Since 3 August, the World Food Programme (WFP) in coordination with the Ministry of Education has resumed its school feeding programme, aiming to reach more than 230,000 schoolchildren through daily on-site feeding with High Energy Biscuits in over 1,800 schools across three states and one region according to a media release from the organisation on 4 August.
Resumption of school feeding is taking place in 22 townships in Shan State, 7 townships in Magway Region, 1 township in Chin State and will proceed in another 17 townships. The resumption is delayed in some flood-affected areas until after schools are re-opened when the floods completely recede.
In support of the Government of Myanmar’s readiness to employ school feeding as a social safety net, the Ministry of Education and WFP signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) on 5 June to partner on the National School Feeding Programme (NSFP) in Myanmar. With the objective to handover the ownership of the programme to the national government by mainstreaming it in the country’s national policies, the WFP will cooperate with the Ministry on the design and implementation of NSEP strategies and action plans, development of a school feeding policy as well as capacity building of the Ministry’s key staff.
The Ministry will lead the initiative, whereas WFP will provide technical and financial assistance as well as support capacity building.