WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Page 217

Standard Project Report 2016
Daily breakfast was provided in pre-primary and primary schools in food-insecure districts in nine provinces. The
cooked meal consisted of rice, yellow split peas, canned fish, vegetable oil and iodised salt. Home-grown school
meals were introduced in 59 schools, and included locally procured meal ingredients such as rice, vegetable oil,
salt, fresh vegetables, meat, fish and eggs. Following the Government’s efforts to convert community day care
facilities into formal pre-primary schools, attached to existing primary schools, school meals were expanded to
accommodate these new beneficiaries; the programme thus exceeded its target.
Scholarships were distributed to children in grades four, five and six in selected districts in six provinces upon
confirmation of 80 percent or higher school attendance; girls were particularly targeted where enrollment rates were
low. Scholarships were provided twice during the school year in the form of a food basket (take-home ration)
consisting of rice and vegetable oil and/or yellow split peas, or in the form of a commensurate amount of cash (USD
60 per school year). The cash scholarship was transferred using electronic services from a local microfinance
institution. Cash was prioritised over in-kind food scholarships in alignment with the Government's national cash
scholarship programme.
WFP and partners built and rehabilitated water and sanitation infrastructure; provided cooking and storage
equipment and utensils, trained 1,441 cooks, storekeepers and school administrators; and raised awareness of the
importance of education, nutrition, food safety, hygiene and sanitation. Together with the Government’s school
health department, a cooking competition was organized in one province for school cooks with guidelines for
replication of the same across the programme in 2017. To mitigate water scarcity during future dry seasons,
rainwater harvesting facilities were built in 116 schools in five provinces most affected by the 2015 drought.
Unfortunately, limited funds were available to scale up water, sanitation and kitchen facilities beyond areas for which
dedicated donor funding was available.
Strategic Objective 4: Reduce undernutrition and break the intergenerational cycle of hunger.
Outcome: Reduced undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies among children aged 6-59 months,
pregnant and lactating women, and school-aged children.
Activities: Introduction of fortified rice and other foods in school meals and improved water, sanitation and hygiene.
In April 2016 WFP introduced multiple micronutrient-fortified rice in school meals in 600 schools in three provinces,
benefiting 145,500 students in the school meals programme and 14,500 students and their families through the food
scholarships. Large-scale familiarisation was undertaken through the dissemination of brochures, posters, videos,
and rice samples, among national and sub-national stakeholders. School meals routinely include fortified vegetable
oil and iodised salt. With support from the United Nations Children’s F