Govt cancels all contracts under Ghana School Feeding programme
The central government has terminated all contacts under the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) nationwide with immediate effect, the Secretariat of the Food Programme has said in a statement dated May 2, 2025.
The statement issued by the Ghana School Feeding Programme National Coordinator, Hajia Fati and sighted by Pretertiary.com said that no caterer should provide meals during the third term of the 2024/2025 academic year.
“Please be informed that contracts of all caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) nationwide have been terminated with immediate effect. Accordingly, no existing caterer on the programme should cook for the third term of the 2024/2025 academic year,” the statement read.
The Ghana School Feeding Programme Secretariat added that the government will pay all outstanding money owed to caterers for the second term.
“All outstanding arrears for the second term of the 2024/2025 academic year will be paid in due course,” it stated.
The termination, according to the Ghana School Feeding Programme Secretariat, forms part of a broader restructuring effort aimed at improving the efficiency and impact of the programme.
“As part of its ongoing restructuring exercise, the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) Secretariat will soon announce the modalities for the recruitment of new caterers,” the contract termination statement added.
Started in 2025 as a pilot project to provide food to children at school, the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) is run by the GSFP Secretariat in partnership with international agencies including the World Bank, the World Food Programme, the Partnership for Child Development, and UNICEF, as well as national organizations such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Dutch embassy.
The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) is an initiative of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Pillar 3, which seeks to enhance food security and reduce hunger in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs) on hunger, poverty and malnutrition.
The basic concept of the programme is to provide children in public primary schools with one hot nutritious meal, prepared from locally grown foodstuffs, on every school day. The aim is to spend 80% of the feeding cost in the local economy.
The immediate objectives are to reduce hunger and malnutrition, increase school enrolment, attendance and retention, and boost domestic food production in deprived communities of the country. The Development objective is to reduce poverty and enhance food security.
The government flagship programme, which targets all public primary schools and kindergartens in Ghana, has been able to feed over 1.69 million children, representing about 37.4% of the National coverage.
The Ghana School Feeding Programme has provided employment for over 34,350 caterers and cooks, especially women, to enable them to take care of their families.
