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Josette Sheeran, Executive Director, World Food Programme
No child can learn when they are hungry. Yet tens of millions of children go to school hungry every day. As
the lead humanitarian agency in fighting hunger, the World Food Programme (WFP) has made school meals
a critical component in its toolbox of hunger solutions. In 2009, WFP reached nearly 22 million children in
schools in 65 developing countries.
This single intervention, which can cost as little as 25 cents a day, increases enrolment, keeps girls in
school, and improves attention and nutrition. Sufficient nutrition is the foundation for reaching every one
of the eight Millennium Development Goals. School meals are often the first step in a nation’s food security
safety net and WFP has handed over these programmes to 34 nations, most recently to Cape Verde.
With the World Bank Group, the Partnership for Child Development, NEPAD and other partners, WFP
is helping countries develop sustainable national school meals programmes which also connect to local
agriculture and provide farmers with a new market for their crops.
WFP takes great pride in its commitment to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (DESD). We endorse and are working towards the six goals of Education for All (EFA) by
supporting national governments to implement school feeding programmes. With other partners WFP
supports complementary activities to raise awareness of health, nutrition and hygiene, promote girls’
education, and create school gardens. We also safeguard the environment with projects such as fuel-efficient
stoves in schools and water-harvesting.
Josette Sheeran,
Executive Director, World Food Programme