Uganda celebrates Africa day for school feeding
Mar 01, 2016
The day marks the peak of several initiatives and efforts meant to improve quality of universal school enrolment in Africa
Uganda has today joined the rest of Africa to celebrate the first Africa Day for School Feeding.
The day recognizes the immense value of home-grown school feeding to enhancing retention and performance of children in school, its contribution to boosting income generation and entrepreneurship in communities.
The event was celebrated on Tuesday at St. Mary's Boarding Girls' School in the northern district of Nakapiripirit. It was established by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government during the 26th African Union (AU) Summit.
Celebrated under the theme, "Home Grown School Feeding: a Conduit for Africa's Sustainable Development", the day marks the peak of several initiatives and efforts meant to improve quality of universal school enrolment in Africa.
Central to this celebration is school feeding with the aim of helping African children from the poorest households and difficult areas to access quality education in a safe and conducive environment.
In addition to this, the AU Commission looks forward to using this day to advocate for school feeding, mobilize and engage states, technical and financial partners in initiatives that would improve school feeding.
Uganda is among the African countries that have already engaged in home-grown school feeding. Through the "Karamoja feeds Karamoja" programme coordinated by the Ministry of Karamoja Affairs, government is now providing food to schools as part of the World Food Programme's food basket.
In 2015, the programme supplied 20 percent of the school year's cereal needs from the Namalu Prisons farm in Nakapiripirit.