AFRICA BIZ NEWS

Africa Day of School Feeding Born

Thandisizwe Mgudlwa

This week March 1, marked the first edition of the Africa Day of School Feeding.

The Day was observed jointly by the African Union Commission, AU Member States and development partners.

Being one of the launchpads for attaining the Agenda 2063, school feeding has been identified as an opportunity to prevent the high rate of school drop-outs, an idea well espoused in the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA). 

The Africa Day of School Feeding is further expected to stimulate information and experience sharing among stakeholders; support and promote local economy, whilst encouraging and inviting partners and political organizations to promote the initiative.

Fundamentally, The Day, is centered on the theme “Home Grown School Feeding: a Conduit for Africa’s Sustainable Development”,  is celebrated with continent-wide activities and highlighted by series of official events in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.

Instituted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government during the 26th AU Summit, Africa Day for School Feeding is in recognition of the immense value of home grown school feeding to enhancing retention and performance of children in school. 

And also, in boosting income generation and entrepreneurship in local communities.

According to the AU a number of African countries are already implementing school feeding programmes, but due to inadequate financing and heavy dependence of the programmes on foreign donors, poor logistical arrangements and provision of dry food lacking in dietary diversity, the programmes often fall short of meeting the required impact. 

This is one reason why the emphasis has shifted to Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF), due to its integrated, multi-sector approach.

Africa Day of School Feeding is the culmination of several initiatives and efforts aimed at assuring quality universal school enrolment in Africa, and putting school feeding at the centre of solutions to help African children from the poorest households, and who live in difficult areas, to have access to quality education in a safe and conducive environment. 

The Cost of Hunger in Africa Study (COHA) was conceived close to a decade of the launch of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which aims to among other things, transform agriculture and catalyze it to achieve sustainable annual economic growth, food and nutrition security and humanitarian goals.

Commissioned through a partnership of the Africa Union Commission, the NEPAD Agency, the United Nations World Food Programme and United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa, the COHA study specifically demonstrates that child nutrition can be a determining factor in achieving Africa's transformation agenda and illustrates the additional barriers limiting undernourished children to gain full health, school performance and compete in labour markets.

Moreover, the AU Commission’s drive to ingrain home grown school feeding on the continent was also inspired by the highly successful Brazilian Home Grown School Feeding programme, which has been instrumental in promoting universal access to basic education and preventive health services, while creating new income generating activities for extremely poor families.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is working with 65 nations worldwide on implementing school feeding programmes which are an effective safety net, helping to ensure that over 18 million children  have access to education and food. 

In Africa alone, WFP works with some 39 nations. In the fight against hunger, school meals are a sound investment in the future of the next generation.

According to the AU report, "The Republic of Niger has offered to host the first edition of the celebrations considering its strong advocacy for home grown school feeding, with emphasis on the impacts such a programme could have within the framework of Education by 2030, notably the improvement of access to and completion of primary education in relation to the fight against early marriages and street children."

"The official celebrations in Niamey attracted the participation of top level officials of AU Member States, Nigerien government officials, the AUC, school children and development partners such as the WFP, UNICEF, FAO, among others."

It also included thematic discussions, brainstorming, as well as idea and experience sharing involving a wide range of stakeholders.