The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) bakery school feeding program in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has produced and distributed 9.9 million calcium-enriched bread rolls in its second year of operation. The bread rolls were supplied to nearly 21,000 children in 396 kindergartens as part of ADRA’s Kindergarten Nutrition Project. Each child received a daily ration of two bread rolls.

To produce the bread, the World Food Programme (WFP) supplied wheat flour, vegetable oil, dried skim milk, and sugar. ADRA Switzerland provided yeast and salt. The rolls were distributed to all kindergarten children in four counties within Pyongyang Province and the two districts within Pyongyang City with the lowest nutrition rates.

The local government organized transportation of the bread rolls every three days to the counties within Pyongyang Province through the local Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee (FDRC). Two trucks were used to distribute the bread rolls within the districts of Pongyang City on a daily basis, six days per week. Each week, nearly 250,000 bread rolls were distributed.

"The second year of production at the ADRA bakery has been successful in achieving its goals and meeting its objectives. Feedback from the kindergarten directors and the FDRC has been positive," stated Marcel Wagner, country director for ADRA in North Korea. "All involved look forward to the continuation of activities into the next program stage," Wagner, a Swiss citizen, continued.

According to the United Nations World Food Programme, malnutrition in children in North Korea under the age of seven has improved over the years but is still high. In a 2002 survey, the growth of 40 percent of the children was stunted, 20 percent were underweight and 8 percent were wasted. This stunting rate is regarded as a severe public health problem (World Health Organization standards). A nutrition survey conducted by the WFP and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) at the end of 2002 indicated that children in Pyongyang central districts were much better nourished than the children in the outer districts. As such, the WFP and ADRA agreed to change the group they had targeted in the past. This year, the areas outside of central Pyongyang city were targeted. A final survey performed by the FDRC in all 396 kindergartens in June 2004 showed that the level of malnutrition at the end of the project was below 2 percent. The bakery project also provides routine training to eight women who clean and maintain each bakery machine. Two technical engineers are also continuously trained in machinery repair and fitting of spare parts. In 1995 ADRA started project activities in North Korea that included the distribution of food, medicine, and seeds. ADRA’s solar bathhouse project provided a sustainable source of water heating for community bathhouses to improve hygiene during winter. Another project rehabilitated and equipped surgical and maternal health facilities in county hospitals to reduce mortality, infections, and poor health. ADRA also brought aid to those affected by a train blast in Ryongchon last May and trialed the use of biogas plants to enable rural households to produce adequate energy for their essential requirements. ADRA has been operating its bakery since 2002.

ADRA is present in more than 120 countries providing individual and community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, or ethnicity.