FoodBank South Africa has been formed to be the national voice -- and much more -- for a network of community foodbanks being formed around the country.  The first such foodbank, FoodBank Cape Town, will open its doors on 2 March. It will immediately become the largest foodbank in Africa. We at FoodBank South Africa also are helping foodbanks in several other cities which hope to get up and running within months.  We are beginning to plan projects to provide equally vital support to rural areas. Over the next few years our mandate is clear: to provide massively increased food support to the millions of people in this country who desperately need it.

FoodBank South Africa was established following 18 months of preparatory research and discussion. We acknowledge with particular appreciation the commitment of the South Africa Forum for Food Security and the initiative of the Global FoodBanking Network.  Additionally, numerous other people, including those from many NGOs around the country, have made invaluable contributions.  We would like to extend a huge vote of appreciation -- on behalf of our ultimate clients, the hungry of South Africa -- to everyone involved. You've created an opportunity for us to make an impact.  We look forward to rising to the challenge, with your continuing support.  We hope you will all understand that it will take time for us to reach full capacity, but through a combination of hard work and careful recruitment we'll get there.

FoodBank South Africa was established by transforming an existing s21 not-for-profit company, Feedback Food Redistribution. However, FoodBank South Africa is much more than simply Feedback under a different name.  The new organisation is anchored by a time-tested governance model including broad representation--from food producers, government, religious organisations, other NGOs and, increasingly, the community foodbanks themselves. We will seek to add further to our Board to ensure that the end product is representative of the country as a whole.

Let's talk about the foodbanks first.  In essence, foodbanks procure food, mostly donated ("food" in this context may include a broad range of grocery products).  The food is first transported to a warehouse, where it is inspected to ensure its quality and safety and the branding is defaced to protect the donors.  The food is sorted, and any surplus food can be stored hygienically, using refrigeration where required.  Food sorted into nutritionally balanced parcels is then distributed to "agencies".  These agencies are in turn NGOs which make the food available to the hungry as part of their own mandate. We will be serving a broad spectrum of thousands of Agencies, such as HIV clinics, primary schools and old age homes.

FoodBank Cape Town is being formed by merging the food relief efforts of three leading projects in Cape Town, namely (in alphabetic order) Feedback Food Redistribution, Lions Club and the Robin Good Initiative.  The willingness of the three ventures to hurdle the challenges of co-operating and pooling their efforts in the interests of synergy is a wonderful example to us all.  This merger is creating co-operation in place of competition for food, and offers huge delivery and other logistical efficiencies.  From virtually day one, the project will create a much greater capacity than the combined efforts of the three individual NGOs.

Feedback's food relief projects in three other cities also will be divested and merged with the efforts of other food distribution organisations to help seed the foodbanks in those cities.  This will leave the company, renamed as FoodBank South Africa, as the "national head office" providing support to and oversight of each of the community foodbanks. In its support role, FoodBank South Africa will negotiate with potential food donors--food manufacturers, retailers, farmers etc.  Dozens of other countries already have foodbanking systems, and their experience suggests that speaking with one voice on behalf of the network will dramatically increase the amount of food made available.  Similarly, we will liaise with government for support for the network and in this regard we are delighted by our very constructive and supportive discussions thus far. We will nurture efficiencies, for example in delivery logistics.  We will create a national image for the system, and will fundraise on a national level.  In our oversight role, we will set and monitor quality control standards. These will protect the agencies and the people who benefit from their food, as well as the food and other donors.

We hope that you will understand that this is a gross summary to keep this newsletter short.  Additional details will be available in future newsletters or upon enquiry to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  We also are working to establish our website and will publicise it once it is ready.