The school feeding program must be expanded throughout the country.
Twenty years ago, with the launch of the school feeding program, a grand hope was born in our villages, where daily hunger had thrown hundreds of thousands of children to the side of the road; children whose futures had been gravely compromised. In our country where poverty doesn’t always make it possible to provide children with a healthy diet, one that is well-balanced and of an adequate quality, the emergence of school feeding programs was almost revolutionary. It truly touched people’s spirits. The following pages are proof of this: in the nineties, Mademoiselle Zadi Esther, a former beneficiary of the school feeding program, is today enrolled in her first year of doctoral studies. We all know that hunger negatively affects one’s ability to learn. This is the place to affirm that “Ventre affame n’a point d’oreilles,” or, he who has a hunger in his stomach has no ears. In more clear terms, a student who comes to class on an empty stomach does not have all the abilities necessary to benefit from the teaching. This is precisely what UNESCO terms “immediate hunger syndrome,” which seriously affects “children’s cognitive functions and their ability to learn.”
The authorities of our country, dedicated to providing at least a basic education to everyone, without exclusion or discrimination, understood very early on the necessity of confronting the situation. In 1989, with the assistance of the World Food Programme (PAM), they enacted a plan to provide each school with a cafeteria. This is how the program “one school = one cafeteria” was born. It’s a great source of pride for Cote d’Ivoire to have been the pioneer in Africa in this important domain.
However, even though opening a school feeding program is a necessity, it is essential to ensure the program’s continuation. In this realm, too, the government of Cote d’Ivoire is unique in its dedication to forecasting and monitoring, and in 1998 launched the Integrated Program for the Preservation of School Cafeterias (PIP/CS), a program that I have been honored to direct from the beginning.
From 277 in 1989, the number of school cafeterias has officially increased to 5,259 in 2009, the year that also marked the twentieth anniversary of the program’s launch. What amazing progress! But there have also been great innovations in the program over the course of the years, in the form of new partners who not only produce and provide food for the cafeterias, but also draw a substantial profit from these activities. In this way, through its impact in these spheres, the cafeteria has progressively become a valuable development tool in the fight against poverty.
The extraordinary expansion of the populations (especially of women) who have progressively organized themselves into groups (today there are more than 900 throughout the country) has inspired new views on the realm of agriculture. Specifically, with these partners, the program also intends to introduce agricultural mechanization.
The success of this experience, which is a great source of pride for Cote d’Ivoire, would not have been possible without the self-sacrifice of the program agents who have truly accomplished a remarkable feat. Nor would it have been possible without the help of our valiant rural populations who have shown that they can take their destinies into their hands.
But, the program’s success is equally due to the constant dedication of our partners in development, who, despite undergoing countless changes as a result of the many crises this country has suffered, continue to honor us with their confidence.
To everyone, to national partners, institutions, and anonymous people, we would like to say thank you. Thank you for being at our side, even during the moments when Cote d’Ivoire passed some of the darkest moments of its history.
GCNF Delegate, Mme Odette Loan administers the Department of Labor and Social Laws for Cote d’Ivoire. She has received a number of national awards recognizing her excellence in educational work. She received the “Leaders in the Fight Against Hunger” Award in 2003, awarded yearly by the World Food Programme.
Cote D’Ivoire was a key participant at the Global Child Nutrition Forum in Ghana in June 2010 and Mme Odette Loan has submitted the following article which has been translated into English from French.
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