The Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, Gaspard Twagirayezu, officiated today the opening of East African Regional School Meal Coalition Network Meeting taking place in Kigali from 26-27 June 2023 to engage in peer-to-peer learning & experience sharing and making advocacy efforts to promote school meal programmes.
In his remarks, Minister of State Gaspard Twagirayezu said that the establishment of East Africa Regional Network marks the beginning of a journey to address common school health and nutrition challenges, learn from each other, allow peer-to-peer learning & sharing of experiences across the region.
“I would like to call upon other stakeholders to continue working together to make school feeding across the region a success. Other development partners, private sector and other government agencies are invited to join efforts to make school feeding a game changer”, added Gaspard Twagirayezu.
By joining Eastern African School Meals Coalition Network, Gaspard Twagirayezu said that Rwanda will benefit from other regional countries’ experience in various sectors from Education, Health, Social Protection, Agriculture.
In addition to Rwanda, several countries in the region have expressed interest in joining the regional network including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The global School Meals Coalition was launched at the UN Summit on Food Systems in September 2021 and it brings together over 82 countries as well as 90 partners. The coalition aims to give every child in need the opportunity to receive a nutritious meal at school by 2030. (End)