Support for the National School Meals Programme

This operation has been modified as per budget revision 8 (see below).

This development project responds to the Government's request for support in establishing, by 2030, a viable, sustainable, nationally-owned school meals programme, supported primarily through local products purchased from small producers, and consistent with the Government’s efforts to guarantee basic education for all children.

During the initial years towards that goal, WFP will directly assist 485,000 primary school children in five departments in northern Haiti — Artibonite, Centre, Nord, Nord-Est and Nord-Ouest — while simultaneously supporting national capacities to manage school meals in the longer-term. The specific project objectives include: i) help to ensure that primary school children remain in school to improve their education and nutritional levels;1 ii) reduce micronutrient deficiencies and particularly the incidence of anaemia; and iii) enhance the capacities of the Government to enable it to continue to expand its national school meals programme in a sustainable manner. The capacity development efforts will centre around defining a legal and institutional framework linking national school meals with its parent ministry; enhancing monitoring and evaluation of national school meals; and expanding possibilities for supplying schools with locally produced food.

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Budget revision 8 to Haiti DEV 200150 is proposed to: extend the operation for two years, reaching 489,000 schoolchildren each school year;  emphasize the importance of nutrition by increasing children’s micronutrient intake and reinforcing nutrition-sensitive complementary activities; promote local food production by purchasing locally grown food and expanding the scope of home-grown school feeding; and continue to build government capacity to manage the school meals programme.