08.14.08 Interview with Emily Doe, UN World Food Programme Officer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the
Congo has suffered enormously from armed conflict within its borders.
Millions of lives have been lost. Many others have been forced to flee
fighting in different sections of the country. According to the United Nations World Food Programme
(WFP), “Nearly one million people are estimated to be displaced in
North and South Kivu alone.” In such a war-torn land hunger and poverty
are rampant. School feeding programs are a key part of the World Food
Programme’s response to the crisis. We will take a closer look at
school feeding in this interview with Emily Doe, WFP Programme Officer
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

How many children are benefiting from the WFP school-feeding programs within the country?

Between January and May of 2008, WFP fed over 260,000 primary school
children and about 12,000 pre-school children in four provinces (North
and South Kivu, Katanga, and Equateur). We are targeting over 530,000
children in 1085 schools in six of the 11 provinces of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo starting September, 2008. We will gradually
increase to assisting 595,000 children during 2009. The program in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo is emergency school feeding, so 10,500
teachers are also targeted for feeding to encourage them come to school
regularly (despite low salaries and delays in payments).

Discuss what effect the meals have on the children in terms of school attendance, performance and nutrition?

The hot meals, served six days a week, are a motivating factor for
parents to send children to school and for the children themselves to
remain in school. Most families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
cannot afford more than one meal a day, served in the evening before
bedtime. Most children go to school on an empty stomach, therefore the
meal taken at school compensates for breakfast and lunch. The meals are
served during recreation (mid-morning) and gives children the energy
needed to make it through the rest of the school day. The feeding
encourages regular school attendance and allows children to be more
attentive and focused during class. Parents prefer to send their
children to schools which run the feeding program because they are
assured their children will have a meal and be less likely to leave
class due to hunger. School feeding has become even more critical with
the on-going food price crisis.

The food basket (cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, and salt) is quite
balanced in terms of nutritional value. The food basket for pre-school
children (corn soya blend, oil, and sugar) is strictly for nutritional
purposes. Most areas where the program runs have high levels of food
insecurity and problems of malnutrition. The feeding is meant to help
combat malnutrition.

What plans are there for making school meals available for all children?

WFP intervenes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a
Protracted Relief and Rehabilitation Operation in provinces where
vulnerability to food insecurity has been analyzed as very high. Most
of the assistance is humanitarian emergency assistance, in particular
life-saving activities (related to internally displaced persons and
returnees). Therefore, WFP is not and cannot be the solution to making
school meals available to all children. There are over 20,000 public
primary schools and WFP is reaching only 5% of that number in the six
provinces of intervention. With a strong involvement and more
resources, the Congolese government, together with donors and other
operational partners, could gradually increase the number of benefiting
schools.

What would be the sources of funding for any expansion of the school feeding program?

The current objective of
providing food in six provinces to 530,000 pupils is already a
challenge for WFP in the global context of the fuel and food crisis.
For WFP operations to meet their goals, more funds are required to
reach the same amount of beneficiaries. Over a period of a few months,
costs for WFP operations have increased by a third. Therefore,
additional funding will guarantee that WFP meets its objective of
reaching 530,000 beneficiaries for the 2008-2009 school year. WFP is
presently facing a pipeline break, with shortfalls of 109,759 metric
tons of food from August, 2008 to July, 2009 (equivalent to USD 150
million). Expansion can only be considered once the WFP pipeline is
secure over the entire period of the assistance. If Food For Peace,
World Bank, EU, and other generous donors can provide funding, the
program would expand.

What has been the effect of rising food prices in this funding effort?

With the food pipeline breaks that are affecting the WFP operation
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reaching our target is already
a huge challenge. It has forced us to cut down on the amount of food
provided to beneficiaries and has also forced us to prioritize
activities which are considered life-saving (general food distribution
to internally displaced persons and returning refugees, assistance to
children in therapeutic and supplementary feeding centers). National
export bans applied to alleviate the consequences of the crisis in
several neighboring countries that are regular food suppliers to WFP in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Tanzania, Zambia, etc.) have
added to the toil.

How can someone help the school feeding program?

The program is supported through donations. Donations can be
specified for WFP’s School Feeding Program through the “child hunger”
option on the WFP website, or can be sent via mail to Friends of WFP at:

Friends of the World Food Program, Inc.

1819 L Street, NW

Suite 900

Washington, DC 20036

For more specific information on the Democratic Republic of the
Congo school feeding, direct contact can be made with the following:

• Emily Doe, Program Officer
• Robert Dekker, Head of Program
• Richard Verbeeck, Deputy Country Director

Anything else you'd like to add about why you think school feeding is important for people to support?

The future of any nation depends on the education of its children.
Hungry children cannot perform well in their schoolwork and therefore
food is key to their overall success. Parents depend heavily on school
feeding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to provide daily meals
for their children; and the program is making such a huge difference in
the lives of both the children and their families. Fifty dollars can
save the life of a hungry child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and keep him/her in class all year through the provision of hot meals
at school.