Projet ma cantine à Bouaflé : la Fondation AWI et la SOLIBRA engagées pour les enfants et les femmes
Maintaining school meals in Bouaflé: the AWI Foundation and SOLIBRA committed to children and women
As part of the Project to support the sustainability of the school canteen at the SOLIBRA EPP in Bouaflé, a joint monitoring mission was carried out on July 24 and 25, 2025, by the AWI Foundation and SOLIBRA teams. This mission aimed to assess the progress of the activities and strengthen the community anchoring of the project.
An alarming observation at the origin of the project
At the EPP SOLIBRA public primary school in Bouaflé, the situation was worrying: only 152 out of 319 students received school meals, and this was for only 26 days out of the 120-day school year. More than half of the children were thus left without meals, and more than 90 days of canteen time were missing. This reality has serious consequences for the concentration, attendance, and academic success of students, particularly those from low-income homes.
An innovative and supportive response provided by the AWI Foundation
To address this situation, the AWI Foundation has initiated a structural project, with financial support from SOLIBRA. The objective is clear: to enable all 319 students to receive canteen meals for 40 days of the school year, compared to 26 previously. This increase represents a significant step toward more regular and inclusive nutrition for all children.
But beyond the nutritional component, the project aims to be a lever for the economic empowerment of local women, in line with the strategic vision of the AWI Foundation. Seventy women from the community were trained in association management, farming, and marketing techniques. In return, they committed to providing a third of their food production (cassava, corn, rice, beans) to the school canteen.
To facilitate this production, they received agricultural equipment and inputs, thus strengthening their production capacity while creating a sustainable and supportive model where the community feeds its own children.
An exemplary partnership between the private sector and civil society
The monitoring mission of July 24 and 25, 2025, allowed us to observe the initial results of the project on the ground: crops already in place, active women's groups, and strong community mobilization. It was also an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of synergy between private actors and NGOs in the fight against food insecurity and social exclusion.
By supporting this project, SOLIBRA demonstrates its civic commitment to the education and food security of children in Côte d'Ivoire, while contributing to the empowerment of women. As for the AWI Foundation, it once again confirms its strategic positioning on the axis of Production → Processing → School Nutrition, a driver of women's economic sovereignty.
Towards a ramp-up of the project
Building on this momentum, the two partner institutions intend to extend the experience to other rural schools facing the same challenges. The model is based on a simple but powerful equation: train, equip, produce locally, and feed sustainably.
This joint mission marks an important step in the implementation of the project and paves the way for its sustainability on a larger scale. It reminds us that behind every meal served in the canteen, there is an act of solidarity, community organization, and restored dignity.
