DILI, 4 november 2022 (TATOLI)- World Food Program (WFP) signed an agreement with the Minister of State Administration (MSA) and Minister of Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS) to strengthen cooperation on the School Feeding Program (SFP) management.
WFP Country Director, Cecilia Garzon said Timor-Leste has been implementing a school feeding program since 2011 while in 2016, the school feeding program was implemented by the school principal. However, it is required to improve the management system of the implementation process.
“We are dealing to work together to improve the management of school feeding program implementation. So this program can provide enough nutritious food for students to consume,’’ WFP Country Director, Cecilia Garzon said in her remarks at Hotel Timor, this friday.
She added that this agreement will strengthen assistance to the school feeding program in Timor-Leste. It enables closer cooperation and technical support to improve school health and nutrition.
“This agreement will pave the way for cooperation toward our common goal of improving the health and nutrition of school-aged children in Timor-Leste. WFP specifically will provide technical support for the national school feeding program policy and strategies, monitoring and evaluation, and the introduction of rice fortification to the school feeding program,” she said.
Garzon said, WFP will continue to support the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport and the Ministry of State Administration on the national school feeding program, which focused on a decentralized model.
In the same place, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, Armindo Maia believes that this cooperation will ensure that nutrition and healthy meals are provided nationwide:” Through this cooperation between the government of Timor-Leste and WFP we are ensuring that nutrition and healthy meals are provided nationwide. It is our mandate to support our school-aged children to are equipped for learning, growth, and development through a strong school feeding program with a decentralized model at the municipalities level,’’ he said
Maia stressed that this program should provide enough nutritious meals for the students to eat when they are going to class. while It is also helping to reduce the stunting rate in Timor-Leste.
The Minister of State Administration, Miguel Pereira De Carvalho said that this agreement will provide better nutrition status and improve outcomes.
“We envisage that the tripartite agreement will facilitate an important investment for school-aged children in Timor-Leste. MSA is committed to combating food insecurity and malnutrition of vulnerable populations, especially school-aged children, with an enhancement of local government capacities,’’ said Carvalho.
So far, the School feeding program was launched in Timor-Leste in 2005.
In 2011, MoEYS took over responsibility for the program, turning it into the National School Feeding Programme (NSFP) and managed by a dedicated school feeding unit.
In 2021, the government of Timor-Leste signed the school meals coalition Declaration, Nutrition, Health, and Education for all children which aims to express a strong commitment to the national school feeding program.
The implementation of this school feeding program, government has funded 20 million USD for the implementation of this program.
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Nelia B.
