KARACHI: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday supported the Sindh government’s plan to offer free breakfast /lunch and milk to schoolchildren under its School Meal Programme (SMP).

WFP Country Director Coco Ushiyama called on Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah here at the CM House and discussed the issue of out-of-school children.

The CM urged the WFP to support pilot programmes that could eventually be scaled up over time.

The meeting was informed that the provincial government intended to launch the School Meal Programme on a public-private partnership basis to provide nutritious, healthy and hygienic meals to students to meet key performance indicators — enrolment, attendance and learning impacts.

WFP country director pledges support for province’s School Meal Programme

A press statement issued from the CM House said that the WFP official affirmed the organisation’s support for the school meal programme in the province.

The CM stated that the provincial government, with the support of the WFP, was providing various services, including nutrition, health, and social behaviour change to pregnant and breastfeeding women and their children enrolled in the programme.

He noted that, to date, over 830,000 individuals in 140 static and mobile facilitation centres across 30 districts had been enrolled in the programme.

The chief minister and the WFP director also agreed to strengthen their collaboration in disaster preparedness, response and mitigation, climate change adaptation, acute malnutrition and stunting, school meals, and expanding food silos under WFP’s five-year country strategic plan.

The CM recognised the enduring partnership between the Sindh government and the WFP in addressing humanitarian and development challenges in the province.

It was also mentioned that the WFP supported the Adolescent Girls Nutrition Programme and was expanding its wheat flour fortification initiative using small-scale wheat mills under the Chakki Fortification Programme in eight districts of the province.

Regarding food system strengthening, CM Shah expressed the need to enhance wheat storage capacity in the province.

He said that the WFP, through the International Financing Corporation (IFC), was supporting the provincial food department to construct strategic grain reserves.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2024