The National School Feeding Policy of Burundi was approved by the country’s Council of Ministers at its session on 14-15 November, 2018. The document will guide the school feeding actions in the country, including the structuring of the national school feeding programme and its gradual expansion, based on a decentralized implementation model.
The new policy was prepared with technical support from the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger during 2017. The document was then discussed with the various government sectors and with civil society in a national consultation held in April 2018.
The National Policy has five objectives:
1) Increase the consumption of adequate and nutritious food to reduce food insecurity among school-age children.
2) Promote the development of agriculture and local communities.
3) Improve school performance rates.
4) Establish a stable market for food produced by local smallholder farmers.
5) Promote intersectoral partnerships and coordination and strengthen the governance of the school feeding programme.
The articulation between sectors is strengthened by the creation of an Intersectoral Committee for the School Feeding Programme, which will bring together the ministries of education, agriculture, health and others with actions relevant to the programme. The policy also establishes nutritional criteria for the provision of hot meals that take into consideration the respect for local eating habits and guidelines for food purchases from local smallholder farmers.