Attachments
Highlights
• In preparation of publications on poverty, food security and nutrition, with analysis also feeding into the ongoing Common Country Analysis, WFP intensified its collaboration with the National Statistics Office and worked with experts in WFP Headquarters to update the Cost of the Diet/Fill the Nutrient Gap Analysis that identifies barriers faced by the most vulnerable to accessing and consuming healthy and nutritious foods:
Actively looking into food systems solutions for the healthy Kyrgyz people and a healthy planet, WFP continues to support the Kyrgyz commitments to be announced in the Food Systems, COP26 and the Nutrition4Growth (N4G) Summits.
Operational Updates
• WFP continued technical support for the rehabilitation of school canteens and the delivery of modern kitchen equipment to 61 schools, ahead of the new school year 2021/2022. As of August, the majority of schools (88 percent) have finalized construction and renovation works in school kitchens and canteens. Since 2013, WFP has supported over 700 schools in organizing the provision of hot school meals to primary school children.
• In August, WFP supported more than 4,500 beneficiaries with 306 mt of fortified wheat flour and vegetable oil as an incentive for participation in Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) and Food Assistance for Training (FFT) activities in the most remote areas of the country. In addition, WFP distributed cash-based transfers (CBT) to more than 2,400 vulnerable and food insecure women and men affected by COVID-19 for participation in WFP projects on the ground.
• WFP, jointly with cooperating and national partners, continued awareness raising and capacity building activities for WFP-assisted schools and parents of primary schoolchildren on the importance of healthy eating and diversified diets with a focus on increasing community support to improve the school menus planned for August-September 2021. It is expected that schools will enhance their menus with more diverse and nutritious food thanks to additional parental contributions starting from September 2021, which will mitigate the adverse effects of increasing prices for food products used in school meals. Moreover, WFP jointly with partners provided guidelines on effective development of diversified school menus for the District Educational Departments of the Ministry of Education and Science and WFP-assisted schools, taking into account market prices, preferences for dishes, the size of parental contributions, and the ability to use products from the school gardens. WFP also conducted regular trainings for parents, where they discussed the school feeding program and its advantages. To ensure the sustainability of the school feeding program, active parental involvement is essential. Parents can take part not only in financial matters, but also participate in the oversight of the quality of food and ensure the development of school meals in their communities to improve the nutrition of their children.