WFP signs $1.6m deal with Chinese company HNA to cook for Ghana school children
The World Food Programme (WFP) says it has signed an agreement with a Chinese company, HNA Group to provide school meals for children in Ghana. The deal is worth $1.6 million.
According to the UN agency, the new partnership with HNA Group is to fight hunger globally.
The WFP says the funds will help it provide take-home rations to promote girls’ education under its school meals programme in Ghana.
During the signing of the agreement in Beijing, May 22, 2013, the WFP Executive Director, Ertharin Cousin said, “As a country that has so successfully brought millions of its own people out of poverty, China is perfectly positioned to take a leading role in the global fight against hunger,” adding, “We welcome the efforts of HNA Group to invest in the future of Ghanaian children, and we hope their support will serve as an inspiration for others.”
The WFP indicated that HNA’s support to its school meals programme in Ghana is planned as the first stage of an ongoing collaboration. The group has also expressed its interest in helping similar projects in other African countries as well as raising additional funds from its corporate partners, investors, customers and employees.
According to the WFP, over 66 million children of primary school age go to class hungry around the world.
“It costs on average only $0.25 per day to feed a child in school through WFP. The HNA Group’s donation will help nearly 3,900 girls in Ghana attend and stay in school for five years,” it said.
The WFP added that it provides school meals to more than 22 million primary school children in over 60 countries around the world, including to 180,000 children in Ghana.
“School meals encourage parents to send their children to school and help students concentrate better in class. Take-home rations for girls, which feed the whole family, act as an extra incentive for parents to send their daughters to school,” it said.
Ertharin Cousin signed for the WFP and HNA Group Chairman, Chen Feng signed for his company.
The government initiated the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) in 2005, in collaboration with the Dutch government under the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Pillar 3 of NEPAD and the recommendations of the UN Millennium Task Force on Hunger.
Its long term goal is aimed at contributing to reducing poverty and enhancing food security in Ghana. It also seeks to boost domestic food production, increase school enrolment, attendance and retention among kindergarten and primary school children.
The programme also aims to reduce hunger and malnutrition, and that way contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
The strategy as stated by the Ghana government is to provide meals daily, on school days, to children in public kindergarten and primary schools.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
poor u ede bee keke, come & sign cotract with my old lady. she can cook for our kids
If china was successful in fighting hunger, she did so using resources in her country and with foodstuff used to by her people. Will china buy and cook what we produce in ghana. Where is the empowerment. Ghana should be taught how catch the fish and not to be fed. Is this another way of getting ghanaian to be hooked to foreign foods?
They have finally got the chance to finish Ghanaians
Dr Sory, spot on! And come to think of it, is there no Ghanaian company that can be contracted to cook for the kids, foodstuff produced locally? I thought we have a school feeding programme that is being managed with Ghanaian Cooks? Why the Chinese. Ghanaian Leaders needs to wake up! We don not need the Chinese to feed Ghanaians!! We don’t need any foreigner and/or so-called donor community to come teach us how to secure our food!!
THESE ORGANIZATIONS ARE BUNCH OF BOOSOS AND IT A SHAME OUR LEADERS ALLOW CHINESE TO TAKE OVER GHANA BY FREELY MINING IN THE COUNTRY WITHOUT PERMIT AND UNDERGROUND ACTIVITIES, OPEN SHOPS WITHOUT PROPER DOCUMENTS BECAUSE OUR IMMIGRATION ARE CORRUPT WITH POLICE SERVICES AS WELL. TELL WFP TO SHAV IT AND GO TO HELL. GHANAIANS LIKE THEIR COOKING NOT CHINESE DOGS, INSECTS
If any evidence was need of NDC ineptitude, this is it. The NDC destroyed the School Feeding Programme started by the Kufour regime; and now this? Very sad indeed!!
What is going on now? I believe we need more details about the contract to understand and accept this .
We have the national buffer stock company whose role is to mop up and provide stable food prices to our own farmers . The company should in turn be able to supply food to the school feeding program.
I am at al loss as to how the Chinese come in here. Are they providing a loan for this too? Goodness me, we can’t find 1.5 million dollars in our budget for this activity.
I’m shocked. It’s as if we learn nothing from history, from news items, or from daily experiences as we travel around the world. Anything that goes to your mouth and your stomach should best be prepared at home.Tampering is traceable then. Besides providing needed jobs for Ghanaians, this school feeding program could get us hooked on foreign stuff, then it is boxed out of our mouths. Keep power at home, Mr President, don’t hand it over to someone who will inevitably abuse it. Remember, China is looking for new homes to move to. Ghana has the resources.Please let us be realistic!+Every+other+race+is+self-serving+when+it+comes+to+their+own+interests!+What’s+wrong+with+us+anyway????
What? I don’t think we have leaders in Ghana. Looks like our politicians are not thinkers.