Food security and Humanitarian Response
We support vulnerable households through community kitchens, nutrition initiatives, emergency food relief, humanitarian assistance, and food security interventions designed to strengthen local resilience.
Our Services
The realities of hunger, poverty, and economic insecurity often heighten vulnerability to violence and exploitation. Recognising these connections, Ilitha Labantu's Food Security and Humanitarian Response programme addresses immediate needs while helping families and communities build greater stability during times of crisis.
Community-Based Kitchens
Ilitha Labantu’s Community-Based Kitchens provide regular nutritional support through a network of 35 active sites, serving approximately 5,000 meals each day. The kitchens provide prepared meals and, where appropriate, food parcels to respond flexibly to household and seasonal needs.
Beyond food provision, they serve as trusted community hubs where care, dignity and solidarity come together. During periods such as the December holiday closure, food parcels helped ensure vulnerable beneficiaries and their families continued to receive essential support.
Community Nutritional Development Centre
The Community Nutritional Development Centre (CNDC) in Gugulethu provides accessible, consistent nutritional support to community members experiencing severe socio-economic hardship. The programme offers daily meals and food parcels, adapting its support to changing community needs and periods of heightened vulnerability.
Beyond addressing immediate food insecurity, the CNDC serves as a safe and trusted space where beneficiaries can access care, social connection and community support, helping to promote dignity and wellbeing alongside essential nutritional assistance.
Breakfast Programme Initiative
The breakfast programme initiative aims to assist some of the programme’s most vulnerable beneficiaries by providing an additional layer of nutritional support, particularly for individuals who often arrive at programme sites without having had access to a morning meal.
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By supporting daily nutritional intake, the programme contributes to the physical and emotional wellbeing of vulnerable community members while helping to ensure that basic needs are met with dignity and care.
Community Support and Skills Development
Ilitha Labantu complements its food security interventions with skills development, nutrition awareness and community engagement activities that support greater confidence, participation and self-reliance. Targeted food parcel assistance also supports women-led households, alongside collaboration with community organisations and the Department of Social Development.
Facilitated community dialogues provide safe spaces for people to connect, share experiences and develop collective responses to grief, abuse and other social challenges. Together, these interventions address immediate needs while strengthening community resilience, relationships and collective responsibility.