Japan and WFP Sign $1.25M Grant
A $1.25 million food aid grant from Japan and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is expected to provide school meals for 29,809 pupils in Pujehun District while creating a market for local rice farmers under Sierra Leone's National School Feeding Programme. The grant was formalised on Thursday, November 5, 2026, when the Government of Japan and WFP signed the JFY2026 Kennedy Round (KR) Food Aid Grant at Brookfields Hotel in Freetown.
Valued at JPY 200 million, approximately US$1.25 million, the agreement will run for 24 months and cover 135 government-assisted pre-primary and primary schools across six chiefdoms in Pujehun District. Beyond providing daily nutritious meals for pupils, the initiative will support the procurement and delivery of 821 metric tonnes of food commodities. It will also strengthen the capacity of school-level stakeholders and create opportunities for smallholder farmers by purchasing locally produced rice through the Home-Grown School Feeding approach.
Speaking on behalf of a beneficiary school, Madam Maseray, a teacher at Roman Catholic Primary School, described the support as an important development for children and their communities. She said regular school meals would help pupils concentrate better, improve learning and reduce hunger in classrooms, while appealing to Japan and WFP to extend similar assistance to more schools and children across Sierra Leone.
WFP Country Director and Representative Andrew Odero said the partnership with Japan went beyond providing food for schoolchildren, explaining that it also supports the agricultural systems that supply the programme. He noted that connecting local farmers to school feeding creates opportunities for employment, strengthens livelihoods and supports families, while ensuring that schools have access to food.
Japan's Ambassador to Sierra Leone, H.E. Hiroshi Yoshimoto, reaffirmed his country's commitment to improving the wellbeing of Sierra Leonean children. He said Japan shared the country's commitment to food security and sustainable partnerships, adding that the collaboration with WFP would help ensure hunger does not prevent children from accessing education.
Deputy Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education I, Madam Emily Gorgra, highlighted the role of school meals in encouraging attendance, keeping children in school and helping them concentrate during lessons. She also welcomed the Home-Grown School Feeding approach, particularly the plan to purchase rice from smallholder farmers within Pujehun District. “Under this approach, the farmer earns, the market grows and the child eats,” she said.
Madam Gorgra assured that the Ministry would work with the School Feeding Secretariat, head teachers and School Quality Assurance Officers to ensure the commitments under the grant translate into actual benefits for pupils. She emphasised the need for accountability in the programme, stressing that every bag of rice must be accounted for and every meal must reach its intended beneficiaries.
The 24-month grant is expected to strengthen the country's school feeding programme by improving children's access to nutritious meals while supporting local agricultural production and linking farmers more directly to the education sector.
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