April 2, 2006: UNICEF - WFP Launches Food for Education Project in CHTDhaka, 2 April 2006: WFP and UNICEF have launched the pilot phase of a collaborative initiative ‘Food for Education Project’ in Chittagong Hill Tracts to provide daily snacks to 18,000 children in 933 ‘para’ or ‘community centres in Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban districts. This project for the first time takes WFP’s fortified biscuits to the CHT pre-primary school children attending para-centres supported by UNICEF and the government of Bangladesh. This joint initiative is a part of the two agencies’ global partnership and has been made possible through funding from the Government of Australia. Everyday, school children will receive a 50gm packet of fortified biscuits containing vitamins and minerals essential for their growth and development. The project aims to help alleviate micronutrient deficiencies in pre-school children while also improving their attendance and enrolment in pre-school. The biscuits are specially made to help school children focus and concentrate better and garner more energy to participate in educational activities. Many of the para centres (community centres) are located in remote and vulnerable areas where there is limited access to primary education and other essential services. Implemented by the Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP) under the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tract Affairs, the para centers have been functioning since 1997. These centres provide a ‘one stop’ delivery point for basic social services related to health, nutrition, water, sanitation and pre-primary education. Each para center has a catchment population of approximately 150-200 persons and to date, 2220 para centres exist in over 1800 paras. Over 70 per cent of these para centres are in indigenous communities whilst the remaining are in Bengali communities and/or serve mixed Bengali and indigenous groups. Announcing this joint initiative in Dhaka today WFP Representative Douglas Broderick said, “WFP has been seeking effective ways to expand its nutritional support activities to the children of CHT and complement its ongoing development activities. This WFP-UNICEF joint project would help us reach the most vulnerable age groups in the one of the remotest part of the country.” UNICEF Representative Louis-Georges Arsenault welcomed the joint initiative to support children in CHT and said, “The nutritional support the UNICEF-WFP collaborative project takes to young school children in the CHT para centres is an important intervention that will help bolster children’s health as well as their learning abilities.” The present pilot phase of the project is expected to continue until December 2006. For more information, please contact: WFP: M. Emamul Haque UNICEF : Kirsty McIvor
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