Over the past decade, a strategic collaboration between Oceana Group, Africa’s largest fishing and food company, and the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA) has demonstrated how corporate funding and NGO execution can structurally transform vulnerable communities.
Since 2015, this partnership has channelled over R3.5 million in direct funding from Oceana to PSFA, enabling the organisation to serve more than 2.2 million nutritious cooked meals to schoolchildren across South Africa’s West Coast. Now they are building on that success.
Initially, the focus was on ensuring that children who needed food received school meals. Then, two years ago, a project at a primary school in St Helena Bay sought to make the partnership more impactful.
It has since proved so successful that the concept has been introduced at four other West Coast schools.
Oceana, the largest employer in the area, adopted the School Nutrition Support Programme, which was conceptualised by the Peninsula School Feeding Association and delivered in conjunction with the Western Cape Department of Education.
It is based on the premise of feeding children with dignity, providing nutritious, tasty meals for everyone at the school. This prevents children dependent on school meals from being stigmatised. It also requires providing built-for-purpose facilities and equipment.
For Oceana, which owns the iconic Lucky Star brand, this meant providing proper prefabricated kitchens where none existed, a supervised, clean, comfortable area where children could eat, and plates, cups and utensils.
In 2025 Oceana covered the R712,500 annual cost of providing 285,000 cooked meals to 750 learners.
Petrina Pakoe, Director of the Peninsula School Feeding Association, explains that school meals are the primary source of nutrition for many learners.
“The fact indeed is ‘you can’t teach a hungry child’. Regular access to meals improves concentration and focus in the classroom. Good nutrition is also essential for brain development and cognitive functioning, directly impacting academic success.”
There are other benefits, such as improved school attendance and reduced drop-out rates. A guaranteed meal encourages children to go to and stay in school.
The programme also brings community benefits.
Food handlers from within the local community prepare the meals. They receive fully accredited training from the South African Chef’s Association, providing them with recognised, marketable skills, in addition to the stipend some receive from the school.
A chef oversees the training, which is thorough and includes both theoretical and practical components, as well as assessments. The 17-day course covers food preparation using a variety of ingredients, menu creation, food safety, compliance with regulatory hygiene requirements, and budgeting.
The School Nutrition Support Programme is the latest evolution in a long association between Oceana and Peninsula School Feeding. Between 2015, when the two started collaborating, and 2025, Oceana has funded 2.2 million meals.
Neville Brink, Oceana CEO, says that since they opened the first school kitchen in St Helena Bay in November 2022, the intention was to replicate the programme if successful.
“Speaking to parents, teachers and community leaders, it’s clear that the benefits are considerable. It’s why we’ve committed to continue funding the School Nutrition Support Programme and expand it, where we identify a need.”