We make healthy nutritious dense food available at an affordable price in low and medium income urban townships, through a network of Collaborative Partners

1. A Food Access Social Network.

2. Outin Food Access Social Network
Its a food access social network, that will make Healthy nutritious dense food available at an
affordable price in low & medium income urban townships. By forming collaborative network
partnership with supplies of healthy food products. A collaborative network driven by a deep
understanding of unmet nutrition needs, aspiration and preferences of consumers who remain
underserved by markets and face limited access to affordable nutritious foods. (An Innovation Evolution,
sight & life magazine)
Outin food access social network it’s an evolving network which has its structural formation and
setup from a cultural practice in urban townships called Stokvel, a group saving scheme providing
for mutual and financial wellbeing as well as social and entertainment needs. The word emanates
from the term “stock fair” which was used to describe auctions run by English settlers in the 19th
century (Calvin and Coetzee 2010). Although primarily set up for the auctioning of cattle, the stock
fairs were a forum for farmers and labourers to gather, socialize, and sometimes pool money
together to purchase livestock (Irving 2005). It is thus widely agreed that the essence i.e. act of
groups of people meeting to socialise with the potential of financial gain, as well as the name of
this being coined Stokvels in the modern day, was a gradual evolution from the stock fair
phenomenon (Calvin and Coetzee 2010) (Lukhele 1990) (Townsen and Mosala 2009).

3. Situation Analysis
The evolution and growth of Stokvels has inspired the formation of Outin food access social network. The
stock fair era has been associated with the need for survival strategies to mobilize financial resources
which the current South African Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni argues were initiated by the
disadvantaged black community during South Africa’s previous dispensation in a bid to cope with
economic oppression grounded in race and class exploitation (Mboweni 1990).
Its evolution has inspired a need to introduce a strategy to mobilize citizens in resource-poor settings like
SA urban townships, since dietary diversity is often difficult to achieve due to poor food availability and
financial access constraints. As a result, diets in such settings tend to be monotonous, consisting
predominantly of starchy staple foods. Although a good source of energy, staples such as cereals, roots
and tubers provide only a limited supply of essential (micro)nutrients.
This limited access to affordable healthy nutritious dense food has lead to a food crisis situation. Since
1994 the changing dietary patterns and the ever increasing presence of highly processed foods has
contributed to the prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). According to Statistics South Africa
top ten of the leading causes of death rank 2nd, 3rd and 7th respectively in 2014 ( cardiovascular diseases,
diabetes and hypertensive diseases). At the same time South Africa still battles with household food
insecurity and malnutrition. The latest South African Nutrition and Health Examination Survey indicates
that 28% of SA population were at risk of hunger and 26% experience hunger. Malnutrition threatens to
significantly dent South Africa’s economic growth, social prosperity and to wipe-out the entire health
budget in future if not address.

4. Food Access Social Network Goal
It’s a network which connects citizens of a targeted community/neighbourhood through a well establish cultural
practice in urban township, whereby food sharing, borrowing and group buying is a common practice among social
get-together in urban townships like stokvels since 1932 (Lukhele 1990).
Outin Food Access social network it’s a citizens network that demonstrates the spirit of solidarity and translate the
value of food into social capital which has a powerful exchange value in a context of forming an informal food
safety net whilst address malnutrition at household level in SA urban townships .
A citizens healthy food intervention network, whereby citizens/communities can be educated on what constitute a
healthy balanced diet and what are the micro(nutrients) needed daily to tackle malnutrition, obesity and Non-
communicable diseases (NCDs).
The network will present different healthy food products of our collaborative network of suppliers in our portfolio
to the target market and give the citizen an opportunity to select which products they prefer to eat after sampling
products from our portfolio, then will assist them to develop their own neighbourhood “foundational food
basket” based on identified micro(nutrients) lacking in that target market segment/community.
Also the host/hostess of Outin network will be citizens within the targeted community inviting their neighbours,
family, friends, to a dinner/lunch get-together in their homes to sample and be educated about healthy nutrient
dense food within our portfolio.
The citizens/target market will give us feedback on what they prefer to eat from our portfolio of healthy food
products, then will develop an affordable “foundational food basket” for the community that will be available
through Outin neighbourhood food access social network weekly. The foundational food basket will be based on
citizens preference guided by the South African Food Based Diet Guidelines(SAFBDG) and the micro(nutrients)
we’ve identified to be lacking within the targeted community based on consumption patterns of the target
market.

5. Implementation Set-up
Simply put, Outin Food access social network is an evolving South Africa’s version of a stokvel. Typically
made up of 10-30 neighbours (citizens) who meet weekly through the neighbourhood food access social
network whereby they borrow, share and buy food in groups. The idea is to supply citizens with healthy
nutritious dense food, through the neighbour social network and provide the neighbours with a seven day
“fondational food basket” of nutrient dense food, full of micro(nutrients) essential to prevent Non-
communicable Diseases(NCDs), Malnutrition, obesity and under-nutrition in SA low and medium income
urban townships.
Through the network will be able to reach 1000 household per month in the targeted communities
through hosting Outin food access neighbourhood dinner/lunch social get-together, will host about 200
neighbours (citizens) per week to pre-test and stimulate target market demand for healthy nutritious
dense food, and develop a neighbourhood seven day “foundational food basket”. Whilst responding to
citizens demand for convenience, time saving, health and palatability.
Food is a natural resource an agricultural output and a primary source of human wellbeing. The pilot
project to be implemented in Palm Springs and Orange Farm has identified that 2 in 5 households are food
insecure, so each section (subplace) in Palm Springs and Orange Farm has about +/- 400 households per
subplace and 120 households are food insecure.