FEEDING CHILDREN IN UGANDA

In Uganda, more than 8 million children attend primary school and only 33% of them receive at least one meal in school. Enabling children and young adults to fulfil their potential by providing a supportive learning environment, Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy is in the process of supporting more than 3,500 children across 11 schools surrounding the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.

In most of these rural schools, parents cannot afford lunch for their children. The children must go home for lunch and some do not return for afternoon classes. Providing nutritious meals for students at school is very important for them in many significant ways, including physiological growth, increased school enrolment, classroom concentration, inclassroom performance, learning and overall cognition.

In each of the schools, the lunch programme starts with construction of kitchens and storage where the food is kept and cooked. The program was piloted in Ntungamo; 10 kitchens still needed to be built. As of 30 May 2023, five of the construction projects were close to completion and the other five just beginning. Unfortunately, the building process has encountered many unforeseen delays, due to challenges transporting materials.

Although the lunch programme has so far only been implemented in Ntungamo, some of the other schools immediately started registering more student numbers after announcing plans to introduce the programme.

Overall, the 11 schools saw an average 21% enrolment increase and teachers at Ntungamo Primary School have reported that since the lunch programme was implemented, students no longer fall asleep in class. This has resulted in improved classroom performance, with a 96% increase in examination performance.

To learn more about projects supported by AKP visit akphilanthropy.org

SRI LANKA