The goal is to provide education and carry out trainings on professional development of all employees involved in the school feeding programme: headmasters, cooks and medical staff. This will ensure a smooth transition of the school feeding programme from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to the Government of the Republic of Armenia and provide school students with a balanced and safe school meal.
The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Education Arevik Anapiosyan, UN WFP Country Director in Armenia Elena Milosevic, representatives of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation Anna Valkova and representatives of SIFI Vladimir Chernigov, Elena Bolotnikova and Oksana Zotova.
UN WFP and the Government of Armenia have been implementing the School Meals Programme in Armenia since 2010 with technical assistance of the Social and Industrial Foodservice Institute. WFP aims to transition from a WFP-administered to a nationally-owned, sustainable National School Meals Programme. Currently WFP provides hot, nutritious meals 180 days per school year to 60,000 primary school children in five of Armenia's ten provinces: Aragatsotn, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Kotayk, Lori. The Government of Armenia has taken over the management and implementation of the School Meals Programme in the other five provinces: Syunik, Shirak, Tavush, Vayots Dzor and Ararat including 40,000 primary school children.