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United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service |
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The program was authorized by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and is administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service. It is named in honor of Ambassador and former Senator George McGovern and former Senator Robert Dole for their tireless efforts to encourage a global commitment to school feeding and child nutrition. The commodities are made available for donation through agreements with PVOs, cooperatives, intergovernmental organizations, and foreign governments. Commodities may be donated for direct feeding or, in limited situations, for local sale to generate proceeds to support school feeding and nutrition projects. To be eligible for new proposals under McGovern-Dole, a country needs to meet the following criteria to be considered a priority country:
USDA will also give priority to proposals from organizations that have ongoing McGovern-Dole programs in non-priority countries to support sustainability. The projects must demonstrate acceptable progress towards sustainability. USDA announces it is seeking McGovern-Dole proposals from PVOs, foreign governments, and the WFP through the FAS website, the FACG, and other avenues. Generally, proposals are due to USDA in the summer and those chosen are announced the following January. Proposals should identify developmental goals for improving literacy and primary education. Proposals may also include a component that aims to improve the educational environment for students, particularly girls. For maternal and child nutrition activities, the proposal should demonstrate how the program will improve the food security and nutritional status of the target population. Proposals should support the economic development and integration of the recipient country and redress civil conflict where applicable, particularly in post-conflict and post-disaster societies. Coordination with other existing food aid programs is also important. Each proposal is evaluated using the same criteria:
USDA is supporting more than 30 programs in 28 countries. More than 5 million people are currently benefiting from the program.
Before World Vision began this program, Afghan Ministry of Education (MOE) 2003 records showed no girls and only 23,000 boys attended school in the western provinces of Badghis and Ghor. Since the inception of the program, the number of girls attending school has greatly increased. Now more girls attend school in these two provinces than anytime in the last 20 years. The McGovern-Dole program replaced the pilot Global Food for Education Initiative, under which nearly 7 million children were fed from 2001-2003. Food for Education Program Resources
Questions or comments can be directed to the
Food Assistance
Division at 202-720-4221
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The
McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and
Child Nutrition Program helps promote education,
child development, and food security for some of the
world’s poorest children. It provides for donations
of U.S. agricultural products, as well as financial
and technical assistance, for school feeding and
maternal and child nutrition projects in low-income
countries.
In
2006, USDA awarded World Vision a grant to provide
more than 9,000 tons of commodities for use in
Afghanistan under the McGovern-Dole program. This
project is using vegetable oil, rice, and lentils to
provide meals and take-home rations to more than
80,000 students, over 4,000 teachers, and nearly
1,500 school staff members each month of the school
year over the life of this three-year program. The
project includes a child health component, which
provides vitamin A, deworming tablets, and oral
rehydration salts, as well as health and nutrition
education. It also focuses on promoting gender
equality by encouraging the education of girls,
despite some lingering cultural norms against
building girls’ schools, and provides literacy
training to women in the community.