Evaluation of World Food Programme
Country Program in Ghana
An independent analysis of progress to date, focusing on the school feeding
aspects of the program, including recommendations for sustainability of the
Ghanaian School Feeding Program, as well as lessons learned for replicability
of WFP School Meals Programs in other African nations
Report Date:
7 December 2010
Evaluation Prepared By:
Timothy Edwards
Katharyn Ellene Lindemann
Nellwyn Olson
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. 2
I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 5
II. BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMS ............................ 6
Identifying an intervention: the case for school feeding programs............................................. 6
School Feeding in the World Food Programme Context ............................................................ 7
III. CASE STUDY: SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM IN GHANA ............................................. 8
Identifying the need for school feeding in Ghana ....................................................................... 9
Structure of WFP's Country Program in Ghana, 2006-2010 .................................................... 10
Evaluating the Results............................................................................................................... 12
IV. ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM EXECUTION: IDENTIFYING THE FACTORS
CONTRIBUTING TO SUCCESS AND FAILURE ..................................................................... 13
Identifying factors for success .................................................................................................. 13
Identifying the factors for failures ............................................................................................ 14
V. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROGRAM REPLICABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY ... 17
General recommendations for program replicability and sustainability: identifying ideal
conditions .................................................................................................................................. 18
Recommendations for the Ghana School Feeding Program: Increasing operational
functionality and sustainability ................................................................................................. 20
VI. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 22
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 24
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Overview of evaluation purpose and methodology
In both developed and developing countries, school feeding programs have demonstrated
ability to raise and sustain school enrollment rates, as well as combat malnutrition among lowincome families. In the context of a developing country, the promise of a meal at school can be a
powerful incentive for families to send their children to school, instead of keeping them at home
to work. By increasing enrollment incentives in this way, developing countries set off a powerful
chain reaction: increased enrollment leads to increased literacy and education rates, which in turn
leads to increased economic sustainability and opportunity.
The purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the replicability and sustainability of school
feeding programs as a key development intervention targeting the increase of school enrollment
rates and levels of malnutrition among children. This report focuses on recommendations for the
World Food Programme (WFP), and uses an evaluation of WFP's Country Program (CP) in
Ghana to demonstrate the potential strengths and weaknesses of such programs. Ghana was
selected as the case study due to the fact that its CP is in its last year of operation and is under
consideration for a next phase of implementation. Further, Ghana represents a unique insight into
the African context generally. To this end, the report analyzes the school feeding activities of the
CP within the context of Ghanaian governmental, economic and agricultural capacities to
provide recommendations on the general ideal conditions for the replicability and sustainability
of WFP School Meals Programs in other African countries. The analyses in this report draw from
internal WFP program and evaluation documents, as well as external audit reports.
Case Study and Results
In 2005, the Ghanaian government began a national school feeding program (GSFP) as
Page | 2
an initiative of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP)'s
activities to reduce hunger and increase food security to reach the MDGs. The GSFP intended to
link school feeding activities with local farm production, thus bolstering both local domestic
food production and school enrollment, while also reducing hunger and malnutrition. As a
signatory to the UNDAF, WFP developed a country-wide program to support the GSFP.
Operating between the years of 2006-2010, WFP's Country Program (CP) in Ghana was
expressly designed to “help the Government to expand and replicate successful models of foodbased programming for raising demand for and supply of basic education, with gender parity,
and health and nutrition services for children under-five years and pregnant and lactating mothers
at risk of malnutrition.”
The CP aimed to approach the issue of malnutrition and low school enrollment by having
WFP act as the expert in the field, with the intention to enhance the reach and effective execution
of the Ghanaian government's efforts to implement the GSFP. By agreement, the CP would
initially provide nation-wide technical support, as well as supplementary food support in the
three northern regions. This assistance would be phased to gradually hand over responsibility to
the government. Activities were divided between two main programmatic themes: the first,
Supplementary Feeding, Health and Nutrition Education (SFHNE) would target children and
mothers with fortified food, while also increasing nutrition programming and awareness on
various levels (regional, district and community); the second, Support for Basic Education
(SBE), focused on providing on-site school meals in primary schools for levels P1-P6.
Judged against its stated outcomes, the CP has been able to meet or exceed its beneficiary
output targets, particularly after the program was fully funded. The effectiveness of the SBE
activities of school meals and THRs has shown to positively impact the school enrollment rates,
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as the enrollment, attendance and completion rates have increased between 2007 and 2008. In
particular, the increase in gender parity has been key result of the SBE activities.
