The United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) warned this Saturday, 22 March, that around 57,000 children could be left without school meals this academic year in Nampula province, due to a lack of funding.
‘This funding gap is affecting the school feeding programme in Nampula. Current resources do not allow it to continue throughout 2025,’ reads a WFP report released today (22).
According to the United Nations agency, the deficit also threatens the continuity of the School Feeding Programme (Pronae), which aims to combat food and nutritional insecurity among school-age children in the country. It adds that the initiative was expected to ‘reach more than 242,000 people in 340 schools during the first quarter of the 2025 school year, but after this period, the programme will be interrupted.’
In July last year, the Norwegian government disbursed 264 million meticals to the WFP to strengthen food systems adapted to climate change and expand school feeding programmes in southern Mozambique.
With the funding, around 500 small farmers diversified their agricultural production and 17,000 primary school children had greater access to nutritious meals to improve school attendance.
