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Sheeran (third from right) with women from the Gbumgbum iodized salt project

WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran visited one of WFP's supplementary feeding programmes for children under five during her recent trip to Ghana, seeing first-hand how malnutrition rates can be reduced thanks to a nutritious cup of porridge (CSB), and also how take-home rations can boost girls attendance to schools.

Sheeran was in Ghana to visit the UNHRD in the capital Accra and to participate in the high level forum on Aid effectiveness held in the city. Taking advantage of the trip to the West African country, on September 5 she went to the northern Gbumgbum locality to see WFP operations at first hand.

One of WFP’s key activities in Ghana is home grown school feeding which is considered as a model for transition from external food aid to locally grown food assistance.

This process, linked to local food production, supports market development and boosts farmers’ incomes.

The impact of school feeding on attendance rates is also remarkable. Take-home rations for girls in primary school, have contributed to the attainment of gender parity in two out of the three regions in northern Ghana. Girls who attend school for 85% of the month receive monthly rations of maize, oil and iodized salt.

WFP’s executive director also met with women from a local iodized salt project. Gbumgbum has one of seven women’s groups in northern Ghana who have been linked to WFP-assisted salt manufacturers and who are repackaging and selling iodized salt, saving money and re-investing the profits to support feeding at the nutrition centre.

After visiting the school feeding programme in Gbumgbum, Sheeran went to see the distribution of locally purchased food in the village of Kologo. Some 1,200 beneficiaries received food assistance on that day.