Analysis and recommendations
An analysis and review of the CP results, particularly the SBE activities, provides an
insight into the factors that have encouraged or limited the program's success. THRs were
particularly effective in increasing enrollment rates for girls due to increased motivation for
school attendance. However, the relationship between the CP and the GSFP, as designed in the
initial program plan, inaccurately judged the local and national capacity to run the program
effectively. This contributed to significant problems which have contributed to the overall
general failure of the programs to meet demand for school meals and THRs on a national scale.
In general, the example of the GSFP highlights the importance for the correct assessment
of local and national government capacity, as well as the need for complimentary investment in
local agricultural production to insure smooth program operation and sustainability. As WFP and
other partners prepare the next phases of CP implementation, it should consider the following
recommendations to increase operational functionality and ensure future sustainability. These
include: designing a competitive contract award system; eliminating the politicization of the
GSFP; redesigning the monitoring and evaluation activities, as well as bolstering the assessment
capacity of local and national coordinators; and integrating the investment in agricultural sector
development into GSFP programming.
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I. INTRODUCTION
In both developed and developing countries, school feeding programs have demonstrated
ability to raise and sustain school enrollment rates, as well as combat malnutrition among lowincome families. In the context of a developing country, the promise of a meal at school can be a
powerful incentive for families to send their children to school, instead of keeping them at home
to work. By increasing enrollment incentives in this way, developing countries set off a powerful
chain reaction: increased enrollment leads to increased literacy and education rates, which in turn
leads to increased economic sustainability and opportunity. In this way, school feeding programs
are a catalyst for widespread socio- and economic development. As the international community
focuses its work on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to eradicate
extreme poverty, increase universal education, reduce child mortality, and promotes gender
equality by 2015, the use of school feeding programs in developing nations is clearly a critical
intervention that should be considered.
The purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the replicability and sustainability of school
feeding programs as a key development intervention targeting the increase of school enrollment
rates and levels of malnutrition among children. This report focuses on recommendations for the
World Food Programme (WFP), recognized within the development field as the expert in the
implementation of school feeding programs, and uses an evaluation of WFP's Country Program
(CP) in Ghana to demonstrate the potential strengths and weaknesses of such programs.
Ghana was selected as the case study due to the fact that its CP is in its last year of
operation and is under consideration for a next phase of implementation. Further, Ghana
represents a unique insight into the African context generally: while it will become the first
African country to obtain the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG 1) of reducing poverty
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by half, it is also a low-income, food deficit country with regional and rural-urban disparities.1
To this end, the report analyzes the school feeding activities of the CP within the context of
Ghanaian governmental, economic and agricultural capacities to provide recommendations on
the general ideal conditions for the replicability and sustainability of WFP School Meals
Programs in other African countries.
The analyses in this report draw from internal WFP program and evaluation documents,
as well as external audit reports.
II. BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMS
Identifying an intervention: the case for school feeding programs
School feeding initiatives originated as early as the late 1700's as the projects of
charitable donors in Europe. However, concentrated school feeding interventions did not appear
until the mid-1800s, as governments began incorporating school meals into their legislation.
After World War II in 1945, the United States began the practice of initiating school feeding
programs in Austria as an act of international aid focused on combating the severe malnutrition
of children. Since that time, school feeding programs have become a key part of food assistance
and relief in emergency and development programs.2
In developing countries, hunger and malnutrition account for the death of one child every
six seconds, and contribute greatly to the quality of a child’s health, life, and chance for survival.
As children are particularly susceptible to the effects of malnutrition during the first few years of
life, nutrition-based development programs seek to intervene during this critical phase of growth.
In this manner, targeting school children through school feeding programs offers the best
1
2
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
Burnett, Craig, narr. Ending Child Hunger: School Lunches for . Dir. William Lambers. LambersPublication, 2008. Web. 5
Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Q8-Fnhfss>.
Page | 6
opportunity to combat malnutrition during a child’s most critical years of development. 3
Additionally, the presence of a school feeding program has been shown to improve the
lives of children and families by reducing financial burdens on families who must often decide
between having children work and sending the children to school. In addition, by addressing the
nutritional needs of these children, school feeding programs enhance the child's ability focus on
their education, leading to higher lifetime earnings and benefiting the child, family and greater
community.4
School Feeding in the World Food Programme Context
School feeding programming has been a feature of WFP work for over 45 years, under
the title of “School Meals Programs”. WFP implements its School Meals Programs in a variety
of contexts: emergency, protracted relief and recovery, and development. Regardless of context,
WFP focuses the implementation of these programs on the achievement of five outcomes:





“Nutrition: improved micronutrient intake and macronutrient intake leads
to enhanced nutrition and child health, increased learning and decreased
morbidity for students;
Education: school feeding can help to get children into school and to keep
them there, through enhancing enrollment and reducing absenteeism;
Gender: the positive contribution of school feeding to gender equality is
proved. Access to education is increased for orphans and vulnerable
children, internally displaced persons and HIV affected;
Value transfer: school feeding transfers resources to households, averting
negative coping strategies and allowing investments in productive assets;
Local development: school feeding is often linked to health and
nutrition/essential package interventions. School feeding favors spin offs to
community development and local production, in particular when food is
being sourced from poor, small-holding farmers.”5
Currently, WFP provides school meals to roughly 22 million children in roughly 60 countries
Buhl, Amanda. “Meeting Nutritional Needs Through School Feeding: A snapshot of four African Nations.” Global Child
Nutrition Foundation. 2009.
