Robert Fillon, Ambassador of Monaco to Italy, accompanied by a delegation participated in the 1st Ordinary Session of the Executive Board of the World Food Program (WFP), which took place from 25 to 27 February 2019, at Rome.
At the opening session, in his capacity as a guest of honour, Mr. Daniel Kablan Duncan, Vice-President of Côte d’Ivoire, spoke on the Regional Center of Excellence against Hunger and Malnutrition of WFP for West and Central Africa. This first Center in Africa, located in Abidjan, will be inaugurated on March 25th, 2019.
During this session, the WFP Executive Board elected its new Chair, Hisham Mohamed Moustapha Badr, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Egypt to WFP and reviewed the Report on WFP’s Support to Strengthen resilience, serving food security and nutrition.
On the sidelines of the session, Ms. Emilie Larese-Silvestre and Ms. Martine Garcia-Mascarenhas met with WFP’s Chief of Technical Assistance and Private Partnerships, who presented to them the new publication produced with the World Bank on school canteens (actions supported by the Monegasque Cooperation, particularly in Burundi and Niger).
For example, WFP 2020-2030’s new strategy for school canteens aims to meet the needs of the 73 million children who do not currently benefit from a meal at school.
The benefits of the school meal are multiple (health of students, attendance and school performance, schooling of girls, family purchasing power …) and constitute a powerful lever against hunger and poverty.