WFP makes Skinnari global champion for school feeding

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari has been named a global champion for school feeding by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release on Friday.

In this role, Skinnari will promote global awareness of school meals and will seek funding sources for school feeding programmes. The task will continue until the end of 2021.

School feeding is an important nutritional support in developing countries, and for many children the school meal is their only substantial meal of the day.

At the same time as the coronavirus pandemic has weakened household livelihoods and increased hunger, school closures have left an estimated 370 million children without their daily school meals. In addition, 73 million children in the poorest countries lacked access to school meals even before the pandemic.

School feeding programmes provide an incentive to send all children to school, including girls. This is all the more important as schools re-open after the pandemic.

“Finland is a pioneer of school feeding, and the Finnish system is considered a model example of well-implemented school meals. I want to share our experiences and solutions globally together with government actors, organisations, and companies,” said Skinnari.

As a school feeding champion, Minister Skinnari supports the World Food Programme, which is building an international coalition around the theme of school feeding.

He will promote international cooperation in various high-level forums, especially the UN Food Systems Summit to be held in New York in September.