4 Boston Consulting Group. “School feeding: a sound investment.” World Food Programme. 2009.
5
World Food Programme. “School Meals – In-depth”. December 2010.
3
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while providing THRs to 2.8 million girls and 1.9 million boys.6 In WFP assisted schools, over
90% attendance rate for boys and girls in WFP has been reported. In addition 97.7% of teachers
reported improved ability of children to concentrate and learn in schools as a result of school
feeding. 7
In order to reach their intended beneficiaries, WFP partners with governments, UN
agencies, NGOs, and the private sector companies for funding and other support. For example,
Unilever partnered with the School Meals Program to provide funding and also joint research in
the development of nutrition-dense food products.8
III. CASE STUDY: SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM IN GHANA
The disparities in Ghana's economy, agricultural productivity and uneven development
between regions identified it as a candidate for a United Nations administered cooperative
United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) in 2006-2010. The UNDAF
aimed to increase human development and government capacity to provide basic services in
Ghana. In this context, WFP's program design in Ghana, including methods, activities and
expected outcomes relied on an integrated partnership approach that relied on building the
capacity of the Ghanaian government. While results of the program between 2006-2010 are
identified as having met or exceeded its identified targets, particularly in terms of increasing
gender parity in enrollment, the program has not sufficiently met its desired outcomes of
widespread school feeding implementation, increased national capacity and demand for domestic
6
7
8
"Two Minutes to Learn about School Meals." World Food Program, 1 May 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
<http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp220221.pdf>.
2008 Figures on WFP School Feeding Programmes. "2008 Figures on WFP School Feeding Programmes." World Food
Program. World Food Program, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
<http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp205343.pdf>.
"Together for Child Vitality." Unilever and World Food Program, 2008. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
<http://www.unilever.com/images/iv-icn09_World-Food-Programme-Leaflet_tcm13-189292.pdf>.
Page | 8
farm produce.
Identifying the need for school feeding in Ghana
Over the past ten years, Ghana's socio- and economic development has presented an
interesting picture of progress and decline. While it is set to become the first African nation to
achieve MDG 1, it has also shown measured decline in its rankings on UNDP's Human
Development Index, which measures the ability of citizens to lead productive lives.
Economically, the World Bank ranks Ghana's fiscal policy as progressive towards growth and
anti-poverty measures, but uneven in its allocation of public expenditures. Thus, while Ghana
ranks fairly high on World Governance Indicators and has made progress towards building social
policies to combat issues of inequity, it has not yet been able to match these policies with
sustained economic support and fully move forward with economic and social progress. Further,
as they are poised on the edge of economic security and development, Ghana is particularly
susceptible to changes in the economics of the region, particularly the loss of export values and
commodity prices due to the global financial crisis and the influx of refugees from other less
stable neighboring countries. 9
Agriculturally, Ghana has been able to increase its food production over the past twenty
years, but remains a low-income food deficit country, meaning that there are large disparities in
food security between rural and urban contexts, as well as disparities between regions within
Ghana. In particular, the three northern regions show consistent food insecurity. Agricultural
practices remain dependent on rain-fed agriculture and utilize rudimentary hand tools, thus
limiting output and contributing to poor agricultural markets.10
9
10
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
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In the realm of school enrollment and nutrition rates, Ghana held a net primary school
enrollment rate of 59.1% in 2005. The disparity between the three northern regions and the rest
of the country is evident here as well, particularly in terms of gender parity in school enrollment
rates. Estimated numbers of undernourished people has been steadily decreasing, down to 1.9
million in 2003-05 from 5.4 million in 1990-92.11
In 2005, the Ghanaian government began a national school feeding program (GSFP) as
an initiative of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP)'s
activities to reduce hunger and increase food security to reach the MDGs. The GSFP intended to
link school feeding activities with local farm production, thus bolstering both local domestic
food production and school enrollment, while also reducing hunger and malnutrition.12
Structure of WFP's Country Program in Ghana, 2006-2010
As a signatory to the UNDAF, WFP developed a country-wide program to support the
GSFP. Operating between the years of 2006-2010, WFP's Country Program (CP) in Ghana was
expressly designed to “help the Government to expand and replicate successful models of foodbased programming for raising demand for and supply of basic education, with gender parity,
and health and nutrition services for children under-five years and pregnant and lactating mothers
at risk of malnutrition (see Appendix 2).”13 In terms of expected program outcomes, the CP
sought to:
Outcome 1. Reduce levels of malnutrition among at-risk pregnant and lactating
women and children under five;
Outcome 2. Improve attendance and completion rates among schoolchildren in
basic education;
Outcome 3. Improve national capacity to implement and scale up supplementary
feeding and on-site school feeding; and
Outcome 4. Increase demand for domestic farm produce, in response to newly
11
12
13
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
World Food Programme. “Project Document Country Programme-Ghana 10418.0” (2006-2010). 2005.
