NEW DELHI: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and The Akshaya Patra Foundation have partnered to improve the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN) scheme, formerly known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Bishow Parajuli, Director, WFP India, signed a pact with Chanchalapthi Dasa, Vice Chairman of the Bengaluru-based NGO, on Monday, January 3, in New Delhi.
According to Parajuli, the cooperation is a strategic force multiplier, which will bring together extensive work and experience. School meals have been a component of WFP’s work since its beginning in 1961.
WFP has a six-decade track record of supporting school feeding and has worked with more than 100 nations to establish long-term national school feeding programmes. He suggested that other countries might be interested in India’s strong track record of school feeding programmes and other such initiatives. The alliance, according to Dasa, intends to augment WFP’s global network of large-scale feeding programmes with their expertise in addressing hunger at the grassroots level.