Table For Two NGO to support efforts to improve nutrition for Syrian child refugees in Jordan

AMMAN — Table For Two (TFT), a non-profit committed to simultaneously tackling malnutrition and obesity, is launching a fundraising drive to support the World Food Programme’s (WFP) school meals initiative for 16,000 Syrian children in refugee camps in Jordan, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Saturday.

TFT works by providing meals on “both sides of the table”: People in partnering restaurants and corporate dining halls pay for healthy meals, which in turn fund nutritious school meals for communities in need, according to a WEF statement.

The NGO will support the WFP’s school feeding initiative at the Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps, which house almost 100,000 Syrian refugees. 

The programme is designed to increase school enrolment and attendance by providing children in these schools with nutritious, high-energy foods, the statement said.

The initiative has already received $150,000 initial funding from Tamer Group, and TFT is building partnerships throughout the region to support the fundraising drive.

Masa Kogure, executive director of TFT International and a fellow of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, said: “At a time of such change and turmoil, it is imperative that children are well fed so that they can be healthy and continue their education. 

“This is just the tip of the iceberg but school meals boost attendance and these children must be given the opportunity to acquire the skills they need through education in order to play their part in the region’s transformation.”

TFT was launched in 2007 by the Forum of Young Global Leaders. To date, it has served over 58 million meals around the world through partnerships with some 600 corporations, universities, restaurants and organisations implementing its programme in their establishments and through their products, according to the WEF statement. 

Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 75 countries.