Page | 10
created school feeding market requirements.14
In this way, the CP aimed to approach the issue of malnutrition and low school enrollment by
having WFP act as the expert in the field, with the intention to enhance the reach and effective
execution of the Ghanaian government's efforts to implement the GSFP. By agreement, the CP
would initially provide nation-wide technical support, as well as supplementary food support in
the three northern regions (see Appendix 1). This assistance would be phased to gradually hand
over responsibility to the government.
Activities for the CP were divided between two main programmatic themes: the first,
Supplementary Feeding, Health and Nutrition Education (SFHNE) would target children and
mothers with fortified food, while also increasing nutrition programming and awareness on
various levels (regional, district and community); the second, Support for Basic Education
(SBE), focused on providing on-site school meals in primary schools for levels P1-P6, while also
providing take-home rations (THRs) for girls from primary to junior secondary school level 3.15
In order to execute the CP, WFP identified a number of partners and collaborators from
all sectors and levels, ranging from government, NGOs, bilateral, multilateral and CBOs (See
Appendix 3). Funding for CP activities was initially estimated at USD $16.2 million, but was
increased to USD$23.9 million during budget revisions in 2009. The largest share of funding
stemmed from multilateral organizations (32.4%), closely followed by contributions from the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA, 28.4%) and private donors (6.7%). At its
outset, the program was only able to obtain 70% of its required funding, resulting in loss of
program efficacy. With CIDA's involvement and increased funding from 2008 onwards, the
14
15
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
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program has been able to operate as a fully funded program.16
Evaluating the Results
Judged against its stated outcomes, the CP has been able to meet or exceed its beneficiary
output targets, particularly after the program was fully funded. The effectiveness of the SBE
activities of school meals and THRs has shown to positively impact the school enrollment rates,
as the enrollment, attendance and completion rates have increased between 2007 and 2008.
In particular, the increase in gender parity has been key result of the SBE activities. The
THR program has been transitioned over to the Ghana Education Service, and credited with
positively impacting girls' attendance, retention and completion rates. Social changes in the
communities where girls are receiving THR are not limited to increased enrollment rates on the
junior secondary school level, but also have been shown to reduce community practices of early
marriage and the forcing of girls to participate in income-generating activities (either agricultural
or business) in favor of sending the girls to school to collect rations.17
In terms of school meals, however, the program's execution has had a negative impact on
the quality of education children receive, contributing to the decrease in time spent with teachers
versus receiving the meals. This is particularly true in rural areas of the northern regions. In
addition, meal quality has been forced to reduce in both quantity and quality throughout the
program's implementation. In addition, the GSFP has not yet satisfactorily addressed the issues
of malnutrition and low school enrollment on a national scale.
16
17
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
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IV. ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM EXECUTION: IDENTIFYING THE FACTORS
CONTRIBUTING TO SUCCESS AND FAILURE
An analysis and review of the CP results, particularly the SBE activities, provides an
insight into the factors that have encouraged or limited the program's success. In particular, the
use of THRs has been particularly effective in increasing enrollment rates for girls due to
increased motivation for school attendance. However, the relationship between the CP and the
GSFP, as designed in the initial program plan, inaccurately judged the local and national capacity
to run the program effectively. This contributed to significant problems with local program
management, the lack of support of agricultural purchasing, politicization of the program, and
the availability and sustainability of funding, all of which have contributed to the overall general
failure of the programs to meet demand for school meals and THRs on a national scale.
Identifying factors for success
The major success of the CP and GSFP activities lays in the increased the overall
enrollment of students in schools, particularly girls. Under the implementation of the GSFP
there has been a 12.8% increase in primary school attendance and 23.1% in kindergartens, which
represents a significant increase.18 In particular, the major target groups of northern schools and
girls students have seen a significant increase in the level of school enrollment. The major factor
for success is linked to the increase in incentives for parents and children to insure regular school
attendance. Noticeably, the use of THRs was particularly effective in increasing enrollment rates
for girls by providing incentives for communities to change their social and cultural barriers
preventing girls’ access to education, and instead support the regular attendance of girls in
18
De Hauwere
Page | 13
school, including at higher levels of education.
