MASERU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and an inter-ministerial Lesotho Government delegation are to travel to Brazil to learn new skills for managing the country’s school meals programme. The trip will last from 25 August till 6 September

Lesotho Government ministers and officials will learn about the so-called Zero Hunger strategy which originated in Brazil. It is being developed at the WFP Centre of Excellence Against Hunger, established in the capital, Brasilia, in partnership with the Government of Brazil. The centre was set up in 2011 to enable capacity development of national governments in the areas of school feeding, nutrition, and food security. While there, the Lesotho team will also visit national institutions as well as schools, small producers, members of civic society and local government officials.

Each year, some 125,000 children living in mountainous and difficult-to-reach areas of Lesotho receive a hot lunch through the national School Meals Programme. This programme is currently managed by WFP.

The visit – heralded as an example of South-South cooperation between countries - is designed to help Lesotho officials integrate school feeding into broader national safety net policies and poverty alleviation programmes, and to support local agricultural production.

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Last year, WFP reached more than 97 million people in 80 countries with food assistance.

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For more information please contact: Email: WFP.Maseru@wfp.org, Tel. Catherine Robar, WFP Lesotho office +266 2232 3989