HONDURAN SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM - EFFECTIVE, GROWING,

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 000762

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON HO AID
SUBJECT: HONDURAN SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM - EFFECTIVE, GROWING,
AND ATTRACTING PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPORT.


1. EconOff and intern attended a donation event on March 23
at the Clarion Hotel, hosted by the United Nations World
Food Program (WFP) and Clover Brand, a Honduran private
corporation specializing in cooking oil and butter. Clover
donated a sum of $335,200 for food products to the School
Lunch Program in the department of Intibuca, in western
Honduras, where malnutrition has reached 72% of the infant
population. This is the first sizable private company
donation to the School Lunch Program in Honduras.


2. Representatives from the World Food Program and the GOH,
including the Honduran Minister of the Presidency, Luis
Cosenza, described the benefits of the school lunch program
coordinated by the GOH and WFP in rural (and some urban)
areas throughout the country. The school lunch funding
promotes improved school attendance by children from poor
families, contributes to higher nutrition levels, and
stimulates student attention. In addition, about 500,000
parents of children in departments benefiting from the Lunch
Program have formed committees to prepare meals for
children. The WFP supplies school districts with food and
products for preparation, including rice, corn, beans, and
cooking oil, to cover basic nutritional standards.


3. Cosenza underscored the importance of the program and
the GOH's appreciation for this new private sector
involvement. Before the Maduro administration, the Lunch
Program only covered about 55,000 children and the WFP was
not involved in the effort. The GOH funding has expanded
since Maduro took office in 2002 to 70% coverage of school
districts, more than 600,000 children in 8,000 schools in 18
departments. Cosenza also noted that this donation by
Clover to the school lunch program will benefit more than
10,000 students in 120 schools of Intibuca for one year,
which will work to reduce the high level of student dropouts
in the area. Another major priority of the program is for
children to complete grade school. To this end, the GOH is
investing 240 million lempiras in the Lunch Program in
Honduras, but is seeking more private sector donations to
expand the program.


4. Comment: The School Lunch Program is one of the most
valuable poverty reduction projects in Honduras --
simultaneously improving school attendance, child nutrition,
and cohesiveness in rural communities. Intibuca school
officials told us that school attendance has tripled since
the institution of school lunches, and they are now
scrambling to find the resources to add more classrooms and
teachers to fill the demand. However, the program is
threatened by resource cuts. The World Food Program in
Honduras, as in other Central American countries, did not
receive FY04 funding for school lunches because of cutbacks
in U.S. McGovern-Dole appropriations. GOH funds and private
donations will only be able to fill a part of this gap. End
Comment.

Palmer