DRC and WFP Target School Meals for One Million Children

The Congolese government and the World Food Programme are preparing a new plan that could bring school meals to nearly one million children across the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Prime Minister Judith Suminwa met WFP senior official Carl Skau in Kinshasa on Tuesday, 28 July. The two sides agreed to develop WFP’s next country strategic plan for the DRC, covering 2027 to 2030.

School meals are expected to be one of its major priorities.

The ambition is not only to provide food at school. The proposed model would increasingly purchase ingredients from Congolese small-scale farmers, allowing money spent on school meals to support agricultural families and local cooperatives.

It is a potentially important national programme, but the expansion has not yet reached nearly one million children. The target, budget, provinces and annual rollout schedule must still be detailed in the new strategic plan.

What did the government and WFP agree?

According to the Journal de Kinshasa, the meeting focused on food security, nutrition, school meals and WFP’s support for the Ebola response.

The main long-term decision was to prepare a four-year country strategic plan for 2027–2030.

Within that framework, the government and WFP said they want to accelerate the national school-meals programme and reach nearly one million children.

They also promoted a home-grown school-feeding model. This approach connects schools with nearby farmers so that at least part of the food served to pupils is produced and purchased locally.