Today, June 6th, 2022, equipment, including new cookers, pots, water recipients, and serving trays, were delivered to 24 schools in Baucau Municipality to improve meal preparation and hygiene in the kitchens of these schools.
This equipment will help ensure that over 4,200 children in Baucau receive a nutritious and safe meal daily.
This project, entitled “Say No to the 5 S’s”, is the result of a partnership between the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization and is financially supported by the Republic of Korea and KOICA, worth US$ 7.8 million over five years, to combat child malnutrition, soil-born worms, skin diseases, smoking, and sugary drink consumption in 400 schools.
In all, 79,000 girls and boys will benefit, annually, until 2025, under this project, from school feeding improvements in three municipalities. This initiative is carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of State Administration.
During the handover ceremony, which took place at EBF Fatulia-Venilale in Baucau, WFP Program Officer Ali Khan said, “School feeding is one of the most significant and successful ways in which the Government of Timor-Leste is working to boost nutrition and combat chronic malnutrition. KOICA’s contribution to the program in Baucau today complements the support already provided to schools in Manufahi and Bobonaro and represents another step towards achieving this ambition”.
KOICA Deputy Director in Timor-Leste, Kwangsoo An, expressed being “impressed with the kitchen improvements achieved today and hearing the plans of WFP and the Ministry of Education to support schools in Timor-Leste”.
The President of Baucau Municipal Authority, Olívio Freitas, thanked WFP and KOICA for their support in strengthening school feeding and confirmed the commitment to build four new school kitchens in this municipality during the next phase of the programme.