| Grant Profile: |
| Project Title: |
Building Institutional Capacity and Strengthening Provision of School Feeding Program in Haiti |
| PCF/LICUS/SPF: |
PCF |
Status: |
Closed |
| File Number: |
336
| Region: |
LAC |
| Sector: |
Health, Nutrition & Population |
Country: |
Haiti |
| FY approved: |
2006 |
Grant Theme : |
Human development |
| Keyword(s): |
Children and youth;Nutrition; Institutional capacity-building |
Approved Amount: |
$550,000.00 |
 |
Grant Recipient:
National School Feeding Program/Ministry of Education of Haiti |
Grant Purpose:
In the extremely poor and conflict-stricken Haiti, many children do not attend school, and education is often highly inefficient due to the fact that many children suffer from a caloric deficit that affects their ability to learn. The purpose of this project is to increase the number of children attending school, to improve the children’s readiness to learn, and to ensure minimum nutrition for poor children attending school. The secondary objectives are to reduce the cost of schooling for poor families and to promote social cohesion.
|
Grant Activities:
Component 1. School Feeding Service Delivery
The project would deliver food to approximately 13,500 students in 30 schools in slums areas (Belair, St Martin, and Cite Soleil) and in the Plateau Central, one of the poorest departments, that was targeted under the first phase (funded by the LICUS TF). The project would provide food on a daily basis to students attending both public and private schools in the above mentioned urban slum areas of Port-au-Prince. Suppliers would either deliver prepared foods and drinks, or on-site preparation of meals in collaboration with school community members. The National School Feeding Program (NSFP) would be the principal entity to oversee project implementation. The program would take place thorough the school year 2006-2007. Activities are expected to start with the school cycle in September 2006.
Component 2. Institutional-Capacity Building of National School Feeding Program
This component would provide technical assistance, training and studies to strengthen the functions of targeting, financial administration, contracting, supervision and evaluation of the National School Feeding Program. In particular, technical assistance would be offered to sustain technical assistance related to procurement and financial management, to help NFSP manage resources in an efficient and transparent manner.
|
Results:
(1) The project delivered food for the 2006/07 school year to approximately 17,000 poor students in the Plateau Central and in slum areas of Port au Prince (Belair and Cite Soleil), which was more than the original target of 15,640.
(2) The project has produced satisfactory results. Evaluations show that: (i) school attendance has improved in participating schools; (ii) financial management and procurement practices appear to have improved within the NSFP.
(3) In CitT Soleil and Bel-Air, two of the poorest slums in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, the number of children attending school and the children’s readiness to learn have substantially increased. The kids are showing signs of better nutrition.
(4) The programme resulted in economic activity as more than 150 workers were employed.
(5) The unit price of the internally-implemented operations of the NSFP has decreased by 120 percent and is now only slightly higher than the NGOs’ average unit price.
(6) A methodology for monitoring and evaluation and new baseline indicators - including for health and educational efficiency - were established at the start of the PC TF-financed school feeding project in 2006.
(7) An unanticipated result of the school feeding, but none the less quite significant in a post-conflict setting like Haiti, was increased trust in the government in an area, where such trust has traditionally been lacking. The project coincided with a period of acute instability in areas around Port-au-Prince. The school feeding programmes were among some of the only public services provided in these areas outside of Government control. The programme therefore helped the Government demonstrate the quick wins that are critical to a post-conflict situation.
(8) A Bank initiative led to the recent creation of a National Council on School Feeding, including the NSFP, UNICEF, USAID, WFP and the Ministry of Health. The Committee will pursue greater coordination and efficiency in school feeding activities and improve governance in the sector. It will set rules and regulations (e.g. on calorie intake and quality), improve targeting, and promote collaboration with complementary basic health interventions and infrastructure improvements.
(9) The PCF-project follows a LICUS TF grant, which provided food to an estimated 30,000 children for the previous school year.
(10) As a result of this project’s outcome, the Bank will implement a third, larger phase of school feeding through the IDA-funded Education for All Project, which will benefit roughly 35,000 students each year for the 2007-2010 school years.
|
Lessons Learned:
Key challenges:
(1) The project was operating in a difficult environment due to continuous changes in the political situation and volatile security, which made access problematic.
(2) Service providers are generally weak.
(3) The Ministry of Education had several rotations in leadership in the National School Feeding Program (NSFP), which affected the overall national program.
General lessons learned:
(1) Overall, the approach to school feeding should be considered very closely. A grant per definition ends after a limited amount of years. However, this kind of project is very difficult to just stop after only a couple of years, when the grant ends. The time span should be greater as continuity is necessary to actually see more viable results. The school feeding resulted in increased trust in the government in an area, where such trust has traditionally been lacking. If the funding and thereby the school feeding disappears already after some years, the results may not be sustainable. Continuity in a school feeding project is central to its success.
(2) When a school feeding project is approved it is essential that follow-up funding is secured to ensure sustainability and long-term results.
(3) The start-up costs of a school feeding-project are high, so when first the project is up and running, it should be allowed to continue over a longer time span.
(4) Increasing the number of students attending school is not in itself sufficient to increase the level of education. A school feeding program should be accompanied by better planning of education to heighten quality.
(5) Partnerships with other service providers led to: i) reduced transaction costs for the government and ii) more significant impact (i.e. school-feeding coupled with de-worming).
(6) While the smaller snacks can be quite effective in tackling malnutrition and efficient in terms of time to prepare and cost, the larger and more cumbersome hot meals contain more than twice the calories.
(7) A school feeding provides a strong incentive for parents to send their children to school.
(8) A possible unintended consequence of a school feeding program is a "pull out effect", as students may opt to leave relatively better performing schools, not participating in the school feeding program, to go to schools that provide food.
(9) In the areas serviced by the BND community groups and entrepreneurs began to produce cassava and mamba (peanut butter), as this was now highly marketable locally. It is too early to tell if the stimulation of the local industry will outlast the project.
(10) There is a direct relationship between quality and cost. Service providers that worked on reduced budgets offered artificial (and less nutritious) juice.
(11) Properly targeting the intervention can multiply the potential benefits tremendously.
(12) Involving the community and providing opportunities (especially economic) for participation at all levels in critical to success.
(13) Making an impact in rural areas poses more of a challenge, as the factors restricting access and attendance are more related to distance than to financial incentives.
Recommendations:
(i) Involve parents and communities;
(ii) Buy local wherever possible;
(iii) Account for seasonal foods;
(iv) Expect supply shortages;
(v) Work in partnerships to create synergies;
(vi) A little Albendazole can go a long way;
(vii) Plan for the future by strengthening capacity. |
|
