How can someone help the school feeding program?
I would encourage everyone to contribute to school feeding programs in Laos and elsewhere. It costs only 25US$ cents a day (50US$ a year) to provide a child with a nutritious meal and a take-home ration that will encourage the family to support his/her education.
In a country like Laos, where a combination of widespread food insecurity and poor access to social services makes it very hard for families to send their children to school, the food incentive provided by school feeding makes a real difference between an educated and a non-educated child, between one that will continue to live in poverty with little education and one who will stand a chance for a better future.
Anything else you'd like to add about why you think school feeding is important for people to support.
In the case of Laos, I would like to stress the special support WFP gives to the most disadvantaged of the schoolchildren. Not only do we target the districts and provinces with the worst food security and educational indicators, but we also help reduce gender gaps by providing bigger take-home rations to girls, and give extra support to the many informal boarders in our assisted schools.
These are children whose families live more than an hour walking distance from the school and who are hosted, during school weeks, at relatives’ houses or in informal boarding facilities close to the schools. The extra rations they receive are meant to complement the food provisions their families give them and to compensate for the increased difficulties they face in pursuing an education.
In addition to this, I believe it is important for everyone to know that school feeding — although mainly directed to school children and their families — also benefits the students’ villages and communities. The take-home rations have an important role in encouraging families to send their children to school and in providing important nutrients to the children and their families.
Through the village-level school feeding committees, WFP involves the entire community, particularly women, and creates a network of participation and support to children’s education.
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