Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced that more than 72,000
tons of agricultural commodities valued at nearly $100 million will be
allocated under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's McGovern-Dole
International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program for fiscal
year 2009 as funds become available.
This assistance will benefit children, women, and school communities in
15 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
"The McGovern-Dole program has touched the lives of millions of the
world's children, providing nutritious meals so that they can focus on
their studies, not their hunger," said Schafer. "I am proud of the
United States' commitment to feeding a hungry world."
Today's McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child
Nutrition Program announcement will feed nearly 500,000 children in new
programs in three developing countries in addition to recent allocations
to more than 3 million children in 12 countries. The program helps
support education, child development, and food security in low-income,
food-deficit countries that are committed to universal education. 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. To date, the McGovern-Dole program has
provided meals to more than 22 million children in 41 countries and
boosted school attendance by an estimated 14 percent overall, and by 17
percent for girls.
The program 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. In
October of this year, both men were recognized by the World Food Prize
for their leadership in forging the link between the productivity of
American farmers and the needs of hungry children around the world.
The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition
Program is administered by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. A list
of program allocations follows, which shows all of the resources that
have been made available at this time.
MCGOVERN - DOLE PROGRAM
Fiscal Year 2009 Allocations
Country Cooperating Sponsor Number Benefited Estimated Value ($Million)
Liberia International Relief and Development 135,000 $8.3
Pakistan World Food Program 300,000 $10.0
Yemen Save the Children 50,000 $9.1
TOTAL 485,000 $27.4
PREVIOUSLY APPROVED MCGOVERN-DOLE PROGRAM ALLOCATIONS
Country Cooperating Sponsor Number Benefited Estimated Value ($Million)
Bangladesh World Food Program 350,000 $8.0
Cambodia International Relief and Development 85,282 $1.2
Cameroon Counterpart International 36,000 $2.8
Chad World Food Program 103,500 $6.4
Ethiopia World Food Program 160,391 $4.6
Guatemala Asociacion SHARE de Guatemala 72,300 $8.2
Kenya World Food Program 1,100,000 $7.2
Laos World Food Program 100,000 $3.3
Malawi World Food Program 400,000 $6.6
Mozambique Joint Aid Management 300,000 $7.5
Rwanda World Food Program 300,000 $9.5
Sierra Leone Catholic Relief Services 36,800 $2.8
TOTAL 3,044,273 $68.1
GRAND TOTAL All McGovern-Dole Program Allocations 3,729,273 $95.5*
* USDA reserves nearly $3 million for administrative costs to implement
and monitor the agreements.
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