potential are badly needed, and must happen in tandem with addressing immediate and urgent needs. Mary's Meals is involved in both aspects, helping regenerate schools, assist farming communities and provide direct help to the neglected and marginalised. Duns Rotary Club believes that by creating this project through a Global Grant Rotary International will, through Mary's Meals, be assisting with many key needs in Liberia, not just in the short-term but also in the long-term.

Update 04 May 2011

The full global grant has been approved by The Rotary Foundation meaning that some of $48000 has been made available to the Mary's Meals project in Liberia and new trucks have now been purchased..  

Abeer Macintyre, Mary