School food for Baraka Kids

The aim of this project was to contribute to improving the nutritional status of children aged 3 to 6 years at Baraka Liberté 6 in Dakar by enabling them to attend the Baraka school where they have access to healthy and sustainable school meals and where their nutritional status is monitored. The project, which was implemented by HOPE’87 and financed by the YOU Foundation – Education for Children in Need, was thus committed to fighting malnutrition among Baraka’s children in line with the 2^nd Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2) with the aim to eradicate hunger, ensure food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

Malnutrition screenings carried out in Baraka by the Centre de Santé de Liberté 6 in October 2021 showed that 70 of Baraka’s children aged 3 to 6 years were suffering from moderate acute malnutrition due to protein and energy deficiencies. Most of these children come from vulnerable families, where the members of the household are constantly on the lookout for work and don’t have the time to provide their children with a sufficient quantity and quality of food.

To help improve the nutritional situation of these children, HOPE’87 in collaboration with the YOU Foundation – Education for Children in Need decided to support the project “School food for Baraka kids” in order to enable kindergarten children to have access to healthy food, which is essential for their growth. The programme was also extended to the children in the introductory class at Baraka elementary school and is now providing food for a total of 150 children aged 3 to 6 years.