Trump’s plan to end millions of school meals
FORMER US Senator Bob Dole, a pillar of the Republican Party and a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump during his campaign, has accused the president of threatening “one of the proudest achievements of my lifetime” – by cutting a programme that has provided school meals to more than 40 million children in some of the world’s poorest countries.
The McGovern-Dole Food for Education programme, a bipartisan aid enterprise championed by Dole and his Democratic colleague George McGovern, was a casualty of the White House budget proposal released last Thursday.
Since 2003, McGovern-Dole has provided meals in 40 of the world’s most impoverished nations, including several approaching famine.
Trump’s budget recommended eliminating the programme, citing it “lacks evidence that it is being effectively implemented”.
“Eliminating the programme would have a disastrous effect on the planet’s most vulnerable children,” Dole wrote.
“Without a reliable source of nutrition, these children face a lifetime of stunted physical and mental development and unrealised opportunity. This global school meals programme remains one of the proudest achievements of my lifetime. It embodies the very best of America’s values.
“Saving this programme means saving lives. It’s as simple as that.”
The McGovern-Dole programme is minor compared with the food aid programmes administered by the US Agency for International Development, which took a 28% cut in Trump’s proposed budget.
Each year, the US Department of Agriculture identifies countries that would make good candidates for the peacetime programme – countries that suffer high rates of food insecurity and illiteracy, but have stable and education-invested governments.
McGovern-Dole then awards monetary grants and commodities on a competitive basis to third-party organisations with existing humanitarian infrastructures.
The programme is not intended merely as food aid: it has also stressed education and community health.
Providing meals at school increases attendance rates, particularly among girls whose parents might see more value in keeping them home to do domestic work.
McGovern-Dole also tracks how many kids went to school, received medication and learned to read as a result of the programme.
Aside from the humanitarian issues inherent in cancelling a major food aid programme, several of the countries served are allies of the US, noted Kimberly Flowers, director of the Global Food Security Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. For example, Kenya and Ethiopia border Somalia, which is the base for militant group Al-Shabaab as well as major aid recipient.
Even if food aid is not a Trump priority, McGovern-Dole may not be axed. The budget will be passed by Congress with lawmakers facing pressure to preserve the programme.