[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 84 (Friday, June 21, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H3816-H3818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMS DESERVE SUPPORT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, it has been my honor to support global 
school feeding programs as part of a strategy to reduce hunger among 
the world's children and to increase their ability to go to school. 
Along with the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson), I have 
introduced H.R. 1700, the George McGovern-Robert Dole International 
Food for Education and Child Nutrition Act of 2001.
  That bill, which has 116 bipartisan cosponsors, was established as a 
permanent program in the farm bill reauthorization which the President 
recently signed into law. If adequately funded, this program will 
purchase and allocate U.S. commodities and other resources to provide 
millions of hungry children around the world with a healthy, nutritious 
meal in a school setting.

                              {time}  1515

  Mr. Speaker, over 300 million of the world's children are hungry. 
About 130 million of these children do not even go to school. School 
feeding programs clearly demonstrate that more families send their 
children to school when a meal is provided. U.S.-supported school 
feeding programs have documented significant increases in student 
enrollment, especially among girls. The children become more alert and 
more capable of learning when better nourished. More children advance 
to the next levels, and they acquire skills that help them to be 
productive members of society.
  U.S. Private Voluntary Organizations have long been involved in this 
effort, working on the front lines, delivering nutritious food to needy 
children around the world. Two members of my staff recently attended a 
conference in Indonesia on school feeding programs. The conference 
sponsors included the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Land O'Lakes. 
My staff were able to review the Land O'Lakes school feeding model 
firsthand and to meet other U.S. PVOs involved in the school feeding 
effort in Indonesia, like Mercy Corps International, ACDI/VOCA, and 
International Relief and Development. Together, these organizations are 
feeding over 900,000 schoolchildren.
  Land O'Lakes' school feeding endeavor in Indonesia began in November 
of 2000, with USDA 416(b) commodity donations. Indonesia is the fourth 
most populace nation in the world, following China, India and the 
United States. It is also the world's largest Muslim nation. As a 
result of the economic slowdown and decreasing resources provided to 
the national government for school feeding initiatives, the nutritional 
status of Indonesian elementary schoolchildren has deteriorated. The 
economic situation in the country has encouraged children to leave 
school early, with young girls being the first to go.
  The Land O'Lakes Indonesia program is presently reaching over 450,000 
schoolchildren in more than 2,900 schools on the islands of Java. It 
focuses on local capacity building, making sure all the products used 
in this program are processed locally. Land O'Lakes works with the 
three local processors who produce the fortified milk and wheat 
biscuits that are distributed to schools. This partnership exemplifies 
how this program can also be a catalyst for strengthening the local 
food industry.
  Land O'Lakes works with Indonesian NGOs in the communities where 
targeted schools are located. Involving local participation stimulates 
community empowerment and helps build sustainability and ownership in 
the implementation and oversight of these programs.
  The Land O'Lakes model has been so successful it will be replicated 
in Vietnam and Bangladesh as part of the Global Food for Education 
pilot program.
  Mr. Speaker, the benefits of these programs are enormous, starting 
with the positive nutritional impact on children's lives and helping 
them obtain the education necessary to improve their standard of 
living. There are also all the auxiliary benefits: facilitating 
economic development, strengthening social institutions, empowering 
women, and promoting stable democratic societies throughout the world. 
Clearly, these programs play a critical role in any strategy to provide 
education and improve children's health.
  Mr. Speaker, ending hunger among the world's children is achievable. 
For

[[Page H3817]]

the first time, we have the instruments at hand to defeat this cruel 
enemy at a very reasonable cost. All we lack is the political will to 
do so.
  In the weeks ahead, as we debate funding priorities for fiscal years 
2003 and 2004, I urge my colleagues to provide the necessary funding 
for the George McGovern- Robert Dole International Food for Education 
program.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record a memorandum on the recent 
school feeding conference in Indonesia:

