This year’s celebrations for Africa Day of School Feeding, celebrated on 1 March, took place in Bujumbura, Burundi. The 9th edition of the celebration took stock of African countries’ leadership and commitment to school feeding, and presented the next steps to ensure that this commitment is translated into national implementation plans.
Among the participants in the event, which took place between 29 February and 1st March, were ministers and experts from government institutions of African Union Member States, the African Union Commission, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), embassies, UN agencies, multilateral agencies, international financial institutions, civil society organisations, academic and research institutions, among other entities. The Brazilian government also sent a delegation to take part in the event and share Brazil’s experience with school feeding, which is a world reference.
Brazil took part in the panel “School meals, a lever for social, economic, and environmental transformation”, which discussed the role of school feeding with local purchases in nutrition and the development of human capital in Africa, emphasising the importance of this model not only for the students who receive it, but also for small farmers and the local economy. School feeding can improve education outcomes in countries, especially those affected by conflict, and school feeding is a driver of climate action.
The WFP Centre of Excellence and school feeding in Africa
The Africa Day of School Feeding was created in 2016 after African Union leaders made a study visit to Brazil, where they took a closer look at the Brazilian approach to school feeding. During this visit, organised by the World Food Programme (WFP) Centre of Excellence against Hunger Brazil, in partnership with the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC, in Portuguese) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE, in Portuguese), the delegation also discussed the terms of collaboration between the Centre of Excellence against Hunger and the African Union. The Africa Day of School Feeding symbolises the commitment of African countries to promote school feeding programmes as a crucial strategy for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
For Daniel Balaban, Director of the WFP Centre of Excellence, the date is an opportunity to strengthen school feeding programmes on the continent. “School feeding is an extremely important public policy for overcoming hunger in the world. It’s often the only meal many children get all day,” he said.
Read about the Centre of Excellence’s history of collaboration with the African Union here.