In partnership with the Government of Benin, WFP provides food assistance to children enrolled in public primary schools through its school meals programme, which operates in 6 of the 12 regions in the country, covering 364 schools and more than 100,000 students. In 2010 and 2011, WFP assisted vulnerable populations affected by the 2010 floods to improve their nutritional status and enhance the resilience of local communities. Present in Benin since 1964, WFP provides food assistance to save lives, improve the health and nutrition of children, women and vulnerable groups, promote access to education, and reduce gender disparities.
WFP’s development programme for school feeding in Benin aims to support districts where there are high rates of poverty and chronic malnutrition and where net enrolment rates are below the national average. In some districts of Benin, the enrolment levels can be lower than 50%. Through the project, students in primary schools receive a daily meal made up of maize, beans, vegetable oil and salt. The daily meals help to in-crease enrolment and attendance rates and im-prove concentration during class.
WFP emphasizes the importance of community ownership of the school canteens. Parents’ Associations are involved in canteen management committees, contribution to the meals and the construction of kitchens and food storage areas. In order to encourage community development and local production, WFP plans to purchase 70% of commodities for the project on the local market, principally from small farmers. Government capacity building for management of school canteens is a core aspect of the project’s strategy.
WFP also provides technical assistance to the Government of Benin in order to support the establishment and functioning of a national school feeding programme that will eventually take over from WFP.
In 2010, Benin experienced heavy flooding that led to a significant deterioration of the country’s overall food security situation. The flooding left thousands of people homeless and caused considerable dam-age to community and individual assets. In November 2010, WFP launched an emergency operation to meet the urgent needs of food-insecure, flood-affected populations. The project was originally in-tended to end in June 2011, but was extended until the end of the year.
Under this operation, WFP provided a comprehensive assistance package to meet beneficiaries’ acute needs and to protect their livelihoods following the crisis. This included a series of nutrition and food-for-work activities which reached about 306,000 food-insecure, flood-affected people and host families. The development of Disaster Risk Reduction activities is growing more relevant for Benin, where floods are becoming a more frequent phenomenon. Promoting capacity building through training with NGOs and the Government in order to reduce the negative effects of future floods is crucial.