00:00This is what one dollar gets you in Indonesia.
00:06Permisi, makan apa?
00:08Makan nasi, rice, daging sapi, beef, carrot, jeruk, and a mandarin as well.
00:19Bagaimana rasanya?
00:21Enak.
00:22Enak, delicious, she says.
00:23So this is the first week of the government's free lunch or free nutrition program.
00:29They're rolling out about 550 of these meals at this one school alone.
00:35Across the country it's about 600,000 meals.
00:39Eventually they want to ramp this up to more than 80 million meals
00:44for school children across Indonesia as well as pregnant mothers every single day.
00:53Our children don't really bring their own food from home.
00:56Their parents are mid to low income so the kids only have a little bit of pocket money
01:01to spend on chicken porridge, instant noodles, or some sweet drinks.
01:05With this program they'll finally have enough nutrients.
01:09So this program is being very well received in the first week.
01:13Certainly everybody here is behind the goal of trying to reduce malnutrition
01:18and reduce growth stunting in Indonesia.
01:21But there are some economists who are raising doubts about how sustainable this is.
01:27Can the government really continue to serve millions and millions of decent meals every day
01:34at a cost of just $1 each, particularly as the program expands further.
01:39But for now the children's bellies are full.
01:42They say the food is relatively tasty.
01:45So this free lunch program is off to a good start.
01:51For more UN videos visit www.un.org
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