The failure of charitable school- and community-based nutrition programmes to feed hungry children

Abstract

Growing rates of child poverty in Canada and recognition of relationships among poverty, compromised nutrition, health and educational opportunities have led to a proliferation of child-feeding programmes. The purpose of this paper is to explore the contributions of charitable school- and community-based nutrition programmes toward meeting their goal of feeding hungry children through a critical ethnography of nine diverse programmes in Atlantic Canada. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that programmes were initiated in response to perceived hunger rather than to documented need, and were characterized by an ideology of service. Although some hungry children were being fed, only a minority of the target population was being reached. Failure to reach poor children could be partly attributed to parental resistance for fear of stigmatization. To a large extent, feeding hungry children became displaced by goals of nutritional improvement for all children, and care-giving. Programmes, therefore, largely failed in their mandate. The programmes believed they provided a solution to child hunger, yet the authors observed cases in which feeding programmes were alienating and stigmatizing, weakening the status of poor children and families. The charitable model keeps hunger out of public debate by drawing attention away from the underlying causes. This depoliticization legitimizes hunger as a matter of charity, not social justice. Alternatively, the social justice model attempts to reduce dependency and programme need through a commitment to addressing poverty and social inequities. If conceived from a social justice rather than a charitable perspective, it is possible that child-feeding programmes may be part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance food security through poverty reduction.