Ammon News - Italian Ambassador to Jordan, Fabio Cassese, the World Food Program (WFP) Resident Representative and Country Director in Jordan Alberto Correa Mendes, on Monday signed a 1.5 million Euros agreement to support the National School Feeding Program in Jordan.

The signing ceremony was attended by Director of the Amman Office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in Jordan (AICS), Michele Morana.

The WFP’s school feeding project targets a total of 420,000 Jordanian school students and refugees in local communities and in Syrian refugee camps each year.

The Government of Italy will support this contribution through the AICS in 325 schools across the Kingdom, and the program will also provide job opportunities for Jordanians and Syrians, especially women and people with disabilities, who work in healthy kitchens to prepare fresh snacks for distribution to school children.

The project will be implemented in governorates of Mafraq, Ajloun, Irbid, Karak, Balqa, Zarqa, Madaba, and in the Zaatari and Azraq camps during the next semester of the 2021/2022 school year after the children return to school.

"Access to food remains a challenge for Syrian refugees, especially since families have few opportunities to work due to the pandemic, and are now struggling to pay for food, rent and health care, and the lack of family income has forced vulnerable refugees to send their children to work instead of keeping them in schools," the Italian embassy said in a statement.

Head of AICS Amman office, Michele Morana, said this assistance has various positive impacts on the population: it reduces school dropout and helps increase student enrollment, in addition to improving children's health by improving the quality of nutrition.

The contribution also supports Jordanian and Syrian families whose economic weaknesses have been exacerbated by the outbreak of the Coronavirus, which reduced access to food for all population groups, in addition to increasing social cohesion between refugees and host communities.

Ambassador Cassese said, "This agreement follows the two contributions that Italy had previously granted to the World Food Program to support food-insecure families and help promote sustainable national school feeding programs. The renewed partnership complements Italy's efforts in support of the Jordanian government's strategy to improve education and food security, in line with Jordan's response plan to the Syrian crisis and with national priorities that include improving social protection systems, addressing unemployment and increasing women's participation in the labor market."

"The World Food Program appreciates the partnership with the Italian government and welcomes this generous contribution to support the National School Feeding Program in Jordan," said the WFP Resident Representative and Country Director in Jordan Alberto Correa Mendes.

He added, "Children focus better when they are not hungry; many teachers told us that classes are more productive and focused when children receive these snacks, and we look forward to healthy and safe children returning to school in the next semester."

(Petra)