Development Minister Dag-Inge Ulstein (KrF) brought NOK 30 million for school food for Malian school children when he visited the country this past week.
The country is one of the world’s poorest, and half of its inhabitants can neither read or write. Ulstein believes that school food increases the chance of parents sending children to school.
– “Children who go to school hungry, and are often undernourished or malnourished, have difficulty learning, regardless of how good the teaching is,” says Ulstein.
Since 2012, millions have been displaced due to riots and ethnic conflicts in Mali. The uprising has now spread from the northern to the central parts of the country. Mopti, who visited the Minister of Development, is one of the hard-hit places.
The Norwegian funding go to the UN Food Program’s (WFP) school food project. Ulstein hopes the government’s contribution will contribute to stability in a part of the world that is in dire need of it.
According to WFP, Norway’s contribution will provide meals for 55,000 school children in the 2019-2020 school year.
“This is also an important contribution in the effort to strengthen the transition from emergency humanitarian aid to long-term development assistance,” says Sivia Caruso, Country Food Director of Mali.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
