Needless to say, participation of the School Development Committee (SDC) is indispensable. In the schools, one of the teachers is designated as a school feeding coordinator and is responsible for bringing a certain amount of food out of the storeroom every morning based on the attendance rate of the previous day.
The coordinator is also accountable for maintaining the records. Cooks selected by the community will start preparing the meals in time for the mid-morning break, where the children receive their daily portion. Children not attending school are fed later in the day and normally eat on the school premises.
In addition to WFP assistance, UNICEF is providing support to the school feeding program under the current WFP work plan. The support started a few months ago and, since then, UNICEF has provided schools with non food items such as pots, buckets and bars of soap to all SBFP schools, a limited number of plates to all schools, water tanks to those schools where there is no water source (i.e. borehole not functioning, water not treated, no tap water, etc) to complement the program.
Is there anything else you would like to add about why you think school feeding is important for people to support?
The program is very important given the current economic hardships in Zimbabwe. Depleted food reserves in households due to poor agricultural harvests, coupled with other material deprivation, have left many parents unable to send their children to school. Instead, they make them contribute to the household income.
Therefore, one of the main objectives of this program is to give children who are not in school access to one hot meal per day. This increases their food intake, improves their nutrition and may entice them to go back to school.
Feedback from WFP’s partners indicates that the school feeding program has increased attendance rates and has reduced pressure on household food stocks by providing children with one meal a day at school.
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