Mozambique: WFP take-home rations provide a lifeline to schoolchildren
Like thousands of mothers, Nora collects monthly food baskets in a school feeding programme backed by Canada
This is a difficult time for Nora Maneja. Since 23 March, all schools in Mozambique have been suspended in response to COVID-19, disrupting learning for 6.9 million primary school students, including her four children.
The family is supported by monthly World Food Programme (WFP) take-home rations, distributed in Cahora Bassa District, Tete province—still, she is understandably anxious about schools reopening.
To ensure students have access to nutritious food following coronavirus outbreak, WFP altered its school meals — instead of meals at school, dry take-home rations have been provided.
Food baskets contain essential products such as oil, salt and beans in response to the hunger resulting from economic shocks as day-to-day life is disrupted. “I usually buy fruits and sell them in the market, but since coronavirus started, the movement in the market has dropped a lot, and I can’t sell as much as before,” says Nora.
The 34-year-old mother picks up the food and manages to carry to the home she shares with her husband, her four children and two brothers. She is one of 131,170 people in the country benefiting from WFP’s take-home rations, initially planned for a period of three months, during the temporary closure of schools.
The school feeding programme is supported by the Government of Canada, which focuses on promoting gender equality and empowering girls, providing food to 104 primary schools.
“I receive two baskets because I have four children enrolled at school,” says Nora. “This food is for the whole family. Without the assistance I would be unable to feed my family.”
“This disease we are facing is very dangerous,” says Quiterio Nicolau Macajo, Director of EP 1 e 2 Nhaapende School, in Marara district. “We take this opportunity to sensitize beneficiaries on the importance of wearing masks, wash their hands and social distancing.”
Thanks to the Government of Canada, WFP is working with local authorities to enable families to keep children engaged in their school activities and create an additional incentive for their return to school once they reopen. Evidence from other crises shows that the longer schools are closed, the less likely vulnerable children are to return to schools, especially girls due to early pregnancy and child marriage.
Food distribution points also serve information hubs — warnings about risks particular to girls at a time when schools are closed, for instance, are relayed to families.
WFP’s assistance plays an important role so that girls like Alegria, Nora’s 13-year-old daughter, can dream about a better future. Nora says: “I wish my kids, especially my daughters, can return to school soon, in order to learn and have a better life when they grow up.”
WFP is supporting Mozambique’s Ministry of Education to help prepare schools for reopening, while strengthening the resilience of the education system.
All activities are implemented in close collaboration with local government authorities, in order to ensure capacity-building that will contribute to the sustainability of response actions. This month, WFP started providing take-home rations to 104,100 people in Nampula province, and aims to reach other provinces in coming months.
Nora’s children are among 13 million schoolchildren across the world missed out on WFP school meals at COVID-19 infections peaked. The meals they get in school may be the only meal they will get in a day. Missing it is missing a lifeline to health and nutrition, as well as the opportunities education would create down the line. WFP will continue working hard to ensure that, in Mozambique, schoolchildren and their families receive the support they need.
