EVALUATED BY:KATHARYN ELLENE LINDEMANN

NELLWYN OLSONTIMOTHY EDWARDS

COMPARATIVE FOREIGN POLICYMATTHEW BONHAM

MAXWELL SCHOOL OF CITIZENSHIP AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

FALL 2010

Evaluation of World Food Programme

Country Program in Ghana

Executive Summary

Report focuses of WFP Country Program of Ghana and the Ghana School Feeding Program in particular

The purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the replicability and sustainability of school feeding programs

Report analyzes the GSFP in context of the Ghanaian governmental, economic and agricultural capacities to provide recommendations

Analysis based on report drawn from internal WFP program and evaluation documents, as well as external audit reports.

Executive Summary

Case Study and Results In 2005, the Ghanaian government began a national school feeding program (GSFP) Supposed to increase school enrollment rates and agricultural production, while decreasing

rates of malnutrition and hunger CP has been able to meet or exceed its beneficiary output targets, particularly after the

program was fully funded Significantly increased school enrollment ratesAnalysis and Recommendations THRs were particularly effective in increasing enrollment rates for girls CP and the GSFP inaccurately judged the local and national capacity to run the program

effectively 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 integrate the investment in agricultural sector development into GSFP programming.

Case Study: Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP)

Identifying the need for school feeding in Ghana Ghana is set to achieve MDG 1, but has decreasing HDI Ghana is susceptible changes in the economics of the region

loss of export values and commodity prices due to the global financial crisis influx of refugees from other less stable neighboring countries

Ghana has been able to increase its food production over the past twenty years, but food security disparity is high between rural and urban populations

2005 Ghana had a 59% enrollment rate for primary students with low levels in populations of the northern regions of the country and among girls

Case Study: Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP)

Structure of WFP's CP in Ghana 2006-2010 Expected Outcomes for Ghana CP

Reduce levels of malnutrition among at-risk pregnant and lactating women and children under five; Improve attendance and completion rates among schoolchildren in basic education; Improve national capacity to implement and scale up supplementary feeding and on-site school feeding; and Increase demand for domestic farm produce

Primary Programmatic Themes 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)

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

Analysis of GSFP: Factors for Success

Significant Increase in School Enrollment! 12.8% increase in primary school attendance 23.1% in kindergartens

Analysis of GSFP: Factors for Failures

Issues with program management: corruption, accountability and lack of transparency According to an external audit there is widespread corruption within program management Confusion of Accountability between District Implementation Committee (DIC) and Community

Implementation Committee (CID) 58% of the schools did not use established or credible procurement measures when awarding their

contracts 39% of the districts failing to provide accounting information Monitoring and Evaluation of GSFP not carried out appropriately

Structure and support of local agricultural markets GSFP has not boosted local agricultural productivity within Ghana as it was designed to The GSFP is compromised when agriculture outputs decrease with floods, drought, climate change

Analysis of GSFP: Factors for Failures

Politicization of the GSFP GSFP was created by former president John Kufuor as a Presidential Initiative Ability to be manipulated as a political tool of the government 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 Availability and sustainability of funding

During the period 2006-2007 the CP was only able to procure 70% of its needed funding Effect of the global economic crisis and the susceptibility of Ghana’s agricultural productivity

combined to limit the purchasing power of the program Ghanaian government has failed to meet its commitments to supporting the GSFP as the hand-

over process took place

Recommendations: Replicability of Program

Local and national government capacity National government and local communities must be prepared for unintended

consequences from School Feeding Program implementation 2006-2008 number of children receiving school feeding increased from 42,232 to

249,848 Increased demand for program services means communities and districts must be

prepared Local Producers

Implementing nations must parallel the implementation of School Feeding with targeted agriculture development

GSFP has sought to partner with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) which promotes the restoration of agricultural growth in Africa

The GSFP successes can only be replicated where national governments are able to support the local agriculture

Recommendations for GSFP

1. Design a competitive contract award system

Invitation

Bidding

Public Disclosur

e

Public Opinion

Increased Accountability

Recommendations for GSFP

2. Eliminate the politicization of the GSFP

• Remove the GSFP from a presidential initiative that to an initiative that exists within a ministerial or parliamentary review

• Doing so will eliminate the GSFP’s variability to political change and increase the accountability of the program.

Recommendations for GSFP

3. Redesigning the monitoring and evaluation activities (M&E), as well as bolstering the assessment capacity of local and national coordinators

Redesign M&E of GSFP

Train staff in simple but effective M&E

Increase incentive for correct

implementation of M&E

OUTCOME: improvement in M&E and

overall effectiveness of

GSFP

Recommendations for GSFP

4. Integrating the investment in agricultural sector development into GSFP programming

Technical guidance

Access to credit

Fertilizer, Seeds etc.

Farmers toolbox

Conclusions

School feeding programs represent a programmatic answer to the question of how to effectively reduce poverty, increase health and economic opportunity

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

Lessons of the GSFP management should serve to highlight the importance of understanding local government and agricultural capacity.

Preventative measures to increase accountability and capacity while decreasing corruption and politicization within program design is critical to successful implementation.

The End

Thank you for your attention!Questions?