World Food Day 2022: Leave No One Behind

Education Cannot Wait and its strategic partners deliver school feeding programmes and other supports to keep children healthy and in school

By Education Cannot Wait

October 16^th, 2022

Every day, millions of children worldwide go to school on an empty stomach.

Hunger and a lack of access to quality learning environments with nutritious school meals are affecting how children grow, learn and play.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), a child dies every 10 seconds from malnutrition. The ones most at risk of starvation are caught in displacement zones.

On World Food Day, Education Cannot Wait, as the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, is calling on leaders to ensure every child everywhere is able to go to school and access nutritious meals.

A child eating a nutritious meal in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo © UNICEF/2021/Mawa

INVESTING IN HEALTHY BODIES AND HEALTHY MINDS

Access to schools and to school-feeding programmes like the ones Education Cannot Wait supports in places like Cameroon, Haiti, Somalia, Venezuela and beyond plays an imperative role in keeping children in schools - instead of being forced into labor - and delivering on our promises of a world without hunger and poverty by 2030.

More than 186,000 children (48% girls) in 15 countries benefited from ECW-backed school-feeding programmes in 2021.

CAMEROON

Quintabella Ijang and Efange Martha are both teachers at the Presbyterian School in Fako Division in Cameroon. They have seen firsthand the impact that nutrition can have on families.

As a result of the on-going conflict in Cameroon and the COVID-19 pandemic, many families were displaced and lost their source of income. They struggled to feed their children at home.

Despite school closures, the World Food Programme — funded by ECW — implemented and carried out a School Meal Programme in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon. This programme engaged community leadership and participation through school feeding committees — small local groups which facilitated school assessments, food storage and distribution.

With the support of ECW, WFP partnered with CARITAS Kumba and Plan International to coordinate and distribute High Energy Biscuits to children and adolescents in the region.

“Indeed, we appreciate this very highly because it has brought a lot of joy to parents whose children attend our school, previously unable to provide the children with food in school.” ~ Quintabella Ijang

The school snacks have been crucial to ensuring the health and well-being of children both in school and at home. The teachers report that their students are motivated and focused on their studies, and more likely to attend school with the offer of a nutritious snack.

“The parents were so grateful for the biscuits. They hope the programme will continue to stop them from worrying about what their kids will eat for snacks during school breaks.” ~ Efange Martha

The school feeding programme significantly boosted school attendance in 66 formal and non-formal schools. The programme benefited 24,941 school children and teachers in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon with snacks at school and take-home rations of rice and vegetable oil for their families.

17-year-old Fernando picks up a food kit at his school. Photo © UNICEF/2020/Cabral

VENEZUELA

Lismaris is a single mother of three children from Caracas, Venezuela. She works as a house-cleaner to support her family.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Lismaris had no way to provide a stable income and feed her family. She used to get one meal a day at a soup kitchen outside of the city, but the pandemic changed everything.

“Before, we would go down to a dining room where they gave lunch to my three children, but it was closed due to the quarantine. Now the food is barely enough for us, we mix an egg with rice and that is what the four of us eat.” ~ Lismaris

Lismaris’ story represents the reality for many families in Venezuela. It is the 4th largest food crisis in the world, and one out of every three Venezuelans is food insecure. COVID-19 only worsened the situation.

During the pandemic when many children and families were losing hope, an ECW-funded First Emergency Response implemented by UNICEF delivered food and school kits — monthly bags with non-perishable food and hygiene supplies — to families like Lismaris’. The kits reached 84,137 people.

UNICEF delivers food kits for students in the city of Guatire, Venezuela, as part of an ECW-funded programme. Photo © UNICEF/2020/Cabral

222 MILLION DREAMS TO END HUNGER

For the many families around the world who do not have access to regular, nutritious food at home, school feeding programmes can mean all the difference.

Worldwide 222 million children and adolescents are impacted by crises and need urgent support. Through its partnerships worldwide, ECW is calling on leaders to help realize #222MillionDreams✨📚. It’s the dream of an education, it’s the dream of meals at home and in the classroom, it’s the dream of a better world.

Children stand in queue during food distribution at the Child Protection project by CODEC supported by UNICEF. Photo © UNICEF/Suman Paul Himu

Access high-resolution photos from this story and our full media library on ECW’sFLICKR

Button Label