Identifying the factors for failures
Yet, while the CP was able to meet or exceed the target indicators for enrollment, the
overall GSFP has not yet satisfactorily addressed the issues of malnutrition and low school
enrollment on a national scale. In particular, the CP program design and emphasis on quick handover to the GSFP moved too quickly for the true level of local and national capacity. Key factors
that contributed to the overall failure include:
1. Issues with program management: corruption, accountability and lack of transparency
External audits have shown corruption within the local management is widespread within
the GSFP. Documented corruption includes: award of contracts to non-existent companies, the
disappearance of funds allocated to program management, and the deliberate purchase of
unwholesome but cheaper ingredients.19
Structurally, the management of the program suffered from the division of
implementation between the District Implementation Committee (DIC) and the School
Implementation Committee (SIC), leading to confusion over accountability. In some districts
these committees are nonexistent, failed to meet or have met on an irregular basis. In addition,
stakeholders were unaware of their responsibilities to the program, and therefore were not able to
carry out their tasks. Even in cases where the SIC and DIC’s existed, the decisions and
responsibilities were often made by head of the committee, instead of the committees.20
19“Ghana:
nationally-run school feeding program mired in corruption,” June 12, 2008.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78707
20 “Whose Decision counts? A monitoring Report on the Ghana School Feeding Program,” SEND, Ghana 2008.
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Another area that contributed to the overall lack of progress of the GSFP was in the lack of
accountability in contract bidding and financing. 58% of the schools did not use established or
credible procurement measures when awarding their contracts, meaning that the method of
bidding and invitation for these contracts was unethical. In addition, there was a huge amount of
discrepancy between individual schools and districts on the amount of finances they received and
what was actually spent, with 39% of the districts failing to provide accounting information.
Local communities were unaware of how much money was being spent on the GSFP in their
locales, contributing to the lack of demand for accountability.21
Finally, the last factor contributing to poor program management lies in the inability of
the local management to correctly perform monitoring and evaluation practices to support the
tracking and execution of the GSFP. Individuals responsible for the monitoring and evaluation
were not solely employed by the GSFP and were often overworked, underpaid and overburdened
with other responsibilities. Furthermore, funding and payments to these individuals carrying out
the monitoring responsibilities was dispersed slowly. Combined, these factors disincentivized the
local management to correctly carry out the monitoring and evaluation of their projects. Thus, in
many instances, the monitoring and evaluation of a local project was not carried out, or was
rushed and completed at a dissatisfactory level.
2. Structure and support of local agricultural markets
The Ghanaian government deliberately designed the GSFP to integrate the purchase of
local agricultural produce as a part of the school meals. However, this contributed to increased
program insecurity in the face of decreased agricultural output, such as floods, droughts, and
increased commodity prices.
21
SEND, Ghana 2008.
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To date, the GSFP has not boosted local agricultural productivity within Ghana. While
the program has been successful in purchasing the majority of the food in Ghana, it has not been
able to purchase that food from local farmers near the schools in the program. While the GSFP is
currently in the process of coordinating its program with WFP's Purchase for Progress (P4P)
program, which would focus on increasing local markets to supply local agricultural needs,
including GSFP, support to local farmers has been missing to date. As this support was not a
direct activity of the CP or GSFP, the incentives to local farmers to participate in the program
were decreased.22
3. Politicization of the GSFP
Another factor that may have contributed to the overall lack of progress of the GSFP and
its future sustainability is its ability to be manipulated as a political tool of the government. In
particular, the GSFP was fostered as a special initiative of the President John Kufuor, a member
of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Several key issues may have followed from this: first, the
housing of this program under the president's directive means that the parliament has no
oversight or control over the budgeting process or administrative hiring processes. Second, the
target areas where the program succeeded seem to align with the areas where the NPP enjoys
support, which may conflict with the areas where more urgent support was needed.23 Lastly, this
arrangement may leave the GSFP susceptible to turnover in the presidency and majority political
power.
“Food Staples in the Ghana School Feeding Program: Analysis of Markets, Value Chains, and Menus,” Jessica Lopatka, Jason
Topel, Pedro de Vasconcellos. UC Berkeley – Haas School of Business
International Business Development Program. July 2008.
23 “The Ghana School Feeding Programme; A practical exploration of the ‘behind the façade’ approach,” Karen De Hauwere.
