Registration
is now open to join the upcoming webinar “Fuel-efficient
menus and cooking practices to reduce firewood consumption in Rwanda’s National
School Feeding Programme – lessons for institutional energy transitions and
climate resilience” co-organised by the World Food Programme,
Centre for Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment and Resilience (STEER)
and the Rwandan Ministry of Education, to be held on Tuesday 29 November 2022,
13:00 – 14:00 GMT / 14:00 – 15:00 GMT+1 / 15:00 – 16:00 CAT.
BACKGROUND
Since
2021, the Government of Rwanda (GoR) has been implementing a national school
feeding programme (NSFP), reaching 3.5 million pre-primary, primary and secondary
students by October 2022. As the NSFP has increased its coverage over recent
years, the demand for firewood to cook the meals has also increased. In the
absence of proven alternatives, over 90% of schools across Rwanda rely on
firewood for their cooking needs. Firewood is increasingly difficult and
expensive to procure, burdensome to prepare, and negatively impacts the health
of cooks through the smoke it produces. Heavy reliance on firewood in school
feeding is also a contributing factor to deforestation and wider environmental
degradation, and to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). It is therefore
vitally important to help schools use firewood as efficiently as possible, as
well as to foster the development of clean and affordable alternative cooking
fuels.
This
webinar will present the findings of a research study conducted by the World
Food Programme and the Centre for Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment
and Resilience (STEER) at Loughborough University, in collaboration with the
Rwandan Ministry of Education, to provide evidence-based guidance to
policymakers, schools, and other key stakeholders, focusing on practical
measures that can reduce fuel consumption and thus improve the environmental,
health-related, and other impacts of school feeding programmes.
WEBINAR AGENDA (GMT)
13:00
– 13:05: Welcome (STEER)
13:05
– 13:10: Opening remarks (WFP)
13:10
– 13:20: Introduction: The importance of energy access in school feeding
programmes (WFP)
13:20–13:35:
Research study presentation: background, objectives, key findings and
recommendations (STEER & WFP)
13:35
– 13:55 Q&A session with a panel of experts
13:55
– 14:00 Closing remarks
