The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is helping Uganda fight hunger and poverty, particularly in the Karamoja region. WFP reports that in Karamoja, “…recurrent droughts and ongoing violence have left an estimated 970,000 of its inhabitants unable to provide for their immediate food needs.”
School feeding programs help combat the tragic cycle of hunger and poverty that exists in Uganda. Stanlake Samkange, WFP Country Director in Uganda, provides an update on the status of school feeding programs in the country.
How many children are benefiting from the WFP school feeding programs within the country?
In Uganda, WFP’s School Feeding Program takes place in the northeastern region of Karamoja. As the country’s poorest region — with over 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line — Karamoja has a long history of severe food insecurity. Currently, the region remains trapped in a vicious cycle of chronic hunger and poor education.
While it is widely recognized that improved education can curb the transmission of chronic hunger from one generation to another, there are many challenges associated with promoting education in an environment such as Karamoja. For example, in four of the region’s five districts, completion rates for primary education range from six to 10 percent. Furthermore, a significant gender disparity persists in the school completion rates. In one district, this disparity is as wide as 33 percent (67 percent completion for boys, 34 percent for girls).
WFP Uganda has devised a multi-tiered intervention that aims to break the vicious cycle of chronic hunger and poor education in Karamoja.
• At one level, WFP is providing school meals to almost 80,000 school pupils — both male and female — in order to mitigate the impact of chronic hunger on the general school completion rate. Participating schools are helped by WFP to provide morning porridge and a midday meal to all pupils.
• At another level, WFP is providing a “girl’s take home ration” (GTHR) — reserved exclusively for those girls whose school attendance is registered at 80% or more — to serve as an additional incentive for families to educate their girls. Currently, around 7,500 female pupils are benefiting from the GTHR program.
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