WFP donates equipments

The World Food Programme(WFP) said on Wednesday that it donated maintenance equipment worth 32 millions CFA francs (US $47,000) to the Ivorian Ministry of Education as part of its school dining hall programme. The agency’s contribution included one all-terrain vehicle, a photocopier, four fire extinguishers, six ladders and other equipment for use in seven national food-conservation stores, WFP said.
The presentation ceremony took place on Thursday at the WFP’s office in Abidjan.

WFP and the government initiated the programme in 1989. By the end of 1999, 1.2 million students had benefitted from 63 mt of food worth US $35 million, the agency said. Over the same period, the programme contributed to “raising enrolment rates, especially among young girls and improving students’ concentration”. It was more “remarkable” in the southeast, where enrolment rates reached 83 percent, WFP said.

In 2000, 325,000 students from 2,850 schools benefitted from the programme. Of these, 195,000 students in 1,520 schools were under WFP’s care, while the others were supported by the national government.

WFP, which plans to withdraw from the programme in 2003, has extended it for another four years, from 1999 to 2003. The extension targets some 200,000 students per year in 1,790 schools. Its total cost is estimated at US $4.8 million.