News

On February 18^th 2011, the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) adopted a Technical Assistance Plan (TAP) to serve as a working document for its operation. The overall objective of the TAP sponsored by the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) is to support government ownership of the programme and build the needed capacity to effectively implement and re-design the programme for a successful and sustainable running.

"The document will also ensure an enabling environment for effective collaboration with development partners and the civil society," said Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development. Mr Ofosu Ampofo, who addressed participants during the closing ceremony of a three-day sensitisation workshop for newly appointed Regional Coordinators and Programme Officers on Thursday, pledged government's commitment in the provision of an enabling environment for the smooth implementation of the Plan adopted at the closing ceremony.

Read more: Ghana signs the PCD Technical Assistance Plan

The largest ever gathering of leading international school feeding experts – the 2010 Global Child Nutrition Forum – has highlighted the importance of school feeding as a key mechanism to advance food security, education, and agricultural development. Home grown school feeding promotes local agricultural development by providing smallholder farmers access to a stable market while simultaneously improving the education and nutrition of school children.

Recent calls have been made for nations to increase their annual budgets for agricultural development and to link school feeding programs to national agricultural production. In line with this the Forum delegates called for the inclusion of school feeding on the international agenda such as the African Union Summit in Kampala in July 2010.

Their call to action builds on:

Read more: HGSF Accra Communique

Strengthening Contemporary School Health, Nutrition & HIV Prevention Programmes

8 - 17 June 2010
Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research Ghana, Accra

School, health and nutrition (SHN) programmes are essential to achieving Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals. This interactive and participatory course aims to strengthen the capacity of the health and education sectors to respond effectively to the needs of school-age populations at school level.  

The course provides participants from all over Africa and beyond with an up-to-date, comprehensive introduction to concepts and current practices in improving the health, nutrition and education of schoolchildren.    

Read more: 6th Annual School Health and Nutrition Short Course

Aulo Gelli and Kristie Neeser     from PCD’s Home Grown School Feeding Programme were recently interviewed for Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s popular radio show, The Health Report.

Broadcast on Monday 8 March  Aulo and Kristie discuss the benefits and pitfalls of School Feeding and how the work of the Home Grown School Feeding grant will help support national governments in sub-Saharan Africa to develop cost-effective locally-sourced school feeding programmes.

The Home Grown School Feeding Programme, supported in part by a $12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will help governments to run school meal programmes using locally-sourced food, providing regular orders and a reliable income for local farmers, the majority of whom are women, while improving the education, health, and nutrition of children.

Presented by Dr Norman Swan and broadcast across Australia on Radio National, Health Report is a valued source of information and analysis on health and medical matters for professionals and the general public alike.

Click here to listen to interview