I think that we need to consider the full opportunity that social protection even in modest scales can achieve if done in an appropriate manner.
The Peanut CRSP in collaboration with the Society for Sustainable Operational Strategy, and Beacon Foundation in Guyana has over the past 10 years fostered what we believe is a great example of achieving development, social protection, economic growth, nutrition, empowerment of women in a very remote region.
At he start of the project the Rupununi Region (20K people living in 20K sq.miles, 6 hours drive from the coast) schools were provided milk and biscuits transported from the coast for children but there was little use of this resource due to lactose intolerance. The region produced about 15 t of groundnut, and women had very little prospect of employment. The country imported 500 tonnes of peanut.
By improving production, persuading the Ministry of Education to replace the unused milk/biscuits feeding program with a locally provisioned peanut butter/cassava bread/fruit juice snack we now have improved nutrition, greater school attendance, a significant employment for women making peanut butter for the schools and local market. Farmers have a local market and are more competitive with imported groundnuts on the coast.
Tim Williams