ARLINGTON, Va., October 24, 2018 – Counterpart International today announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide $21 million to support development activities to strengthen the capacity of the Republic of Senegal to sustainably address chronic food insecurity. The award will support education and child development initiatives through school feeding and literacy projects.
Counterpart will use the funds to implement a school feeding project, Sukaabe Janngo (“Children of Tomorrow”), working with local partners to:
- Increase student attendance rates by providing nutritious daily school meals for preschool and primary school students;
- Improve health and dietary practices by providing access to deworming medications and increasing knowledge of safe food preparation and storage practices;
- Improve school infrastructure and increasing access to clean water and sanitation by rehabilitating latrines and water station systems; and
- Improve the literacy of school-age children through the provision of improved instructional materials.
In Senegal, school attendance rates are low and drop-out rates are high, especially for girls. Senegal suffers from persistently high poverty rates, sitting at 46.7 percent. Overall, 17 percent of people are food insecure, and in some – mostly rural – parts of the country, the prevalence of global acute malnutrition is at critical levels. Challenges to nutrition, health, and literacy are intertwined, so it is vital to address them in concert, through complementary water, sanitation, and health and hygiene measures, like de-worming and malaria prevention. Community-led and community-based interventions work together to reduce health-related absences and improve outcomes for children and their families.
“Counterpart will build on the successes of our McGovern-Dole project in Saint Louis, targeting the same 270 preschools and primary schools. This project provides a vital safety net for food-insecure families living in poverty, while supporting sustainable community-led partnerships, education, and child development,” said Dr. Ann Hudock, Executive Vice President of Counterpart International. “We look forward to building on our successful and longstanding partnership with USDA as we continue with Senegal on its journey to self-reliance.”
Through a $3.6 million Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement Program award, and as a complement to the McGovern-Dole project, Counterpart will work with local partners to:
- Increase the capacity of schools and the government to procure local goods to supply school feeding programs, promoting the sustainability and scalability of school feeding programs; and
- Connect local farmer groups to the school feeding program and strengthen their capacity to provide high-quality, nutritious food.
“Counterpart believes that only through partnering with committed, engaged local partners will any development solution be successful and sustainable,” said Dr. Ann Hudock, Executive Vice President of Counterpart International.
About Counterpart International
Counterpart International helps people build better lives and more durable futures, community by community. For more than 50 years, Counterpart has been an innovator, changing the way people look at, and solve, global development challenges.
