Yerevan, 11 April 2016. – On the 8th and 9th of April  The Government of Armenia with the support of the World Food Programme, the World Bank and Partnership for Child Development conducted  a two-day Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) workshop in Tsaghkadzor. About 70 specialists and representatives from the Government line ministries, both at central and local levels, and representatives from international and national organizations worked together to find the strengths and weaknesses of the ongoing national school feeding programme in Armenia that WFP is supporting in the country since 2010.  

 

The main goal of the workshop with the set methodology was to assess and analyse the findings of the group work that will further support the Government of Armenia and its partners in the development of education and social protection policies and programmes. 

 

At the opening of the workshop Nairi Harutyunyan, Chief of Staff of MoES, presented the Address of the Minister of Education and Science Mr. Levon Mkrtchyan. He thanked WFP, World Bank and Partnership for Child Development, government and non-governmental organizations for initiating and participating in this workshop. “This will for sure enhance the process of the development of the strategy of the National Sustainable School Feeding (SF) programme that the Government of Armenia is implementing across the country during the last five years with the support of the World Food Programme” said Mr. Harutyunyan. “About 84,500 primary school children are benefiting from school feeding countrywide, while the schools are replenished with new modern kitchen equipment and utensils,” he added. He voiced hope that the national school feeding project, which is part and parcel of the 2015-2020 Education Reform Strategy, will cover the whole territory of the Republic of Armenia by 2025.  

 

WFP Country Representative Pascale Micheau in her opening remarks said: “Improving education requires far more than simply adding resources. The results of the recent Comprehensive Food Security, Vulnerability and Nutrition Analysis demonstrate a worrying situation for the most destitute and vulnerable people in Armenia and call for further investment in social protection in tackling hunger and malnutrition in the country.” She also added that School Feeding in Armenia has the potential to be a powerful social safety net and has proven to be a meaningful investment that contributes addressing effectively the food insecurity and malnutrition in the country. It also fosters synergies between education, nutrition, agriculture and economic development in rural areas, empowering women all along the process. “The expected results of this SABER exercise will help us identify strengths and gaps of the education policies and develop an action plan for improvements.”

 

Senior Policy Advisor of Partnership for Child Development (PCD) Bachir Sarr mentioned that school feeding not only helps solve the nutrition related issue but it also helps poverty reduction, in this regard contributing also to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

 

The findings of this two-day workshop will be presented to the wider audience on Monday 11th April in Marriott hotel in Yerevan.

 

SABER is a global partnership initiative between the World Bank, WFP and the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) on School Health and School Feeding. It collects, analyses, and disseminates comprehensive information on school feeding policies around the world. The partners have already implemented this tool in more than 30 countries and which is used as a benchmark event across the world in the planning of transition from WFP to nationally owned school feeding programme.

 

 

For more information please contact:

Ms. Vanja Karanovic, Policy Programme Officer 

UN World Food Programme

Vanja.karanovic@wfp.org

cell phone: 096 400 665

 

  -   Press release