Senegal’s school feeding programme launchd on Thursday is funded by the Global Partnership for Education (PME) through the French Development Agency (AFD).
The launching of the programme that supports the response plan of the Ministry of National Education to Covid-19 took place in Diamniadio (30 km east of Dakar),
“(…) It is funded to the tune of 552 million CFA francs and is implemented with the support of the World Food Program (WFP),” The French Development Agency says in a press release.
The same source explains that the initiative is executed as part of the Support Program for the Development of Education in Senegal (Response and Resilience, PADES-RR). “This emergency program,” the statement continues, “totaling 3.8 billion CFA francs (…) aims to mitigate the effects of the health crisis on education and to ensure educational services’ continuity.”
The objective of this program is to set up canteen services in public schools in the most disadvantaged rural and peri-urban areas impacted by Covid-19. The aim is therefore to mitigate the health and socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on students and their families, while stimulating the attendance and academic success of the most vulnerable students.
“This feeding program is also in line with the Presidential School Canteen Program (PPCS). It benefits nearly 107,000 students enrolled in 637 primary schools. The schools are divided into 23 Education and Training Inspections (IEF) in the regions of Thies, Diourbel, Kaolack, Saint-Louis, Kolda, Sedhiou and Ziguinchor,” the AFD explains.
It underlines that these regions have been targeted on the basis of the following three vulnerability indicators: the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases identified, the school dropout rate and the level of food insecurity and acute malnutrition. In total, 8.5 million meals will be served to students.
TE/fss/abj/APA