Central Co-op and Streethay Primary School join forces to support secondary education in Malawi

Posted by lauryn mellor | Published: 30/10/2024

This summer, in partnership with Central Co-op, Streethay Primary School in Lichfield took part in the 90kg Rice Challenge to help give families in Malawi the opportunity to send their children to secondary school.

The challenge encouraged the students of Streethay Primary School and their families to buy 90kg of True Origin fairly traded Kilombero rice – the amount it takes to fund a young person at secondary school for one year in Malawi.

True Origin Kilombero rice is sold in Central Co-op shops as part of its Our Malawi Partnership - a range of products linked to Malawi in support of producers and farmers, where a proportion from the sales supports farmers and their communities, as well as strengthening trading capacity in Malawi.

In Malawi, primary school is free but secondary education is not, and the buying of True Origin rice supports communities by giving them the option to send their children to school and complete their education.

Not only did the students of Streethay Primary School complete their challenge, but they purchased a total 207 bags of True Origin rice, equalling over 103kg of rice and raising funds for a child to go to secondary in school in Malawi for over a year.

James Knight, Member and Community Relations Officer at Central Co-op, who worked with the school on the Rice Challenge, said: “It was brilliant to hear some of the inventive ways the children used the rice. Some cooked - and I heard all about the tasty meals they made, some donated it to their local foodbank - not only supporting people in Malawi, but also helping local families here in Lichfield, some told me how they had created art with their rice, and one family made musical noise makers!

“The 90kg Rice Challenge is a great way to help educate our young people on what happens with food production in developing countries, and how Our Malawi Partnership at Central Co-op is supporting farmers and the wider community in Malawi.”

Jordan Whitehead, Family Support Worker at Streethay Primary School, added: “Working with Central Co-op on the rice challenge and other projects over the past few months has really allowed us to expand our sense of community. The children have really enjoyed the rice challenge - not only has it really appealed to their natural competitiveness, but the experience has encouraged learning opportunities and engagement with other communities in a real way. The children still reference the challenge weeks on and apply what they’ve learnt to their wider learning. This goes to show the impact the challenge has had on those in Malawi, but also here in Streethay too.”

Howard Msukwa, a smallholder rice farmer in Malawi who supplies True Origin with Kilombero rice visited Streethay in September, commenting: “I would like to thank all the children who took part in the 90kg rice challenge, it’s very encouraging for me as a rice grower and farmer to see young people in the UK supporting their fellow children in Malawi. In our community, education is viewed as an investment in our future and an instrumental tool in life, but because of poverty, families are having to put this down in priority.

“I would like to encourage other schools to do the 90kg rice challenge. We in Africa know that Fairtrade is becoming more well known and we need your help to support your fellow children to go to school.”

For more information on Central Co-op’s community work or to get involved in the 90kg Rice Challenge, please email member.community@centralcoop.co.uk. Details on becoming a Member can be found at Members.coop.

ENDS

For press information
Press Office
pressoffice@centralcoop.co.uk

Lauryn Mellor, PR and Media Specialist at Central Co-op
lauryn.mellor@centralcoop.co.uk
07385 048004