School Meals Solution

Human resources development and education in particular, has been a priority area for the World Food Programme (WFP) throughout the decades of its existence. In the early years, food aid was seen primarily as a relief intervention; schools were convenient points through which food for hungry children could be channeled. Increasingly, the wider potential benefits of food aid as a development input began to be acknowledged. Attempts have since been made to design WFP-assisted education projects to maximize their impact on education and human development.

The strong partnership between the Government of Egypt and WFP has been crucial in supporting the school feeding programme implementation. The on-going working relationship between WFP and the designated government counterparts has been a best practice that ensured expansion of the programme, and scale up of operations.

Particular attention has been given by WFP to community schools, in an attempt to complement the governmental efforts.

Across Egypt, WFP is currently supporting 636,000 schoolchildren with daily locally produced date bars fortified with micronutrients through WFP’s school meals programme.

In addition, WFP distributes a monthly conditional take-home ration to the families of students, Cash based transfer (Vouchers) based on their attendance rates (80% or higher).