The United Nations World Food Programme has moved its first food supplies to its logistics hub in Maracaibo, northwest Venezuela, as it gets ready to launch a school meals programme for vulnerable school children and school employees in the country, Rome-based WFP said Thursday.
Schools in crisis-hit Venezuela are currently closed, so WFP will provide take-home rations that include rice, lentils, salt and vegetable oil, prioritizing the under-sixes in areas where food is scarcest, the WFP statement said.
The 42,000 food packages arriving in Maracaibo will be distributed in the first month of the operation, which will focus on providing nutritious school meals, the refurbishing school canteens, and training school staff best food safety practices.
WFP aims to reach up to 185,000 children and school personnel by the end of this year and 1.5 million by the end of the 2022-2023 school year, according to the statement.
WFP will manage its own supply chain, from purchasing food to distributing it in schools.
