Food micro-enterprises for food security in an urban slum community in East London : development of an awareness-creating programme

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The aim of the study was to develop the content of a programme to increase the awareness of women inDuncan Village of I) the potential role of food micro-enterprises in the improvement of food security; 2)the consumer demand concerning the operations of food micro-enterprises; and 3) appropriate microenterprisetraining programmes available in the greater East-London area. This was based on anidentified need for the inclusion of a module on food security in a comprehensive programme to preventgrowth failure in 0 to 24-month-old children attending local government clinics in Duncan Village byimproving the capacity of mothers or primary caregivers to care for their children.Food security is defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.The potential role of food micro-enterprises in the improvement of food security was established througha literature review. It was established that street foods contribute to individual food security byproviding food where people work or congregate at cheap prices, thus increasing availability. It alsohelps in meeting energy and nutritional needs if safe, nutritious food is provided. The main method bywhich it increases an individual's access to food is by supplying an income to food micro-enterpriseowners if they sell street foods.The consumer demand concerning the operations (including the products) of food micro-enterprises wasdetermined through personal interviews with the customers and non-customers of food micro-enterprisesin Duncan Village, using a structured questionnaire. One hundred and twenty-nine customers and 129non-customers were selected using a combination of cluster and convenience sampling. Food microenterprisesoperating at the schools and on pavements in Duncan Village and at the taxi rank in EastLondon were included. The results of this particular survey indicate that the consumer behaviour isinfluenced by the trade area where the customers purchase their food, the age and gender of thecustomers as well as the friendliness of the vendor. The product choice of consumers was mostlydetermined by taste, price and how filling the food is. There was general satisfaction with the operatingtimes of, and the products sold by, food micro-enterprises. Street food consumers were least satisfiedwith the locations where the enterprises were situated. The dusty environment was given as a reason fordissatisfaction. Further, cleanliness of the food, the vendor and the environment were the main problemscited, especially by the non-customers.The appropriateness of micro-enterprise training programmes available in the greater East London areafor current and prospective food micro-enterprise owners in Duncan Village was determined bycompiling a profile of food micro-enterprises, their owners and their business operations in DuncanVillage; identifying the features of the ideal training programme for current and prospective food microenterpriseowners in Duncan Village; investigating the supply of micro-enterprise training in the greaterEast London area; and evaluating the appropriateness of the identified training programmes.The profile of food micro-enterprises in Duncan Village owned by women, included a profile of theowners, the enterprise itself as well as the business operations thereof. The data were gathered by meansofa personal interview (using a structured questionnaire) with the owners of food micro-enterprises. Theenterprises included in the study were operated by women producing and trading processed foods fromnon-permanent structures at schools and on pavements in Duncan Village, as well as at the taxi ranks inEast London. Systematic sampling techniques were used to select food micro-enterprises at the schoolswhile all the enterprises at the pavements and at the taxi rank were included. This resulted in theinclusion of 41 food micro-enterprises. The results indicated that the profiles of these owners do notdiffer significantly from micro-enterprise owners operating in the informal sector elsewhere in SouthAfrica. Furthermore, they indicated a clear need for training in all aspects regarding their businessoperations.The identification of the features of the ideal micro-enterprise training programme for the training ofcurrent and prospective female food micro-enterprise owners operating in Duncan Village was based onthe profiles of street food consumers and food micro-enterprise owners, discussions with experts and onthe literature. The identified features were used for the development of a framework to evaluate theappropriateness of micro-enterprise training in the greater East London area for current and prospectivefood micro-enterprise owners in Duncan Village.The supply of micro-enterprise training in the greater East London area for food micro-enterprise ownerswas investigated using a structured questionnaire, completed during a personal interview with thetraining managers of the organisations. All governmental and non-governmental organisations in thearea offering training programmes with the objective to motivate and enable persons to establish a microenterprisein the informal sector; or with the objective to enable established micro-enterprises to operatemore efficiently within the informal sector, were included in the study population. These organisationswere identified through snowball sampling and resulted in ten organisations and 17 programmes beingincluded.Subsequently, the appropriateness of micro-enterprise training programmes available in the greater EastLondon area for current and prospective food micro-enterprise owners in Duncan Village was evaluatedusing the Evaluation Framework. The results indicate that only one programme, combining businessmanagement and cooking skills, could be rated as appropriate for current and prospective food microenterpriseowners in Duncan Village. Five other programmes could be rated as moderately appropriatefor particular groups. These programmes, with the exception of one, included business managementskills and no cooking skills. The remaining programmes were rated as either not very appropriate orinappropriate for current and prospective food micro-enterprise owners in Duncan Village.It is concluded that a need for the mentioned awareness-creating programme exists. Furthermore, it isrecommended that the programme developed in this research, be used as basis for the household foodsecurity module of the comprehensive programme.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University