What would be the sources of funding for any expansion of the school feeding program?
WFP has traditionally relied on multilateral sources and directed bilateral funds to support its school feeding program. A considerable funding amount of $7.5 million was obtained under the Egyptian-Italian Debt-for-Development Swap agreement from 2003-2007, reaching a total of 225,000 primary school children. More recently, contributions from local private companies and foundations have been obtained. WFP continues to rely on all these sources to maintain the required support to its beneficiaries. This funding also helps extend the school feeding program to include the increasing number of families and their children now under threat of falling below the poverty line, who have been exposed to “hidden”’ hunger (or lack of essential micronutrients, minerals and vitamins, in their diet) as a result of the recent high food prices.
What has been the effect of rising food prices on this funding effort?
The food security of WFP’s already poor beneficiaries is now increasingly threatened as food prices have skyrocketed in recent months – cereal prices have leapt by nearly 50 percent since January 2008, and over 125 percent in the past year, according to official data. This has worsened an already alarming malnutrition situation in Egypt as anemia affects over 40% of children and 50% of women of childbearing age; iodine deficiency disorders exceed 35% in some Upper Egypt governorates and zinc deficiency is between 10% and 20%. Due to high incidence of poverty, a significant percentage of families in rural areas cannot afford to provide their families with essential nutrients, and over 40 million people rely on food subsidies to meet their basic food requirements. In Upper Egypt alone, 34.2% (almost 9 million people) live below the poverty line and an estimated 36.4% (over 9 million people) consume less than the minimum level of dietary energy required by the World Health Organization (WHO).
As a result of poverty, households resort to incurring debt, as well as taking their children out of education and into low-paying work, most of which is abusive in one way or another.
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