Hongkham Phengsaphone, age 36, holds a bowl of lentils at the Nahangnoy Primary School, where CRSÕ LEAPS program provides students with a free school lunch. Hongkham is a volunteer cook with LEAPS. (Hongkham normally cooks at Nongdern Primary School in Nongdern Village where three of her children attend, but for this day she is cooking at Nahangnoy Primary School, in the neighboring village).

CRSÕ LEAPS (Learning and Engaging All in Primary Schools) program is a literacy program that uses school lunches as an incentive to keep students in school. LEAPS also provides training for teachers and principals, and strengthens the capacity of local Village Education Development Committees. The program uses volunteer cooks at each school who receive a monthly ration of food to take home in exchange for volunteering.

LEAPS is a three-year McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition initiative sponsored and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and is run in partnership with the Laos Ministry of Education, as well as the University of Oregon and Room to Read. Location: Nongdern Village, Atsaphone District, Savannakhet Province, Laos (Lao PDR).