US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA762

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 000762 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, HO, AID 
SUBJECT: HONDURAN SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM - EFFECTIVE, GROWING, 
AND ATTRACTING PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPORT. 
 
1.  EconOff and intern attended a donation event on March 23 
at the Clarion Hotel, hosted by the United Nations World 
Food Program (WFP) and Clover Brand, a Honduran private 
corporation specializing in cooking oil and butter. Clover 
donated a sum of $335,200 for food products to the School 
Lunch Program in the department of Intibuca, in western 
Honduras, where malnutrition has reached 72% of the infant 
population.  This is the first sizable private company 
donation to the School Lunch Program in Honduras. 
 
2.  Representatives from the World Food Program and the GOH, 
including the Honduran Minister of the Presidency, Luis 
Cosenza, described the benefits of the school lunch program 
coordinated by the GOH and WFP in rural (and some urban) 
areas throughout the country.  The school lunch funding 
promotes improved school attendance by children from poor 
families, contributes to higher nutrition levels, and 
stimulates student attention.  In addition, about 500,000 
parents of children in departments benefiting from the Lunch 
Program have formed committees to prepare meals for 
children.  The WFP supplies school districts with food and 
products for preparation, including rice, corn, beans, and 
cooking oil, to cover basic nutritional standards. 
 
3.  Cosenza underscored the importance of the program and 
the GOH's appreciation for this new private sector 
involvement.  Before the Maduro administration, the Lunch 
Program only covered about 55,000 children and the WFP was 
not involved in the effort.  The GOH funding has expanded 
since Maduro took office in 2002 to 70% coverage of school 
districts, more than 600,000 children in 8,000 schools in 18 
departments.  Cosenza also noted that this donation by 
Clover to the school lunch program will benefit more than 
10,000 students in 120 schools of Intibuca for one year, 
which will work to reduce the high level of student dropouts 
in the area.  Another major priority of the program is for 
children to complete grade school.  To this end, the GOH is 
investing 240 million lempiras in the Lunch Program in 
Honduras, but is seeking more private sector donations to 
expand the program. 
 
4.  Comment:  The School Lunch Program is one of the most 
valuable poverty reduction projects in Honduras -- 
simultaneously improving school attendance, child nutrition, 
and cohesiveness in rural communities.  Intibuca school 
officials told us that school attendance has tripled since 
the institution of school lunches, and they are now 
scrambling to find the resources to add more classrooms and 
teachers to fill the demand.  However, the program is 
threatened by resource cuts.  The World Food Program in 
Honduras, as in other Central American countries, did not 
receive FY04 funding for school lunches because of cutbacks 
in U.S. McGovern-Dole appropriations.  GOH funds and private 
donations will only be able to fill a part of this gap.  End 
Comment. 
 
Palmer