School Food Programs in Middle East Successful, Have Additional Benefit of Boosting Enrollment, Gender Equity

"The success of school feeding programmes in Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia has inspired poor countries such as Yemen, Syria and Iraq to introduce similar initiatives for improving the health, nutrition and education of school-age children. The provision of food fortified with micronutrients provides nutritional support and alleviates short- term hunger for school children in the most food insecure areas of these countries."
"School drop-out rates are as high as 45 percent in rural Syria. To combat this, the Syrian government and the WFP launched the Food for Education programme. This programme encourages children, living in the most vulnerable governorates of northern Syria, to attend school in return for food assistance."

"Benefits of School Feeding programmes are... School feeding programmes ensure adequate nutrition in school going children... Providing a meal at school will have a positive impact on school attendance and enrollment rates, especially of girls, in Yemen, Syria and Iraq as poor families will be encouraged to keep their children in school. In Yemen, girls’ enrollment rates have already increased by 40% in targeted schools."

Implications from SFG:
"School attendance will reduce illiteracy and in the long run, reduce poverty. In addition, the programme will help to improve children’s attention, concentration and academic performance.

However, food security issues pose a potential problem for "long term sustainability and expansion of the school feeding programme in Yemen, Syria and Iraq"