22
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4. Availability and sustainability of funding
Key financial problems further delayed the effectiveness of the program, causing
interruptions in program operation and scope. Notably, during the period 2006-2007 the CP was
only able to procure 70% of its needed funding. International donors, CIDA in particular,
provided the fund necessary to close this gap and complete the project. However, even with full
funding, the effect of the global economic crisis and the susceptibility of Ghana’s agricultural
productivity combined to limit the purchasing power of the program. As a result, the meals and
THRs purchased were often at a lesser quality in order to maintain supply levels.
In addition, the Ghanaian government has failed to meet its commitments to supporting
the GSFP as the hand-over process took place. The increase in ownership and budgetary support
of the program at the national, district, and community levels has not taken the form that WFP
agreed on.24The Ghanaian government recognizes the GSFP’s dependency on donors, as
evidenced by the National Coordinator of the GSFP Alhaji Suleman Abdul Rahman comment,
“Donors of the programme will not provide the money forever.”25 The future deficit of finances
for the GSFP must be taken up by the Ghanaian government to provide for the survival of this
program.
V. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROGRAM REPLICABILITY AND
SUSTAINABILITY
In general, the example of the GSFP highlights the importance for the correct assessment of local
and national government capacity, as well as the need for complimentary investment in local
agricultural production to insure smooth program operation and sustainability. As WFP prepares
to create the next version of the CP in Ghana, it will be critical to address the factors for failure
24
25
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
“Donor Support of School Feeding Programs not sustainable,” February 22, 2010.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=177194
Page | 17
described above by creating a competitive contract award system, working with the Ghanaian
government to reduce the politicization of the GSFP, increase local capacity to carry out
comprehensive monitoring and evaluation, and increase the investment and integration of local
agricultural production.
General recommendations for program replicability and sustainability: identifying ideal
conditions
The successes and trials of the CP and GSFP can be an important tool for developing best
practices elsewhere, specifically in neighboring countries. Although each WFP School Meals
program is unique, there are important general lessons to understand within the partnership of the
CP and GSFP that can provide insight for other countries seeking to start or expand their current
school feeding programs. In particular, attention should be paid to correctly identifying the local
government's capacity for implementation and expansion, as well as the capacity of local
agricultural production.
1. Local and national government capacity
The ability of the local and national government's capacity to implement the School Meals
program is particularly important. The national government and local communities must be
prepared for unintended consequences that can arise even from successful School Feeding
program implementation. In 2006 and 2007, with the expansion of the GSFP, schools with school
feeding programs would often draw many students from neighboring communities that did not
have the program. For example, between 2006 and 2008, the number of children receiving
school feeding or take home rations increased from 42,232 to 249,848. Although the number of
Page | 18
local farmers involved in local procurement exceeded the target by 25%, the government and
World Food Programme had to have the capacity to provide for these additional demands. Local
communities also had to have the capacity for the unintended rise in participation. Some local
schools had to meet the needs of 60-80 children in a class.26
When capacity for program implementation is discussed, it is often in terms of corruption. While
managing corruption is an important precondition to the implementation of a school feeding
program, physical capacity to absorb increased demand is a critical aspect of long term success,
and should be a consideration when planning the implementation of this program in other
countries.
2. Local Producers
To ensure the stability of the School Feeding program, especially during times of economic
volatility, implementing nations must parallel the implementation of School Feeding with
targeted agriculture development. Increased overall demand for School Feeding was exacerbated
with the increase in food prices. Although the GSFP did face some setbacks, their partnerships
with local food suppliers and their support of agriculture have helped to provide a more stable
supply of food than would have been possible relying only on external food sources. In 2008,
more than 2,000 farmers were benefitting from the GSFP’s local procurement.v In addition,
GSFP has sought to partner with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) which
promotes the restoration of agricultural growth in Africa.27 These partnerships help to ensure the
26
27
Casely-Hayford, Leslie, Tamsin Walters, and Michael Johnny. "Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana." .
Office of Evaluation of the World Food Programme, 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
<http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/reports/wfp220542.pdf>.
"Feeding Minds, Changing Lives School Feeding: Highlights and New Directions." World Food Program. World Food
Program, 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
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stability of food procurement during economic downturns in addition to supporting local
communities and long term agricultural development.
It was the local partnerships within Ghana and the promotion of the agricultural sector that has
helped the School Feeding Program. The GSFP successes can only be replicated where national
governments are able to support the local agriculture and that strong links can be arranged in
developing procurement agreements that meet the needs of a country's school feeding program.
Recommendations for the Ghana School Feeding Program: Increasing operational
functionality and sustainability
As WFP and other partners prepare the next phases of CP implementation, it should consider the
following recommendations to increase operational functionality and ensure future sustainability.
These include:
1. Designing a competitive contract award system
In order combat corruption and nepotism, WFP should insist the GSFP implement a
system of competitive contract awarding for all procurement and logistic contracts. In addition,
it should require that all aspects of procurement, logistics and budgetary details be made
available to the public, including the disclosure of contract awards. By insisting on these
measures of competitive bidding processes and public disclosure, WFP will leverage public
opinion to bolster accountability in both local and national management of the GSFP.