     Indonesia School Feeding Conference Trip Report--May 13th-17th

       May 13th-17th 2002, The Indonesia School Feeding Conference 
     was held in Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia. It was an 
     opportunity for participants to observe USDA funded school 
     feeding programs and to meet other U.S. program sponsors, 
     local NGO's, private processors, government representatives 
     and USDA officials involved in the school feeding effort.
       U.S. Private Voluntary Organizations have been involved in 
     this effort, working on the front lines, delivering 
     nutritious food to children in needy areas around the world. 
     In Indonesia alone, Land O'Lakes, ACDII/VOCA and Mercy Corps 
     and IRD are feeding over 900,000 school children.
       Also present at the conference were those directly involved 
     in Indonesian school feeding such as local government 
     officials, US government officials, The Yayasan Bina Putra 
     Sejahtera, Tetra Pak and local processors such as Indolakto, 
     Ultrajaya Milk Industry and Trading Company and Prima Japfa 
     Jaya. Additionally, those that collaborate and provide 
     support to the school feeding movement were in attendance 
     such as the American Soybean Association, The US Pea and 
     Lentil Council, and Cindy Bulh and Keith Stern of Congressman 
     Jim McGovern's staff.
       The first day of the conference was spent in Jakarta where 
     participants familiarized themselves with the various 
     participants involved in school feeding.
       The Land O'Lakes Indonesia program is presently reaching 
     over 490,000 school children in more than 2,900 schools in 
     Java, Jakarta, Bali and Lombok. Land O'Lakes program 
     methodology focuses on local capacity building by having all 
     the school feeding products processed locally. Land O'Lakes 
     works with three local processors who produce fortified UHT 
     milk packages and wheat biscuits that are then distributed to 
     schools and consumed by the children. This partnership 
     exemplifies how this program can be a catalyst for food 
     industry improvement and growth.
       Identifying established and viable community-based non-
     governmental organizations and community based organizations 
     is an important and necessary step to promote ownership of 
     the program in communities where targeted schools are 
     located. On Java, the partnering NGO Yayasan Bina Putra 
     Sejahtera is Land O'Lakes lead partner working with schools, 
     government at the provincial level, and other organizations 
     to help program implementation go smoothly. Also they are 
     responsible for compiling attendance and enrollment data.
       This demonstrates how this program can stimulate community 
     empowerment and by involving local participation builds 
     sustainability and ownership in the implementation and 
     oversight of these programs.
       The ACDI/VOCA/Mercy Corps program is working to produce and 
     distribute a soy beverage to 220,000 school children in 900 
     schools in Sumatra; Padang, Bekulu and Lampung. The impacts 
     of this program include improved attendance and nutrition of 
     children in schools, opportunity for health and nutrition 
     educational lessons for participants and enhanced local 
     capacity.
       The International Relief and Development Program is 
     currently implementing a pilot program that is targeting over 
     14,500 children in 122 primary schools. IRD produces and 
     distributes noodles to children using USDA provided wheat and 
     defatted soy flour. IRD works with American Soybean 
     Association, US Wheat, Land O'Lakes and YBPS and local NGOs.
       Tuesday was a special day as the Yayasan Bina Putra 
     Sejahtera hosted a School Feeding Media Event at the National 
     Museum in Jakarta. Program highlights were recounted for the 
     media and Dennis Volbroil, agriculture attache for the US 
     Department of Agriculture in Jakarta was recognized for his 
     dedication to school feeding. Students picked as winners in 
     the Yayasan Poster Conference were given school scholarships.
       Tuesday evening the participants boarded a train for 
     Bandung, the second largest city in Indonesia. While in 
     Bandung, participants witnessed students consuming their milk 
     in a local school and were able to meet with school officials 
     to discuss roles, responsibilities and results. Next, 
     Participants toured the Ultrajaya Processing Plant where they 
     observed product manufacturing.
       On Thursday of the conference, Rolf Campbell of Land 
     O'Lakes International Division presented on the importance of 
     applying food technology and specifically highlighted the 
     role private sector plays to develop, promote, and distribute 
     high nutritional value foods specifically positioned for 
     nutritionally deficient populations, especially low income 
     and at risk groups including those living with HIV/AIDS;
       Mr. Campbell then facilitated a panel discussion of private 
     food industry representatives to highlight new products from 
     dairy, soybean, wheat, and pea/lentil/rice. Each panel member 
     covered the nutritional benefit and versatility of dairy 
     products; the criteria used to develop products including 
     costs; an introduction to two or three new products; and the 
     vision of product ``sustainability'' in feeding and 
     commercial markets.
       The panel discussion ended with Rolf Campbell summarizing 
     the impacts the private food industry can accomplish when 
