APA-Maseru (Lesotho) The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a significant contribution from the Principality of Monaco that promises to bolster food security in Lesotho.
The €600,000 donation, spread over 2023-2026, would provide meals to school children and training for smallholder farmers as part of Lesotho’s national home-grown school feeding activities.
Monaco’s contribution is set to strengthen food and nutrition support to about 10,000 school children across 80 schools.
In addition, it is expected to provide agricultural and financial literacy training for 300 smallholder farmers in Quthing and Mohale’s Hoek districts.
WFP country director Aurore Rusiga described the school feeding programme as a “game changer” that would allow the UN agency to source local produce from smallholder farmers “to provide children nutritious mid-day meals on every school day.”
“We are grateful to the Principality of Monaco for this timely support at a critical time in the country,” Rusiga said.
The initiative, implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Training and Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, is expected to enhance children’s nutrition through the provision of beans, eggs, fruits and vegetables.
The programme not only ensures children receive healthy, diversified food but also provides local farmers with a predictable outlet for their products, leading to a stable income, more investments and higher production.
Monaco’s special representative for international cooperation Bénédicte Schutz expressed her country’s commitment to school feeding programmes in developing countries.
“We are very pleased to work alongside WFP through this new partnership in Lesotho, with a mutual vision to help the most vulnerable in the fight against hunger and accessing their right to food,” Schutz said.
The WFP’s School Feeding Programme supports the Ministry of Education’s development plan, which aims to educate all children, especially those from vulnerable families.
Over the past decade, school feeding has helped ensure access to quality education by reducing the rate of dropping out, improving child nutrition, and increasing child enrolment in schools.
JN/APA