The United States Government, through Catholic Relief Services Sierra Leone recently donated 4,980 metric tonnes of fortified food commodities worth $5,579,400 to the Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education.

The donated commodities, which include lentils, vegetable oil, and fortified rice will provide nutritious schools meals for over 65,000 vulnerable students in Koinadugu and Falaba districts to address food insecurity and increases access to education for vulnerable children and communities.

The commodity donation is an integral aspect of the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition school feeding program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture. The program aims to reduce hunger and promote literacy and primary education, especially for girls. Over the past 15 years, implementation of the McGovern-Dole program in Sierra Leone has demonstrated that nutritious meals increase school attendance and promote higher academic performance.

During the handing over, the Country Representative for CRS Sierra Leone Andrianambinina, Jeanne Ella said “Catholic Relief Services has been a key partner to the Government of Sierra Leone in promoting quality education and supporting Children in the most vulnerable communities to reach their full potentials. The new phase of the program will invest in home-grown school feeding and sustainability. We are grateful for the funding from the United States Government through the United States Department of Agriculture.”

The Charge’ d’ Affaires at the United States Embassy, Freetown, Stephanie Bunce said “The McGovern-Dole program is an important United States Government program that directly addresses food insecurity and expands access to education by helping to pave the path for a brighter future for vulnerable children and communities. School feeding is an integral aspect to enhance human capital development.”

In her Remarks, the Deputy Minister II of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Mamusu Massaquoi said “School feeding promotes attendance and retention which has improved literacy and numeracy rate of children particularly our girls. I want to thank the United State Government and the American people for supporting the government of Sierra Leone and Catholic Relief Services to increase access to education and child nutrition for children in the most vulnerable communities in Sierra Leone.”

The handing over ceremony was attended by the Deputy Minister II of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, National School Feeding Secretariat, representatives from the United States Embassy in Freetown, Catholic Relief Services, Paramount Chiefs, District Education Officers of Falaba and Koinadugu districts and school feeding NGO Partners in Sierra Leone.
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Note to Editors.
For over 15 years CRS has been implementing the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition program. The program has gone through four phases from 2008 to 2022.

CRS recently started implementation of phase five of the program with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which will be implemented from 2021 to 2025.

Credit: CRS MEDIA CONTACT: Abibatu Conteh- Catholic Relief Services Sierra Leone- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it./ +23278668218

Issue DateFreetown, 24th April 2023 –