2. Eliminating the politicization of the GSFP
<http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp204709.pdf>.
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In order to increase equitable oversight in the GSFP’s budgetary and hiring process, WFP
and other donors should use their funding to coerce the Ghanaian government to move the GSFP
from a presidential initiative to an initiative that exists within ministerial or parliamentary
review. This could include either placing the program under the Ministry of Education, or
placing it as a joint initiative under the Ministries of Education and Agriculture. Doing so will
eliminate the GSFP’s variability to political change and increase the accountability of the
program.
3. Redesigning the monitoring and evaluation activities, as well as bolstering the assessment
capacity of local and national coordinators
In order to improve GSFP’s long-term ability to measure demand, failure and success,
WFP should work to immediately improve the capacity on both the local and national level. To
begin, WFP should identify a partner organization (either multilateral or NGO) that is an expert
in the design and training of monitoring and evaluation. After having evaluated the monitoring
and evaluation design of the GSFP, this partner should design trainings for both local and
national program coordinators. It is critical that the newly designed monitoring and evaluation be
simplistic and easy to execute, and the trainings be provided in local languages. In addition, WFP
should work with the GSFP leadership to reassess the hiring and pay of the monitoring and
evaluation employees to examine how to best provide incentives (such as cash awards for
accuracy and completion) to spur performance.
4. Integrating the investment in agricultural sector development into GSFP programming
As successful sustainability of the GSFP relies on the partnership with local agricultural
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production, it is critical that the Ghanaian government and other donors coordinate the
implementation of the GSFP with an investment in increasing the local agricultural productivity.
This means a comprehensive effort including giving farmers’ access to sources of credit,
technical guidance, seed banks, fertilizer, and all necessary measures to ensure that they optimize
their harvests. In addition, the Ghanaian government should invest in an effective marketing and
outreach strategy to farmers to promote the opportunity to sell crops.
VI. CONCLUSION
For the international community and governments of developing countries school feeding
programs represent a programmatic answer to the question of how to effectively reduce poverty,
increase health and economic opportunity. By targeting the nutrition of school children, school
feeding programs encourage a chain of development: from increased enrollment and nutrition to
increased livelihoods, to increased economic opportunity. Thus, through the successful
implementation of school feeding programs, governments and international community can
successfully partner to break the cycles of hunger and poverty in developing nations.
Overall, the GSFP and CP exemplify the challenges to successful implementation of a
school feeding program. While it successfully achieved or surpassed its targets, particularly in
the area of achieving gender parity in enrollment, it also failed in its ability to meet demand on a
national scale. Significant factors that contributed to this failure stem from the overall program
partnership design and reliance on an assumed level of capacity within the Ghanaian
government.
As WFP and others seek to implement school feeding programs, especially within the
African countries, the lessons of the GSFP management should serve to highlight the importance
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of understanding local government and agricultural capacity. In addition, imbedding preventative
measures to increase accountability and capacity while decreasing corruption and politicization
within program design is critical to successful implementation.
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1.
Appendix 2.
Appendix 3.
Appendix 4.
Appendix 5.
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Map of Ghana
Operational Fact Sheet
Main WFP CP partners and collaborators
Terms of Reference
Bibliography of Sources
Appendix 1: Map of WFP Ghana Country Program, 2006-2010
Source: Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010
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Appendix 2: WFP CP Operational Fact Sheet
Source: Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010
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Appendix 3: Main WFP CP partners and collaborators
Source: Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010
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Appendix 4: Terms of Reference
ASSESSMENT OF UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME
SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM IN GHANA
Terms of Reference
Background and Justification
The United Nations' World Food Programme
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian agency in the world that seeks to
fight hunger. Begun in 1962, WFP's five objectives are: 1) to save lives and protect livelihoods in
emergencies; 2) prepare for emergencies; 3) restore and rebuild lives after emergencies; 4)
reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere; and 5) strengthen the capacity of
countries to reduce hunger.28 In both humanitarian aid and post-conflict reconstruction efforts,
WFP aims to use food as key intervention to both save lives and help communities rebuild after
emergencies, either natural or man-made.
WFP School Meals Program
WFP’s School Meals initiative provides meals for children and his helping accomplish WFP's
objectives to "reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere" and "strengthen the
capacity of countries to reduce hunger." The School Meals can offer breakfast, lunch, and/or
take-home rations for children. By offering meals for children in school, the program seeks to
enable children to better focus on their education, provide incentives for parents to send their
children to school, and actively serve to reduce hunger throughout the world.
