Liberia, WFP Sign Two-Year Agreement to Strengthen National School Feeding Programme

MONROVIA, LIBERIA — The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Education, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening Liberia’s National School Feeding Programme and ensuring its long-term sustainability.

The agreement is intended to promote greater government ownership of the programme while strengthening coordination, institutional capacity, policy development, monitoring systems, and resource mobilization.

Under the arrangement, the Government of Liberia will progressively assume greater responsibility for coordinating and implementing the school feeding programme, while WFP will continue to provide technical assistance, advisory support, institutional capacity development, and support for monitoring systems.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Education Minister Dr. Jarso Maley Jallah described school feeding as an important investment in Liberia’s education sector.

“School feeding is a key investment in Liberia’s education sector because it supports enrolment, attendance, retention, and learning outcomes,” Minister Jallah said.

She emphasized that providing meals to schoolchildren goes beyond addressing hunger, noting that school feeding can help create conditions that enable children to attend school regularly and participate more effectively in the learning process.

Minister Jallah also announced plans to expand the Ministry of Education’s School Connect digital monitoring platform to more than 300 schools.

According to the Minister, the expansion will strengthen accountability and improve oversight of school feeding activities by providing education authorities with better tools to monitor programme implementation.

“The expansion of School Connect to more than 300 schools will strengthen accountability and improve oversight of school feeding activities,” she said.

The initiative comes as the Government seeks to strengthen national systems and gradually take full ownership of programmes that have traditionally benefited from significant support from development partners.

WFP Representative and Country Director Dr. Agbessi Komla Amewoa welcomed the agreement, describing it as an important milestone in the partnership between WFP and the Government of Liberia.

“This signing marks an important milestone in our partnership with the Government of Liberia and reaffirms WFP’s commitment to supporting a sustainable, government-led school feeding programme,” Dr. Amewoa said.

He said WFP will continue working with the Government to strengthen national capacity and systems required to ensure the programme can be effectively managed and sustained over the long term.

The agreement places particular emphasis on capacity building, with WFP expected to provide technical and institutional support as the Government gradually assumes greater responsibility for the programme.

The partnership will also focus on strengthening monitoring mechanisms to improve accountability and ensure that school feeding interventions reach their intended beneficiaries.

The Government and WFP say the agreement reflects their shared commitment to making school feeding an effective tool for improving children’s nutrition, education, and overall well-being.

For Liberia, the two-year arrangement is expected to help lay the foundation for a stronger national school feeding system in which the Government takes increasing responsibility for financing, coordination, implementation, monitoring, and long-term sustainability.

The parties say greater national ownership will be critical to ensuring that school feeding remains a reliable component of Liberia’s education and child welfare efforts beyond external programme support.