• To demonstrate to parents the importance of a packed lunch for children attending primary school in improving the quality of their education.
• To engage community leaders, the district-level political leadership, and the media by rallying their support for the initiative.
• To empower primary school children with knowledge of the campaign, so they can request a packed lunch from their parents every school day.
The key activity in the packed lunch campaign is a one-day event attended by primary school-going children and their parents, community leaders, representatives from the district-level authorities, and the local media. During the event, a range of innovative techniques are used by WFP and its partners to raise awareness among the target audience.
It includes performances by well-known local artists, the distribution of “packed lunch commitment certificates” to parents, and the nomination of “Quality Education Mobilizers” within parents’ groups, whose task is to monitor the implementation of the packed lunch program.
Once the campaign model has been piloted and is proven to be effective, WFP Uganda plans to roll it out across the entire region of Karamoja.
What would be the sources of funding for any expansion of the school feeding program? What has been the effect of high food prices in this funding effort?
Sources of funding for an expansion of the School Feeding Program: Under normal circumstances, the School Feeding Program is funded through WFP Uganda’s ‘traditional’ institutional donors. In addition, the McGovern-Dole Foundation has awarded a grant of USD $16 million to WFP Uganda over the next three years which will support the program. WFP has also received modest support from the Government of Uganda, which has been contributing towards the transport costs for delivering food to schools.
While there are currently no plans to expand the School Feeding Program geographically, it is important to note that the existing program is facing a significant resource shortfall, which threatens its existence. In mid-February 2009, WFP Uganda launched a massive 9-month emergency operation targeting 970,000 drought-affected persons in Karamoja.
It includes general food assistance to all food insecure households and supplementary and therapeutic feeding to treat persons who have already become malnourished. Given the seriousness of the 2009 humanitarian crisis in Karamoja and the purpose of the emergency operation to save lives, all donor resources that have already been committed to WFP Uganda are being prioritized for the relief effort.
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