Under the pilot initiative entitled ‘Food for Education Project’ snacks will be provided daily to some 18,000 children in 933 ‘para’ or ‘community' centers, in Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban districts.

This project for the first time takes WFP’s fortified biscuits to the CHT pre-primary school children attending para-centers supported by UNICEF and the government of Bangladesh.

This joint initiative is a part of the two agencies’ global partnership and has been made possible through funding from the government of Australia.

The project aims to help alleviate micro-nutrient deficiencies in pre-school children and improve their attendance and enrollment in schools. The biscuits are specially made to help school children focus and concentrate better and garner more energy to participate in educational activities.

The present pilot phase of the project is expected to continue until December 2006.

Announcing this joint initiative in Dhaka on Sunday WFP Representative in Bangladesh Douglas Broderick said, “WFP has been seeking effective ways to expand its nutritional support activities to the children of CHT and complement its ongoing development activities. This WFP-UNICEF joint project would help us reach the most vulnerable age groups in the remotest parts of the country.”

UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault welcomed the joint initiative to support children in CHT and said, “The nutritional support the UNICEF-WFP collaborative project takes to young school children in the CHT para centers is an important intervention that will help bolster children’s health as well as their learning abilities.”

Source: All Headline News