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The government of Cambodia held a school feeding consultation workshop in Siem Reap, from 11 to 13 June. The WFP Centre of Excellence participated on the event and presented examples of school meals solutions from various countries, including Brazil, to inform the Cambodian government through its decision-making process to take ownership of the country\u2019s school feeding programme.<\/p>\n
The event was organized by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, with support from WFP country office. The goal was to take advantage of global, regional, and local lessons learned, and gather guidance and recommendations from different stakeholders to improve Cambodia\u2019s school feeding programme. Participants discussed the status of the country\u2019s school meals programme, revised the School Feeding Roadmap, and prepared a concrete action plan to transition the programme from WFP to the government.<\/p>\n
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Exchange of experiences<\/p>\n
The WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger participated in the event to share its experiences with home-grown school feeding. Programme Officer Sharon Freitas presented an overview of the global state of school feeding and highlighted lessons learned from various countries. Government representatives in attendance asked about details of the Brazilian school feeding programme, which serves as inspiration for Cambodia and 30 other countries in the process of structuring nationally-owned school meals programmes.<\/p>\n
Daniel Balaban, director of the WFP Centre of Excellence, sent a video message to event\u2019s participants stressing the benefits of national ownership over school meals programmes. \u201cWhen you have a national school feeding programme, you have all the kids in school receiving fresh meals produced by local smallholder farmers. This is important for the health system, for the education system, for the agriculture system, and for the social protection system in each country\u201d, said Balaban.<\/p>\n
Some representatives of the government participating in the seminar also took part in the Cambodia study visit to Brazil in 2015. To take the following steps stablished in the reviewed school feeding roadmap, the government would like to count on the support of the WFP Centre of Excellence, as well as the WFP country office. The terms of this cooperation will be discussed briefly.<\/p>\n
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Field visit<\/p>\n
As part of the workshop, participants went on a field trip to see firsthand how the school feeding programme is being operated in Cambodia. They visited a primary school in Samraong, in the province of Siem Reap. The school has a WFP-operated school meals programme since 2004 and serves meals for 395 students, of which 167 are girls. Since 2016, the programme adopted the home-grown school meals model. Students receive a meal composed of rice, animal protein, vegetable, vegetable oil, and salt.<\/p>\n
School meals create an incentive for children from poor families to enroll, attend and remain in school until the conclusion of the primary education. The goal of the programme is to\u00a0 improve access to education, reduce short-term hunger, and test sustainable, effective school feeding models.<\/p>\n
Students\u2019 parents contribute to the programme with cash for the cooks, vegetables for the meals, and firewood, and 90 percent of them work as rice farmers. WFP provides food, as well as seeds and materials for school gardens and cooking utensils.\u00a0 Other international partners also contribute to the programme. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports financed a water container, a pumping bomb and toilets.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government of Cambodia held a school feeding consultation…<\/p>\n