World Food Program USA

School meals programs involve just what the name implies – providing meals in schools. The idea is simple; the impact is significant. Serving food at school not only helps alleviate hunger among the world’s poorest children, it also helps get them into school, providing them with an important key to a better future – an education.

Where school meals programs are offered, enrollment and attendance rates increase significantly, particularly for girls. Students also stay in school longer. Academic performance improves, as well; students with a full stomach concentrate better and comprehend material more quickly.

Thanks to WFP, more than 20 million children in 70 of the world’s poorest countries are being fed every school day. The food provided is always culturally appropriate, ranging from porridge made of fortified corn and soy to a meal of corn, peas and beans.

It costs approximately 25 cents to fill a cup with a nutritious meal for a child in school.

Girls’ EducationThrough its school meals programs, WFP places special emphasis on girls’ education. In areas where enrollment rates for girls are particularly low, WFP works with families and communities to help make it possible for girls to attend school.

In some cases, a girl’s good attendance is rewarded with food for her family. These take-home rations can be eaten by the family or sold to make up for the loss of the girl’s labor at home. This kind of program makes education affordable and encourages families to send their daughters to school.

School meals programs also help expand the reach of a number of other important activities, including de-worming campaigns and HIV/AIDS education.

WFP supports initiatives that help empower local farmers in developing countries and address long-term hunger needs. An example of this is the newly launched Purchase for Progress (P4P) program, which benefits from generous support by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. 

P4P aims to give small-scale farmers access to reliable markets and the opportunity to sell their surplus crops to WFP at competitive prices. By purchasing crops from local farmers, the program helps them increase their household incomes – a critical component in solving hunger and poverty at the very core. Buying locally also helps WFP distribute food more quickly to those who need it most. 

"It’s a win-win,” says WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran. "We help our beneficiaries who have little or no food, and we help local farmers who have little or no access to markets.” 

P4P will be piloted in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America: 

Africa: Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia 

Latin America: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua 

Asia: Afghanistan and Laos

Visit WFP.org to learn more about this program » (http://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress)

WFP supports the value of work and of helping people acquire the training necessary to feed their families and rebuild their nations in the wake of armed conflict and natural disasters.

WFP’s food for work programs offer food as payment when people go to work—building roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, ports and other essential elements of their communities’ infrastructure. Meanwhile, food for training programs provide food for those who participate in projects that teach a skill, such as sewing or gardening, or offer education on nutrition and health issues.

Howard G. Buffett, a WFP Ambassador Against Hunger, has traveled throughout Africa and Asia, seeing firsthand how food for training programs work. “From emergency relief to development assistance, WFP gives hope to many while saving lives every day,” he noted.

Some 60 percent of the world’s chronically hungry people are women and girls. This is because women often have unequal access to resources, education and income, and because they participate less in decision-making.

When hunger and undernutrition affect women, they also affect their children. More than 19 million children are born annually with low birth weight, often the result of their mothers receiving inadequate nutrition before and during pregnancy.

These babies born with low birth weight are 20 times more likely to die in infancy, and those who survive are more likely to remain malnourished throughout childhood. It is also likely they will face health and learning difficulties throughout their lives.

This means that hunger and its consequences are passed from generation to generation.

But women are not merely victims of hunger. They are also the most effective solution to combating and preventing hunger.

In many countries, women form the backbone of the agricultural sector and food systems, making up the bulk of agricultural laborers. They also play a key role in guaranteeing food security for the entire household. Experience shows that in the hands of women, food is far more likely to reach the mouths of needy children.

WFP is committed to using its policies, programs and actions to promote women’s empowerment as a key to improving food security for all.

Visit WFP.org to learn more about this program » (http://www.wfp.org/focus-on-women)