from AMADOU NDIAYE in Dakar, Senegal
Senegal Bureau
DAKAR, (CAJ News) – SENEGAL has adopted digital means to enhance the distribution of food aid in schools.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is driving the school meals initiative in the West African country.
WFP is supporting the provision of meals for 65 000 schoolchildren across 247 public primary schools in Kolda and Matam.
In Matam, 73 education staff, 22 percent women, have been trained on School Connect, a digital platform enhancing tracking of school meal stocks, daily attendance and enrolment.
“This will enable 45 additional schools to adopt digital monitoring, improving planning and delivery,” said Pierre Lucas, WFP Senegal country director, this week.
Overall, as of March 2024, WFP has provided the National Council for Nutrition Development (CNDN) with over 150 metric tons of specialised nutritious foods, to be delivered by June this year to children aged 6–59 months across 19 departments as part of the moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) supplementation programme.
In the first quarter of 2025, some 20 797 children, 51 percent girls, suffering from MAM were supplemented.
In the Ferlo zone, WFP led community planning sessions for a new agro-pastoral resilience project funded by Ireland, targeting the restoration of 100 hectares of degraded land.
WFP has worked with local technical services to conduct irrigation diagnostics under the “Resilient Territories” Matam Compact, with the aim of designing climate resilient production villages.
Further, as part of the Africa Integrated Climate Risk Management Programme (AICRM), WFP launched the inception study for the implementation of the microinsurance component.
In Salémata, WFP conducted an assessment mission with the Ministry of Agriculture, where land tenure was secured for the launch of the flagship Community Agricultural Cooperative (CAC).
This project aims to develop 500 hectares and support local communities through cooperatives, with a focus on youth employment, food production and agro-processing.
– CAJ News