Take-home rations, such as rice vegetables, and enriched vegetable oil, are especially useful for
gender equity initiatives, enabling the poorest families to send their daughters to school. In
addition to combating hunger and low education participation, the School meals program also
helps to reduce disease by providing fortified food to promote better nutrition. According to the
WFP, the School Meals Program "directly address the goals of reducing hunger by half and
achieving universal primary education by 2015, and of achieving gender parity in education by
2005."
School Meals program partners with governments, UN agencies, NGO's, and the private sector
companies such as Kraft Foods and Unilever. Last year, the school meals were provided to 22
million school children in 70 countries, particularly in South and Southeast Asia and Africa.
School Meals Programming in Ghana
In 2006-2010, WFP’s country program in Ghana aimed to bolster the Ghanaian government’s
school feeding program (GSFP). The objectives of this program were to help the Ghanaian
government “expand and replicate successful models of food-based programming for raising
demand for and supply of basic education, with gender parity, and health and nutrition services
for children under-five years and pregnant and lactating mothers at risk of malnutrition.”29
28
29
http://www.wfp.org/about
“Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
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Research Focus:
This project will evaluate the impact and implementation of the combined CP and GSFP
initiative to assess the lessons learned for sustainability and replicability in Ghana, as well as
other African nations.
Activities and Outputs
1. Review the CP and GSFP program operations from 2006-2010.
2. Analyze and evaluate the coordination of the programs in the Ghanaian context,
including but not limited to:
i.evaluation of program effectiveness, as measured against program goals and
indicators
ii.evaluation of program efficiency
3. Develop recommendations, including but not limited to:
i. current program sustainability
ii. replicability of program, including in other countries/regions
4. Create a PowerPoint presentation incorporating the results of the study, analysis and
recommendations, to be presented to representatives of the World Food Programme.
Intended Beneficiaries
The intended beneficiaries for this project are World Food Programme (regional, country and
headquarters staff).
Timeline and deliverables
Task
Deadline
Review and research
Analysis, resulting in first draft of conclusions and
recommendations
Final draft of conclusions and recommendations
PowerPoint presentation
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12/07/10
Appendix 5: Bibliography of Sources
Boston Consulting Group. “School feeding: a sound investment.” World Food Programme. 2009.
Buhl, Amanda. “Meeting Nutritional Needs Through School Feeding: A snapshot of four African Nations.” Global Child
Nutrition Foundation. 2009.
Burnett, Craig, narr. Ending Child Hunger: School Lunches for . Dir. William Lambers. LambersPublication, 2008. Retrieved on
5 Dec. 2010. from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Q8-Fnhfss>.
Casely-Hayford, Leslie, Tamsin Walters, and Michael Johnny. "Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0
Ghana." . Office of Evaluation of the World Food Programme, 1 Apr. 2010. Retrieved on 1 Dec. 2010. from
<http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/reports/wfp220542.pdf>.
De Hauwere, Karen. “Ghana: nationally-run school feeding program mired in corruption,” June 12, 2008. Retrieved on 1 Dec.
2010 from <http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78707>
De Hauwere, Karen. “The Ghana School Feeding Programme; A practical exploration of the ‘behind the façade’ approach”.
Ghanaweb. “Donor Support of School Feeding Programs not sustainable,” February 22, 2010. Retrieved on 16 Nov. 2010 from
<http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=177194>
Lopatka, Jessica and Topel, Jason, and de Vasconcellos, Pedro “Food Staples in the Ghana School Feeding Program: Analysis of
Markets, Value Chains, and Menus,” UC Berkeley – Haas School of Business. International Business Development
Program. July 2008.
SEND. “Whose Decision counts? A monitoring Report on the Ghana School Feeding Program”. SEND, Ghana 2008.
"Together for Child Vitality." Unilever and World Food Program, 2008. Retrieved on 1 Dec. 2010 from
<http://www.unilever.com/images/iv-icn09_World-Food-Programme-Leaflet_tcm13-189292.pdf>.
"Two Minutes to Learn about School Meals." World Food Program, 1 May 2010. Retrieved on 1 Dec. 2010 from
<http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp220221.pdf>.
World Food Programme. "2008 Figures on WFP School Feeding Programmes." World Food Program. Retrieved on 1 Dec. 2010
from <http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp205343.pdf>.
World Food Programme. “Evaluation of WFP Country Programme 10418.0 Ghana”. April 2010.
World Food Programme. "Feeding Minds, Changing Lives School Feeding: Highlights and New Directions." World Food
Programme. 2009. Retrieved on 1 Dec. 2010 from
<http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp204709.pdf>.
World Food Programme. “Project Document Country Programme-Ghana 10418.0” (2006-2010). 2005.
World Food Programme. “School Meals – In-depth”. December 2010.
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