Tech equipment handover adds flavour to school meals programme

World Food Programme (WFP) has provided information and communications technology (ICT) equipment to support the School Meals Programme to ensure its sustainability and strengthen local ownership in target schools.
An equipment handover ceremony was held in Vientiane on Monday to assist Education and Sports bureaus in 21 districts and provincial Education and Sports Departments in Luang Prabang, Saravan, Xekong and Attapeu provinces implement the programme.
Deputy Minister of Education and Sports, Mrs Khanthaly Siriphongphanh and Director and Country Representative, WFP Laos, Mr Jan Delbaere handed over the ICT equipment which included 56 desktop computers, 32 laptops, 25 printers, 25 LDC projectors, and 25 phone-fax machines.
According to the World Food Programme, it has implemented the school meals programme in Laos in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Sports providing meals to pre- and primary school children to enhance learning, support access to education, and promote health and nutrition in rural and remote areas.
This year, the WFP handed over its programme in more than 500 schools to the government to ensure sustainability and strengthen local ownership in the schools.
WFP started the programme in 2002 to provide nutritious school meals to children who would often come to school on an empty stomach.
Since then, the programme has expanded to cover more than 140,000 children in 1,450 schools across the country.
WFP has been working in Laos for the last 45 years. Following the adoption of the government’s National Policy on Promoting School Lunch in May 2014, WFP started to shift its focus from implementing the School Meals Programme to building the capacity of the government and communities.
The goal is to hand over the entire programme involving more than 900 schools by 2021.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update December 18, 2019)