     industry resources are mobilized around food aid innovation 
     and acting collectively.
       On Friday of the conference, the day focused on how school 
     feeding program stakeholders can strengthen the impacts of 
     local capacity building and long-term school feeding 
     sustainability during the implementation and support from 
     U.S. and other international donations are available.
       The first speaker was Dr. Maknuri Muchlas, Secretary 
     General, Department of National Education for the Government 
     of Indonesia. He stated his appreciation to the Government of 
     the U.S. for providing commodity to support school feeding of 
     some 900,000 primary school children on four islands of 
     Indonesia. The fact that U.S. donations will continue and 
     allow the expansion of feeding programs to more islands is 
     enthusiastic news to not only the Ministry of National 
     Education, but also to the entire nation of Indonesia.
       The Ministry of National Education, through Tim Pembina 
     Usaha Kesehatan Sekolah plays the lead role in supporting the 
     U.S. funded programs by identifying schools to be recipients 
     of feeding activities, coordinating all agencies with school 
     feeding, and preparing the schools for administering and 
     reporting results of the program.
       Recently, the Ministry of Education started a school-
     feeding program with the focus of improving the level of 
     primary school and Madrasah Ibtidaiyah children living in 
     poor remote areas. This program is administered by the local 
     government and has been quite successful. In a national 
     level, it will be important for PVOs and NGOs to learn from 
     the governments experience on how to successful reach schools 
     in very remote areas. These communities have the greatest 
     need of school feeding support.
       The next presenter on the subject of local capacity 
     building was Salvacion Bulatao, Director, National Dairy 
     Authority (NDA), Department of Agriculture, Government of the 
     Philippines. Ms. Bulatao's main message is that ``Milk does 
     not only build strong bones, it also helps build a strong 
     nation. Through the Philippine School Milk Feeding Program, 
     government support seeks to improve the nutritional well 
     being of school children and preschoolers while at the same 
     time create additional sources of income for rural families. 
     Clearly stated by Ms. Bulatao, school milk feeding 
     accomplishes two objectives: provides healthy food for the 
     children; and jobs and daily cash flows to farm families. 
     Today, the Government of the Philippines is providing funding 
     to feed more than 200,000 primary school and pre-school 
     children. The milk products to be distributed are purchased 
     locally from processors and dairy cooperatives. In 2001, the 
     volume of milk purchased from the dairy industry was 1.08 
     million liters which had a value of $US 1.55 million. This 
     translates to the individual farmer who is providing milk to 
     the program as significant additional income. It has been 
     calculated by NDA that total income of a farmer (2 milking 
     cows that produce 8 liters of milk per day can generate the 
     equivalent of US$ 636.20 during two school feeding cycles. 
     Ms. Bulatao strongly recommended that future U.S.-funded 
     feeding efforts in Philippines strongly consider the NDA 
     model. She looks forward to a strong working partnership with 
     Land O'Lakes and Tetra Pak in the years to come.
       Edgar Collins is President of Prima Japfa Jaya, a supplier 
     of finished school milk feeding products distributed in the 
     southwest of Java and soon to the island of Bali and Lombok 
     through the Land O'Lakes program. Mr. Collins spoke about the 
     role played by the private sector to develop products that 
     meet the tastes and nutritional demands of school kids with 
     today's technology and quality control standards. The 
     processor also has the responsibility in creating awareness 
     of product goodness for school and after-school consumption--
     this is key to continued consumption of nutritional liquid 
     food in and beyond school. The role of processor in promotion 
     and consumer awareness is vitally important if the program is 
     to be sustained with local government support and private 
     sector donations. The immediate, short and long-term impact 
     of school feeding programs on the good foods industry is 
     significant. Mr. Collins stated that as a result of his 
     firm's involvement in school feeding and having his firm's 
     quality product distributed (brand located on side panel of 
     milk package) to more than 200,000 children, the brand 
     recognition has translated into a stronger commercial 
     position for his dairy products in Indonesia.
       The Pakistan delegation presented next the current school 
     milk feeding situation in their country. A major problem in 
     Pakistan is that only 2.8 percent of all milk is hygienically 
     packed and made available to the consumer public. Loose milk, 
     or unpasteurized and packaged milk, can be a major source of 
     digestive health problems and a vector of diseases in the 
     country. There are over 165,755 primary schools and 7,000 
     Madrassa schools in Pakistan providing education to 18.9 
     million children. At least 40 percent of school-going 
     children are malnourished. 35 percent of these children are 
     living below the

