China boosts nutrition and promotes learning for thousands of school children in Burundi

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The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a contribution of US$1.5 million from the Government of the People’s Republic of China through the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) to provide nutritious meals for thousands of school children in Burundi.

The funding will enable WFP to purchase 985 MT of maize and 245 MT of yellow split peas and benefit 42,000 school children for one year in Bubanza, Bujumbura, and Cibitoke Provinces of the country.

Speaking during a launch event at Buganda elementary school in Cibitoke Province, H. E. Zhao Jiangping, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Burundi said; “China is pleased to support school meals that improve children’s nutrition, enabling them to focus on their studies and achieve better results at school. Indeed, this project is the first successful practice of tripartite cooperation between China and the UN agency in Burundi under the “Fund for Global Development and South-South Cooperation”. China is committed to promoting the development of human capital, with the aim of helping Burundi to realize its “2040&2060” development vision, and to go further, to jointly build a Sino-Burundian community with a shared future.

School meals programmes can be a powerful incentive for impoverished families to enroll their children in school. A study carried out by Harvard University in Burundi shows school meals represent a saving of 14 per cent of a household food expenditure and enable students to concentrate on their studies, leading to sustainable increases in school enrolment and lower dropout rates. It also shows that schools with canteens have a 5.1 per cent higher success rate in exams and a 3.6 per cent lower dropout rate compared with the national average.

The government of Burundi has identified school canteens as the largest social safety net for vulnerable children and has increased the national financial contribution to the school meals programme by more than 100 per cent for the year 2023-2024.

“In Burundi, 700,000 children, i.e. one out of four school children currently benefit from a school meal. Our commitment goes even further, as we aim to achieve universal access by 2032″, says Pr François Havyarimana, Minister of Education and Scientific Research in Burundi.

“This critical support from the Government of the People’s Republic of China will enable WFP to work alongside the Government of Burundi to improve the health, nutrition and education of thousands of school children, investing in their futures and building a brighter tomorrow, says Arduino Mangoni, WFP’s Acting Country Director in Burundi.” 

School meals are an investment in Burundi’s future. Research studies evaluate that the multi-sectoral impacts of the national school meals programme bring US$ 5.2 in return for each US$1 invested. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).

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