Critical Public Health, Vol. 13, No. 2, 155



?169, June 2003

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

KIM RAINE1, LYNN MCINTYRE2 & JUTTA B. DAYLE3
1University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 2Dalhousie University,
Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Canada; 3Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada

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 caregiving.
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.