January 24, 2022
News
In Iraq, we partnered with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Iraqi government to work together to improve the national education of local schoolchildren and assist local livelihoods through a school feeding programme. Thanks to the subsidized meals, school attendance will increase and most importantly, children will not go hungry during school hours.
To continue with education, hunger must be eliminated
Each day, hundreds of children in Iraq attend school on an empty stomach or skip classes due to hunger. The data shows how critical the meal is for learning and a child's healthy development. And this is especially true for girls, who are expected to work and help around the house, instead of attending school.
Healthy meals can prevent dropouts and improve children's performance. School feeding not only provides food for young girls and boys, but also empowers girls by requiring them to attend school and decreasing the likelihood of early marriage.
Families in conflict-affected countries spend the majority of their income on feeding their children, and such programmes help them reduce poverty by allowing them to save this money. Through school feeding, young boys and girls are provided not only with nutritious food, but also with the opportunity to develop new, healthy habits and skills. Moreover, the programme can help to enhance social inclusion and alleviate poverty.
This is the reason why the World Food Programme (WFP) and Caritas Czech Republic (CCR) are working together to help young boys and girls maintain and increase their enrolment, attendance, and retention levels in formal education, while also supporting local livelihoods in selected communities.
Healthy lunches for more than 23 000 children in Iraq
With the support of the Iraqi government, the two partners are providing nutritious and healthy lunches to 136 schools and 23,704 young boys and girls, while also helping the local economy and vendors.
This programme provides a nutritious lunch and hygiene promotion sessions to some of the most vulnerable children, both girls and boys, in order to encourage healthy behaviour and reduce school dropout rates. The food is purchased from local markets and vendors, thereby contributing to the local economy.
The project is implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP) in partnership with Caritas Czech Republic with the financial support of the government of Iraq.
