The European Union is allocating an additional EUR 10 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for school feeding activities in Afghanistan.

This will allow WFP to expand school feeding into three additional provinces with high levels of food insecurity in primary schools, the organization said Wednesday in a statement.

“Hunger can be a barrier to education. The additional EU funding to our long-standing partner WFP ensures that more children in Afghanistan receive nutritious food. This is essential for them to have the energy and focus they need to learn effectively and stay healthy.

“And if these meals encourage parents to prioritize school attendance, this is benefiting everyone”, said Raffaella Iodice, EU Chargée d’Affaires to Afghanistan.

Thanks to the additional EU funding, WFP will be able to distribute fortified biscuits or locally produced nutritious school snacks to pupils in more than 10,000 schools in the eight provinces of Farah, Ghor, Jawzjan, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Paktika, Uruzgan and Zabul.

In addition, school girls in grades 4 to 6 will receive take-home rations including vegetable oil or cash for their families. In three provinces with especially low enrolment rates for boys, boys in grades 4 to 6 will receive take-home rations. These rations improve the nutrition of the whole family and encourage families to keep children in school.

“WFP in Afghanistan launched its school feeding programme more than two decades ago to link food security and better nutrition with education”, said Hsiao-Wei Lee, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan.

“Last year, WFP supported 1.5 million school-aged children through this programme and the European Union has been a key partner in helping us reach them.”

Expanding the range of in-school meals, WFP will for the first time in Afghanistan test the local production of vegetarian samosas from fortified local ingredients through a network of local bakeries.

A planned 2,000 children will receive two samosas per school day baked with pumpkin, spinach or egg, and potato or soya beans, as a protein-rich and nutritious snack.

In Afghanistan, school feeding activities have had a positive impact on school participation and learning and help families enroll and keep their children in schools.

For poor families globally, the value of meals in schools can be up to one tenth of household income, and several children enrolled in a school can translate into substantial savings for the family.

This latest top-up by the EU follows an earlier contribution of EUR 20.9 million towards WFP’s school feeding programme in Afghanistan for the years 2022 and 2023.

The funding comes at a timely moment and averts WFP having to downsize its school feeding programme this year due to lack of funding.