PROJECT
GAMBIA:
SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMMES
School Feeding Programmes
In a country like The Gambia, the most effective way to attract children to school is to facilitate a School Feeding Programme, because it attracts children towards attending school while promoting an effective education while they are at school. Our core mission is to provide every child that we support with a hot and nutritious meal each day that they attend school, fighting against hunger and promoting education.
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Sadly, the average length of time that any child in The Gambia spends in school is less than 3.5 years. For children with special needs, this number is much less. The first time that our team visited The Gambia, the aim was to find a school which, out of all the other schools, appeared to be in most need of our help. Upon entering St. John's School for the Deaf, one of the only special needs schools in the entire country, we were shocked to find that the only food they had in their store cupboard was a bag of rice, half a bag of onions, some oil and some tomato paste. At the time, this was all the food they had left to feed more than 150 children. At that moment, our team knew that they were in the right place. Therefore, we began initially by supporting St. John's School for the Deaf in 2012 by putting in place a Feeding Programme at the school, hoping to make sure that every child was fed one meal at school every day (for most children, we knew that this would be their only meal on most days). Although it took time to establish the feeding programme, by 2013 we had met this goal of feeding every child at the school - and, with thanks to our supporters, have been able to do this every year since!
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2012
2017
The impacts of having a School Feeding Programme (outside of preventing hunger) in place have been more numerous than we ever could ever have thought:
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Concentration and Focus - Having food improves both the nutrition and energy levels of the pupils at the schools, allowing them to listen more intently in class and work harder. As a result, the exam results of the children has greatly increased. We look forward to being able to document the effect of this on the career prospects of the children in their post-school life.
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- Behavioural Benefits - Since the introduction of the Feeding Programme at St. John's, the behaviour of the pupils have greatly improved and this has a beneficial effect on the teaching of the children.
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- Attendance - The Feeding Programme has undoubtedly led to a greatly increased attendance (in terms of enrolment) at St. John's, as Deaf children (many of whom are older and have never previously attended school), now come to school to receive their meal (while also receiving an education while there). The attendance of the children who attend the school has also risen, as children become less likely to miss school. The graph below shows the change in attendance at St. John's since the introduction of the School Feeding Programme in 2012.
In 2019, we were able to begin supporting St. Patrick's Lower Basic School in The Gambia, as well as St. Joseph's Nursery School. Although this Feeding Programme has more recently been introduced, we are delighted to see similar benefits already become apparent in these schools.
Extending our support
In 2019, we were able to begin supporting St. Patrick's Lower Basic School in The Gambia, as well as St. Joseph's Nursery School. Although this Feeding Programme has more recently been introduced, we are delighted to see similar benefits already become apparent in these schools.
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Please see the video attached, where Francis Devine from Project Gambia explains some of the aspects of the School Feeding Programme at St. Patrick's Lower Basic School and St. Joseph's Nursery School, including how the feeding of more than 800 pupils every day is made possible by the fantastic and co-ordinated effort of the school's Staff and Pupils!
FIRST DAY OF FEEDING PROGRAMME
On the first day that the Feeding Programme of St. Patrick's and St. Joseph's Schools was in operation, Paul Lafferty took the time to talk to some of the children about their School Meals, and we announced that the children would be receiving a meal like this every day from now on.
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The children share a large plate between a small group of them (6 or 8 children), which embodies and cultivates the spirit of community and sharing which is at the very heart of our Catholic faith and ethos.