(KPL) The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Embassy of France in the Lao PDR are launching a collaborative project aimed at improving community nutrition, while incentivizing women’s farmer groups to supply fresh, locally produced food to schools in Thateng, Sekong Province. 

With EUR 500,000 in funding from France’s Food Assistance Programme, this initiative will target more than 10,000 people in 15 communities and will be implemented together with the district education and agriculture authorities.
Sekong Province in southern Lao PDR is struggling with the highest food insecurity rates of the Lao PDR and high levels of undernutrition. 29 per cent of the population in the province is facing seasonal food scarcity and shortages. Food insecurity and malnutrition affect the ability of schoolchildren to learn and grow physically and mentally. 

This project directly addresses these issues by combining innovative social behaviour change initiatives with support for women-led farming groups to produce nutritious food for their families and children in local schools.
“We are using methodologies rooted in behavioural science to trigger emotional reactions, to improve nutrition, hygiene and child feeding behaviours in our communities. At the same time, we are getting serious about producing local food for schools cooking daily lunches for their students, thereby making the school meals programmes sustainable and reducing their carbon footprint, while creating economic opportunities for women, boosting local economies and enhancing the nutritional value of the lunches through fresh, local ingredients,” said Marc-Andre Prost, WFP Representative and Country Director.   

“In the past five years, France has invested a total of EUR 3.3 million in WFP’s projects, supporting food security and nutrition in the Lao PDR, including in the same target province. As a promoter of school meals and a founding member of the international School Meals Coalition, which Laos has recently become a member of, France views school nutrition as a highly effective tool to combat malnutrition on scale. As we look ahead to the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Paris in the spring of 2025, I am delighted that we jointly engage in one of the most challenged areas of the Lao PDR, and contribute to the Lao Government’s system building around school meals,” said Siv-Leng Chhuor, Ambassador of France to Laos.