Philippines: Full plates for bright minds

There’s a well-known saying: You cannot learn on an empty stomach. If children have to go to school hungry, they do not learn as well, miss school more often and are restless during class. Schools therefore provide lunch for around 3.5 million undernourished children in the Philippines. But this is not enough. There are still too many hungry children in classrooms. The Department of Education of the Philippines has responded and plans to expand school meals to all children step by step. In the future, 22 million children at around 50,000 schools will receive meals.

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GIZ advises the Department of Education on how to manage this mammoth task. A large-scale project like this is much more complicated than simply putting lunch on the table at home: The Ministry has to set up central kitchens and staff them with trained personnel. Fixed standards for kitchen operations need to be agreed and then monitored. This involves, for example, ensuring that staff prepare healthy, balanced meals and observe hygiene standards. We also support the Ministry with straightforward data collection and analysis. This ensures that the desired number of children and schools are reached and that procurement is carried out correctly.

Wash your hands before you eat: Nutrition and hygiene reinforce each other

We link our support for school meals with the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene for schoolchildren. We have been supporting the Department of Education of the Philippines for more than 10 years. We are committed to making clean water, safe sanitation facilities and handwashing stations available at all schools. We thus boost the impact of our work and also reduce the risk of illness. 

 As a result, children stay healthy, miss fewer school days and learn more effectively because they can concentrate better.