World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Six months after the earthquake, WFP is working closely with the Haitian government to develop Haiti's most valuable capital: its children.

Throughout the country, 4,200 schools were destroyed or severely damaged during the earthquake.

The earthquake massively affected school infrastructure and the utilization of school premises as camps for displaced seriously disrupted primary education.

As schools across Haiti reopened, WFP resumed its school meals programme, led by the Government of Haiti, with the aim to provide 800,000 children across the country with a warm, nutritious meal once a day.

A daily meal at school is a simple and cost-effective way to encourage children affected by the earthquake to return to school and ensure that they receive at least one nutritious meal a day.

WFP and its partner organisations are today providing a hot daily meal to some 655,000 school children across Haiti. The aim is to reach 800,000 children before the end of the year.

The school meal programme targets the most vulnerable and food insecure areas of Haiti. The focus is particularly on metropolitan areas where infrastructure damage is high and schools in rural areas with large numbers of displaced children.

School meals encourage poor households to send children to school and keep them there – more than 76 percent of Haitians live on less than US $2 per day and 56 percent on less than US$1 per day.

The school meal programme increases the primary school enrolment. Concerted efforts have been made by WFP and its partners to get as many children as possible back to school after the earthquake.

The programme continues throughout the holidays. Summer camps will be set up across the country to ensure that children continue to learn – and eat.