The University of Pretoria has launched a Giving Month campaign to encourage donations of all kinds to deal with student hunger and to reduce financial exclusion challenges that the university cannot tackle alone. Sowetan caught up with the varsitys senior development specialist, Dagmar Kahn, who said theyve seen an improvement in students grades from those benefiting from the Student Nutrition and Progress Programme initiative, which started in 2009.
Sowetan: What triggered the initiative and the decision to implement it?
Kahn: Food insecurity is something that is very prevalent in SA. According to a study done by the higher education department, between 11 and 38 of students across higher education institutions in SA are suffering from food insecurity. So thats roughly one in three students who dont have enough food. So, because of this desperate need, we decided to launch this campaign.
Sowetan: Is this initiative going to assist students across all your campuses?
Kahn: All students have to apply to the programme at the beginning of each semester because peoples circumstances could change during each semester. We receive over 2,000 applications, but were only able to support 250 of those, and thats across all campuses. We distribute two parcels of non-perishable food items a month. Those students who cant get to the Hatfield campus are given meal vouchers.