$2m USDA support for Sidr-hit pry children
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the largest donor of United Nations World Food Programs (WFP) for its food for education programme, provided 2 million US dollar to assist over 100,000 primary school children in the Sidr-affected areas.
“The USDA support to WFP's food for education is aimed at creating incentives for children to attend classes regularly and increase their attention span by reliving short term hunger,” said Oliver Flake, Agricultural Attache, FAS/USDA of US Embassy in New Delhi, who recently visited school feeding programme in Kishoreganj.
He expressed his hope that the poor school children in food insecure areas in Bangladesh would continue to benefit from the USDA assistance through WFP.
Flake, while observing the school feeding programme, appreciated the role of WFP and the government of Bangladesh in addressing the nutritional needs of the school children.
“Consistent generosity from the USDA enables WFP to reach the most vulnerable school children and encourage them to attend classes regularly” said Edward Fallon, WFP representative (acting) in Bangladesh while welcoming the contribution on Tuesday, said a WFP press release yesterday.
“With the help of USDA, we are keeping several thousands of poor school children in the world's most difficult circumstances in schools and helping them to learn,” he added.
This latest donation brought a total USDA contribution to over 20 million US dollar for primary school feeding programme in Bangladesh.
The USDA has been supporting 350,000 primary school children under its emergency/regular operation in poverty prone areas with funding available from USDA since 2001.
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