The UAE has become the latest member to join the School Meals Alliance, following a ministerial meeting in Helsinki. The deepening food crisis and the resulting increase in food insecurity are creating a new urgent need to expand the alliance in all countries and ensure that every child has the opportunity to grow, learn and thrive.
The alliance, launched in 2021 at the United Nations Food Systems Summit, is made up of more than 70 countries and 75 partners, including UN agencies, civil society, the private sector and academic institutions – all working together to support actions to reintroduce, improve, expand and ensure school meals. Every child around the world will have a healthy meal at school by 2030.
In early 2020, school feeding programs around the world provided more meals than ever before, reaching 388 million children. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, programs came to a halt as nearly all countries closed their schools, leaving 370 million children in school without school meals, which for many of them were the only meal of the day they depended on for nutrition. This outage highlighted the important role that schools play not only in providing education but also in providing important health and nutritional services for children.
Her Excellency Maryam bint Mohammed Al Muhairi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said: “The UAE is committed to providing sufficient, healthy, nutritious and safe food for the young generation and to helping other countries do the same. Since 2007, we have invested about $80 million in the school health and nutrition portfolio, and we have reached 7.4 One million beneficiaries in 25 countries, through our flagship philanthropic organization, Dubai Cares. Thanks to its expertise, Dubai Cares played a key role in creating the School Meals Alliance.”
Commenting on the UAE’s strategic decision to join the alliance, His Excellency Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, CEO and Vice Chairman of Dubai Cares, said: As a founding member of the School Meals Alliance, Dubai Cares’ mission is to stimulate the sector and advocate for school feeding programs to bring about the necessary changes in countries that They are in dire need of support, as well as attracting new donors to join this global movement that improves cognitive development in children. The joining of the UAE to the School Meals Alliance would send a strong signal to Arab donors and neighboring countries from our region to examine the importance of food security in schools.
Particularly in light of the deepening food crisis, the World Food Programme, responsible for the School Meals Alliance, warns that the global food crisis has exposed an additional 23 million young people under the age of 18 to acute food insecurity, bringing the total affected children now to 153. million. This makes up about half of the 345 million people who are currently acutely food insecure. The long-term effects of hunger and malnutrition are harmful to children, who are the future of our world, and the School Meals Alliance aims to address and reverse this trend to ensure that all children thrive.
The UAE intends to support the School Meals Alliance by helping to create sustainable food supply chains, sharing its experience in reducing food loss and waste through the National Food Loss and Waste Reduction Initiative (Nima), promoting sales of local products and leveraging technology to address pressing challenges. It also seeks to encourage other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council to join the coalition and highlight its work during relevant high-level meetings.
The Revitalized School Meals Alliance has three primary goals: to resume existing national school meals and to provide school health services by 2022; To reach the 73 million needy children who did not have access to meals even before the pandemic by 2030; and improve the overall quality and efficiency of programs by 2030. It is estimated that $5.8 billion will be needed annually to provide these 73 million children in need with school meals and complementary health interventions.
While school meal programs combat hunger, poverty and multiple forms of malnutrition in children to contribute to the flourishing development of every human being, they also have a much broader impact on society and the economy. According to an analysis by Harvard University, every dollar invested in school meals generates economic returns of about $9.
There are four main areas in which the School Meals Alliance supports local economies, creates jobs and livelihoods in communities, and breaks the links between hunger, unsustainable diets and the eventual learning crisis. These areas include social protection, where families can rely on school meals to save money and increase family income; education, where there is a significant 9% increase in enrollment when schools have useful programmes; agriculture, by purchasing locally grown food for school meals, promoting jobs and local diets; And finally nutrition, by providing a regular source of nutrients necessary for the mental and physical development of schoolchildren. These programs also promote gender equality, helping to attract and keep girls in school.
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