[[Page H3818]]

     poverty line. Just recently, the government of Pakistan 
     announced new school meal program to target at least 500,000 
     schoolgirls ages 5 to 12. The amount of funding allocated for 
     the new program is US$50 million. The Pakistan delegation 
     encouraged U.S. school feeding implementers to work with the 
     government's new programs, expand feeding to the Madrassa 
     schools and combine efforts with a strong focus on local 
     capacity building of the dairy production sector with aims to 
     increase the percentage of milk that is being hygienically 
     package. Everyone wins in this situation: farmers receive a 
     more fair price per liter of milk that is clean; processors 
     are able to fully utilize processing capacity and consumers 
     are guaranteed a safe; nutritious and affordable milk 
     product.
       Cindy Buhl from the office of Congressman Jim McGovern 
     provided an overview of the current status of food community 
     programs, the Executive Branch review of U.S. food aid 
     programs and recommendations made by the Bush Administration 
     on adjustments and their impacts of U.S. government food 
     commodity programs. Many questions were presented to Ms. Buhl 
     by participants of which most revolved around what can the 
     international development community (PVOs and private sector) 
     do to ensure congressional and Executive Branch support for 
     the Global Food for Education Initiative. Ms. Buhl stated 
     that first and for most, school feeding implementers must 
     continue their excellence in the field, improve monitoring 
     and evaluation of program impacts and provide quantitative 
     results in reports back to donors and congressional offices. 
     She also strongly encouraged local governments to state their 
     interest and support directly to the Bush Administration, 
     Congress and USDA/USAID for continuing and receiving U.S. 
     government school feeding programs in their country. Ms. Buhl 
     commented on the power of observing a school feeding program 
     in action and seeing the exuberance and passion for learning 
     and contributing to helping hundreds of thousands of school 
     children reach their full potential and maximizing their 
     contribution to society is an overwhelming experience. She 
     highly recommended to the group to seek ways to get more 
     congressional representatives to see these programs in 
     action. The presentation was concluded with a strong 
     statement of the importance of partnerships and commitment by 
     governments, private sector and non-government organizations 
     to work together to constantly enhance the effectiveness and 
     sustainability of feeding our future leaders.
       Beth Sheehy and Kristin Penn from Land O'Lakes 
     International Division presented the multiple benefits 
     generated from a school feeding program--especially programs 
     supported by the private sector in close partnerships with 
     local government and community of whom all have their unique 
     capacities that make school feeding programs a LONG-TERM 
     success.
       The conference ended on a high note with participants armed 
     with a comprehensive education on how a school-feeding 
     program is implemented in the field and what needs to be done 
     to expand these programs and create momentum for the global 
     school feeding effort.

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