9th Africa Day of School Feeding Theme: “Investing in Home Grown School Feeding to transform education systems - for an inclusive, and prosperous future of the African Continent”.

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February 29, 2024 to March 01, 2024

Media Advisory Date: 27^th February, 2024

Venue: Bujumbura, Burundi

What: 9^th Africa Day of School Feeding

Theme: “Investing in Home Grown School Feeding to transform education systems - for an inclusive, and prosperous future of the African Continent”.

When:

Technical Meeting: Thursday, 29^th February 2024, 9.00 am – 5.00 pm
High-level celebration: Friday, 1^st March 2024, 10.00 am – 5.00 pm

Where:

Technical session on February 29, 2024: Club du Lac Tanganyika Hotel
Ministerial session on March 1, 2024: Presidency Palace- Conference Hall.

Key note Speakers

President of the Republic of Burundi, Guest of Honor
UN Representative- Executive Director of WFP, on behalf of all UN Agencies
Ms. Cristina Duarte, Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Special Advisor on Africa
AfDB Representative
WFP AUGO Director and Representative to AU and ECA, representing the Home-Grown School Feeding Cluster
H.E. Prof François HAVYARIMANA, Minister of Education and Scientific Research of the Republic of Burundi
AUDA-NEPAD
H.E. Prof. Mohammed Belhocine, Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation (ESTI), Africa Union Commission

BACKGROUND

The 9^th African Day of School Feeding will bring together senior officials from Government institutions of AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Embassies, executives of UN Agencies, multilateral agencies, international financial institutions, Civil Society Organizations (CSO), donor agencies, academic and research institutions, other professional associations, and individual experts.

During their 2016 Ordinary Session, AU Heads of State and Government declared African Day of School Feeding (ADSF) on the 1^st March of every year by AU Assembly (589 XXVI) on HGSF. In so doing, they recognized the importance of Home-Grown School Feeding in improving health, nutrition and education of children.

Since this groundbreaking decision, the ADSF continental commemoration contributes to reinforcing political will for school feeding on the continent. It also provides space for stakeholders across the public, private, civil society, and multilateral sectors to raise awareness and knowledge on school feeding, take stock of progress made and galvanize AU Member States for the adoption, implementation or sustainment of pro-school feeding policies programmes.

Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) indeed helps address macronutrient and micronutrient deficiencies for pre-school, primary school children and adolescents. This leads to enhanced education, nutrition and health outcomes, decreased morbidity, and increased learning capacities.

Also, its benefits go far beyond the above-mentioned aspects, as locally procured school meals help build domestic food production economies and contribute to stable markets, boosting local food systems.

This is why it counts as one of the strategic objectives of the 2016-2025 Continental Strategy o Education for Africa (CESA).

As AU recently inaugurated 2024 as the Year of Education (YoE), the 9^th ADSF will get African leaders and experts to open in-depth discussions on the proper ways to translate this commitment into national implementation plans.

This 9^th ADSF is therefore a high-level advocacy event for advancing the transformation of education systems in Africa through increased enrolment rates, attendance rates, improved learning outcomes and local development through agriculture.

This year, the event will be hosted by Burundi, with the technical and financial support of WFP’s Main Office, the AU and Burundi-based Bureaus of WFP.

Specific Objectives:

To strengthen the implementation of comprehensive school meal programs to improve human capital by enabling greater access to education and enhancing the health & nutrition of children, whilst also strengthening local and rural economies.
To increase sustainable financing and systematic investment in holistic education interventions, which focus on the learning and the learner, and to allocate more funding to the re-integration of Out-of-School girls in education.
To share Member States and South-South Cooperation experiences on school feeding for nutrition and education improvement.
To showcase ambitious commitments from African countries to the global School Meals Coalition and celebrate national achievements, which demonstrate how countries can improve and scale up their programmes to respond to the health, nutrition and education needs of children.

Expected outcomes

Taken stock of the updates on progress in the implementation of Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 589 (XXVI) on School Feeding and strategies to accelerate achievements.
Increased commitment of Members States towards the expansion of HGSF programs and towards increasing funding allocations for school feeding and school health and nutrition programmes.
Increased networking and awareness of the partners and Members States on the policy and programme design of the HGSF programs in Africa.
Agreed Continental Declaration on Home-Grown School Feeding with a common vision to improve human capital by enabling greater access to education and enhancing the health & nutrition of children

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

All media personnel are required to provide information for their accreditation and that of their equipment.

All delegations traveling with official media (photo and video services) must be accredited. The list of official media personnel and their respective equipment must be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation for authorization.

Ms. Claudette Chancelle BILAMPASSI MOUTSATSI |

PAU- ESTI Communication Officer| Department of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation| African Union Commission| E-mail: BilampassiC@africa-union.org|

Information and Communication Directorate, African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org