02-05-2025
Sindh, WFP partner to launch school meals project
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Country Director of the World Food Programmeme (WFP) Coco Ushiyama have discussed collaborative efforts in maternal and child healthcare. They also discussed launching Rs578.39-million-pilot project for school meals in Malir District in a meeting, held at CM House on Thursday.
The meeting focused on enhancing ongoing initiatives such as the Nashonuma and Mamta programmemes and decided on a joint effort to combat malnutrition and improve school retention through a new school feeding scheme. With Rs578.39-million-pilot project, they aim to provide meals to 11,000 primary students.
Ushiyama provided an overview of WFP's current programmemes in Sindh, with an emphasis on Maternal and Child Nutrition (MCN). She discussed areas, including stunting, wasting, Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT), and food supplement distribution to address malnutrition.
CM Shah expressed appreciation for WFP's contributions and shared details of the Sindh government's health-focused initiatives. These initiatives include support for pregnant and lactating women, as well as children suffering from malnutrition, through two major programmemes - the federal Benazir Income Support Programmeme's (BISP) Nashonuma initiative and the provincial Mother and Child Support Programmeme (Mamta).
The meeting also addressed concerns regarding the perceived duplication between the two programmemes. It was concluded that while some overlaps exist, the designs of the two programmemes are largely complementary.
BISP Nashonuma targets beneficiaries through the national Kafalat registry, while the Mamta programme allows self-enrollment across 15 Sindh districts.
