AU member states advised to allocate significant budgets to school feeding

AFRICAN Union (AU) member states have been told to work towards allocating significant budgets to school feeding in order to strengthen national ownership and control.

According to an AU assembly Decision school feeding contributes to attainment of Agenda 2063 by helping families to ensure that all children including girls are able to access education from early childhood to completion of secondary level, and that the children have adequate nutrition and zero hunger, while supporting local food production.

The challenge to AU member states was made during commemoration of the 3rd African Day of School Feeding (ADSF) at Glen View 2 Primary School in Harare, Zimbabwe, according to the organization.

AU Agenda 2063 is a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years. It builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable development.

During the commemoration of the 3rd African Day of School Feeding (ADSF) early this month, the Gambia, Zimbabwe, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Burundi and Côte d´Ivoire were hailed for their school feeding programmes.

In Uganda, which is an AU member country, school feeding is the responsibility of parents.

This year's theme was "Realizing the African child's full potential through effective home grown school feeding". Thirty-two member states were represented including seven ministers and deputy ministers.

The event received substantial support from the host government, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and UNESCO-International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (UNESCO-IICBA), the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and private sector.

At the event it was recommended that continental and regional platforms should be created and sustained for sharing experiences and peer learning, because some member states have made significant advances in Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programmes, while others are still lagging far behind.

In the communiqué, the AU Commission was requested to disseminate the report of the AU Study on School Feeding in Africa and encourage, monitor and report on the implementation of the recommendations therein.

They further recommended the need to link school feeding programmes to international, continental and national development agendas.

The ceremony was officially opened by the Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe,  K.C.D. Mohadi, who highlighted the importance of home grown school feeding by stating that it increases attendance, enrolment and the performance of learners, and as such school feeding should be embraced by all schools.

The participants noted that Land availability for use is important in implementing HGSF programmes at school and community levels, for school gardens, demonstrations and other food production. It is therefore prudent to involve local government and land commissions in the process of configuring and planning school feeding interventions.