Jollibee expands feeding program

MANILA, Philippines - The Jollibee Foundation will expand its successful school feeding program to 2,600 public schools in the next three years to help the government attain two of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eradicating hunger and achieving universal primary education.

Gisela Tiongson, executive director of the Jollibee Foundation, said the “Busog, Lusog, Talino (BLT)” school feeding program will be implemented in more than 1,000 public elementary schools this coming school year 2012-2013, benefiting more than 40,000 pupils.

“As a food company, we at Jollibee Foods Corp. believe that our school feeding program can directly contribute to achieving two of the MDGs,” Jollibee chairman and chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong said in his speech at the BLT Summit in Pasig City last week.

“We set an ambitious target over the next three years to expand the project from 400 schools to 2,600 schools by 2015. If we meet our target, over 100,000 pupils will be assured of meals daily in areas where hunger and poverty are prevalent today,” he said.

“Further, we will continue to look for sustainable solutions. We will explore pilot models to link BLT to our farmer entrepreneurship program to improve the income of small farmers. Local farmers can benefit from BLT as the program creates a steady demand for their products,” he added.

Tan Caktiong lauded the local executives of Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya; San Jose City, Nueva Ecija and Padre Burgos, Quezon, who were among the attendees of the summit, for incorporating the program in their respective education agenda, making it possible to cover all public elementary schools in their municipalities.

“This summit serves as a moment to galvanize our commitment to the cause we have committed – to bring a brighter future to our children through education and food security,” Tan said.

Launched in 2007, the BLT program is an initiative that addresses hunger among Grades 1 and 2 pupils and helps them stay in school, Tiongson said.

She said the BLT program has helped improved the nutritional status of children over the last five years.

“On the average, eight out of 10 pupils attained their BMI-for-age (body mass index) status after the 136-day feeding cycle,” Tiongson said.

“Absenteeism was minimized among pupils as BLT meals became an incentive for pupils to attend school regularly,” she added.

Parents prepare the healthy lunch meals with a budget of P11 per child per day.

Tiongson said they have commissioned an impact assessment study of the project to be conducted by researchers of the University of the Philippines. She said the results are expected to be out by the end of this year.

Tiongson said the foundation provides 75 percent of the total cost of the program on the first year and the financial support steadily declines in the succeeding years.

After three years of funding a school, the program is turned over to the LGUs, she said.