MPs from across the Commonwealth back school meals
Over 80 MPs attending the 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) in Accra, Ghana, including senior parliamentary office holders such as speakers, presiding officers and chairs of parliamentary committees provided their backing for the expansion and improvement of school meal programmes.
Prior to the Conference, Tanzanian MP and school meals champion Hon. Neema Lugangira issued a call for her parliamentary peers to back the global campaign for school meals. In an article for the School Meals Coalition, Hon. Lugangira praised current school meals programmes within the Commonwealth, yet it explained much more is to be done as the world fights a triple crisis in education, malnutrition and poverty. The article concluded by calling on parliamentarians to act to expand and improve school feeding programmes nationally and internationally.
Gathering of parliamentarians from all around the Commonwealth, at the 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference.
At the conference, it was clear that there was widespread support for the Hon. Lugangira’s call to action. Multiple MPs expressed and displayed their support for school meals, referencing the significant nutritional and educational benefits children receive from school feeding programmes.
“There is urgent work to be done in Commonwealth member states where school feeding programmes could make a vital contribution to tackle the triple crisis of less learning, more poverty and worsening nutrition,” said Tanzanian MP Neema Lugangira.
“School meals ease the financial burden on households, provide opportunities for the local economy and farmers, help the development of climate friendly food systems and can be used to support social cohesion. So they make practical and political sense,” concluded Ms. Lugangira.
Mobilising political leadership for school feeding
The engagements at the CPC were very encouraging, demonstrating that there is the political support for the expansion and improvement of school meal programmes across the Commonwealth.
Yet, it also became clear that not all MPs were familiar with the multiple benefits of school meal programmes or what they could do to support school feeding development domestically and if relevant, as an international development endeavour.
IPNEd’s and the School Meal’s Coalition’s, ‘Parliamentary Toolkit on School Feeding’ will address these challenges. It will explain to MPs the multiple benefits of school feeding and then how they as a parliamentarian can support the expansion and improvement of school meals programmes.
