Ongoing drought in some regions of Ethiopia, compounded by recent conflict in the north, have had devastating impact on livelihoods. School feeding has helped ease the challenges of food insecurity on families and kept children in school amid crises.
A US$10 million GPE grant was implemented by Save the Children in partnership with the Ministry of Education from 2022 to 2023, providing children in conflict and those in drought-affected regions with equitable access to quality, safe and inclusive pre-primary and primary education.
The program built on the successes of a previous GPE grant of $20 million for 2020-2022. School meals was the core intervention of both programs, which also focused on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), menstrual health, increased community/parental awareness on children’s enrollment in education, and system strengthening.
I have read about the advantage of school feeding in Ethiopia supported by GPE. In Uganda school children, especially in public schools, face similar problems. Many parents who send their children in public schools are of a poor economic background. School mangers ask for a lot of money for children feeding at school whci children cannot afford. They go ahead to send children away from school if they have not paid. This has kept many children away from school, and made a lot more to drop out of school. There is need for intervention.
i would like to know how GPE can intervene in this matter in Uganda.
In reply to I have read about the… by Nathan Kakson …
Thank you for your comment Nathan. GPE has been supporting Uganda since 2011. The content of the programs GPE supports is discussed and approved with the Ministry of Education. To learn more, see this page: https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/uganda. Regards. Chantal / GPE Secretariat
absolutely I disagree the idea of no education /learning without food. we are expected to provide them conducive learning environment and teaching learning materials. but someone who waits to have breakfast and lunch will not learn nothing except he is there for food. educating a child is mandatory but giving him an excuse that without school feeding no education is backward idea and our countries will always be under developing countries.
Story about school meal in Konso is just an example of what GPE is supporting in different regions in Ethiopia. School meal helped to concentrate on their education. Beyond attendance, we expect school feeding is to contribute significantly on children learning outcome. Thank you GPE for all the support.
I have read about the advantage of school feeding in Ethiopia supported by GPE. Thank you very much GPE for your great commitments, on children school feeding, but I have one concern, particularly in the Somali region of Ethiopia, that when the GPE program is phased out, the problem will worsen for the children to dropout school enrollments because their families will lack food security in the area due to the prone affected drought in the last six consecutive seasons, and the GPE program's impacts will become more negative in the regions. What plans did GPE have for the program's continuation to ensure the project's long-term viability?
In reply to I have read about the… by Hassan Mohamed
Thank for your comment and question Hassan. GPE supports the priorities identified by the country and builds government capacity to implement reforms and programs and achieve results. Monitoring progress and learning from evidence throughout implementation helps countries ensure that successful programs continue, with GPE support or through other partner's support.
Chantal / GPE Secretariat
Les programmes d'alimentation scolaire devraient être soutenus dans la plupart des pays à risques d'insécurité alimentaire, et ceux qui accueillent les réfugiés.
Thank you so much GPE for the school feeding support done. It makes many students/children to returned back from crisis impact to their class attending and even the drop-out rate was highly reduced during the time of the supports done. Therefore, it needs to sustainably continue on the GPE supports to make the students stable in their education and also become fruitful in their life. Thank you once again!