Mozambique - First Meal is Served to Pupils in Primary Schools

Primary schools in Milange district, central Zambezia province, served their first meal this week as part of the school meals project implemented by a consortium led by World Vision Mozambique and funded by the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The meals are part of the Partnerships for Sustainable Education Outcomes (PARES) project, which the National School Feeding Program from Mozambique's Ministry of Education and Culture equally implements.

This is the first meal since the academic year resumed last February, and it's equally the first after the program's expansion from Nampula province, where in previous phases, it served more than 85 million meals.

Gilda, a 12-year-old from grade 5, is one of the hundred pupils benefiting from the first meal of the project. The meal upgraded from Corn Soy Blend Plus (CSB+) porridge, rich in nutrients, to a full meal composed of rice, beans, lentils, and vegetables.

This new phase of the project is set to benefit more than 85,000 pupils from primary schools in the districts of Milange in Zambezia province, and the districts of Monapo and Meconta, in Nampula province. Moreover, benefits will expand to food producers who have found a guaranteed market to supply their products.

Evidence from the previous phase indicated that school meal programs are helping the country solve one of the longest-running issues of school dropouts, increase retention rates, and address high rates of malnutrition in the province of Zambezia.

The wins generated by the program in previous phases contributed to elevating the government of Mozambique's interest in expanding the program to other regions of the country.

Early this March, the Ministry of Education and Culture held weeklong celebrations of the African School Meals Day under the theme "A decade of nutrition: Celebrating the Past Ensuring a Just Future."

During these celebrations, the Ministry of Education and Culture, in partnership with World Vision Mozambique, the World Food Program, including other key partners in the sector of education, issued a statement saying that "Despite recognizing the potential to contribute to the development of children and communities, only 8% of public elementary school pupils have access to school meals," said the statement

"It is therefore necessary to strengthen and expand this support to a more significant number of children, in particular to all public elementary school pupils. Therefore, investment in school feeding must be scaled up, with resources allocated over the long term, greater contributions from partners, and the private sector as mobilization of communities," adds the statement.