Côte d’Ivoire

Final: In 2002, the planned number of beneficiaries under the WFP school feeding program was 254,133. WFP food aid, however, reached 255,817 students (115,217 girls & 140,600 boys) in 1,924 schools. USDA commodities reached 53,433 students (22,300 girls and 31,133 boys) in 174 schools.

Midterm: WFP has been providing hot lunches to 256,000 children in over 1,900 schools. The Côte d’Ivoire program now focuses on over 700 schools in the southern area through partnerships with parent associations. WFP provides 60% of the food needs and requires parents to build canteens and supply additional food. Through WFP’s empowerment strategy for parents, student enrollment levels have progressively increased by more than 23%.

Final: The country is currently divided and highly insecure as a result of a failed coup in September of 2002, and the rebellion that followed. More than one million people have been displaced or have sought refuge in neighboring countries; and the country’s economy – on the decline since the mid-1980s – has been partially paralyzed. The present political stalemate is characterized by continued armed conflict, human rights abuses, and the steady depletion of national and household resources – all paving the way toward a further precipitous deterioration in the humanitarian situation. Combined with the situation in Liberia, the implications could pose a significant risk for the region.

The rebellion caused the closing of 661 schools in the North, and some areas of the West were closed during the 2002-2003 school year. Almost 75,000 students were affected. Some schools reopened in January 2003 and WFP was able to reach 53,000 students under emergency operations in the North, Central, East and West. At this point, the emergency effort is expected to continue through 2004.

Midterm: Côte d’Ivoire is classified as a low-income, food-deficit country. Despite reforms resulting in some progress by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, the country’s educational system is tilted in favor of towns in the south, and in favor of boys. The project’s objective is to provide support to government efforts aimed at increasing school attendance, reducing regional disparities, and narrowing the gap between the numbers of boys and girls attending school.

Final: Total USDA contribution in 2002 amounted to 640 MT of Rice and 50 MT of vegetable oil, received in February 2003.

The rice contribution was complemented by canned fish and iodized salt provided under a separate initiative. Some 534 MT of rice was delivered to schools in December of 2001. The delivery of an additional 144 MT of rice brought the total to 678 MT, yielding a total of 4,523,100 rations for the school feeding program (22 MT were carried over from 2001).

Contributions from the European Union, Australia and USDA comprised the 1,886 MT of food that was distributed. Out of that total, 102 MT of food was locally purchased.

Final: The current project targets schools in the North and the Southwest. An appraisal mission is reviewing original phase out plans under the current situation and a final report with recommendations is pending. Although an eventual phase out is still planned, the continuing civil strife may make it impossible to meet originally scheduled dates.

Under the WFP school feeding program in Côte d’Ivoire, students enjoy a hot lunch prepared by community members that includes rice, oil, canned fish or meat, salt and local contributions of fresh vegetables such as tomatoes or eggplants. Sweet potatoes, cassava leaves or peanuts are used to make the sauce. In schools that are participating in the emergency operation, parents prepare a corn-soya blend porridge that is served mid-morning. Where it is possible, parents add local spices and vegetables.

Midterm: The project serves 256,000 pupils in 1,900 schools. The project focuses on schools in the north and on the progressive phase down of WFP assistance to turn full responsibility over to community-based organizations.

Final: Two additional changes have been made to the program since the midterm:

Given the uncertain political situation, Côte d’Ivoire has asked WFP to re-evaluate its exit plans. The request includes the elimination of a firm phase out date in favor of a more flexible approach that would ensure a smooth transition to a community operated school feeding program when the political situation allows.

Midterm: In order to make it easier for parents and village communities to manage school feeding operations, the project includes the following components:

Final: Pleased by the program’s benefits, smooth operations and community support, the Government introduced the "Integrated Program for Sustainable School Feeding" strategy. This step signaled the beginning of phase-out operations for the WFP-assisted school feeding program and the Government absorbed 40% of the program’s costs and assumed 1,260 schools and 164,000 students.

Unfortunately, the failed coup and subsequent rebellion that seized the northern half of the country in September 2002 interrupted all phase out plans and plunged Côte d’Ivoire into political and economic turmoil. Instability and security issues have postponed the Government’s absorption of school feeding operations in the short term. Direct damage to the education sector, however, will take longer to repair. After the rebellion, only 43% of the teachers remained in their posts in the areas of the north and west where there was a prevalence of fighting. Some 400,000 school children, or 23% of the primary school population in the North alone, lost access to schools. Rebuilding efforts, repeated academic years and teacher certification and recruitment drives will be required to restore the country’s education system.

Consequently, after phasing out WFP assistance to more than 164,000 students during 2001, WFP increased assistance to primary schools as part of an emergency operation that was designed to serve areas under government and opposition control.

Midterm: In Côte d’Ivoire, school canteens receiving WFP food aid operate largely from the support of parent-teacher associations (PTA’s). For a school to qualify for WFP support, parents must organize an association and then build a kitchen and storeroom. The PTA is responsible for hiring cooks and managing the canteen’s food stocks. Moreover, all but the poorest families pay a daily contribution that covers part of the cost of the canteen’s operation.

Final: School feeding was recognized in Côte d’Ivoire as an effective tool in achieving the government’s ‘Education for All’ objective. The program’s success led to the Government’s "one school, one canteen" policy that made school canteens and school feeding programs a priority throughout the country.

A study of the effects of school feeding on education in 2002 in the Bondoukou, Odienne, San Pedro, Bouake and Man regions show impressive gains. According to the findings, the enrollment rate for schools with feeding programs increased by 12.5% as compared with a decline of 1.37% in those schools without programs. The average retention rate for schools with feeding programs was 97% during the study. The "pass rate" was 67% and the dropout rate was 3% during the same period.

A WFP/UNESCO review, released in October of 2001, concluded that the WFP-funded school feeding effort had a remarkable impact on enrollment rates, including girls’ enrollment. In addition, the study found that communities had undertaken impressive renovation and improvement projects at schools around the country, including the building of latrines, kitchens and canteens or cafeterias.

Midterm: Enrollment has increased by 23% on average over the last three years. High levels of community involvement and strong emphasis by the government have contributed significantly to the positive impact of the WFP Côte d’Ivoire school feeding program. Although more teachers are needed to keep up with the pace of higher student enrollment rates, the number of certified teachers has risen in the last two years. WFP is now working to enable community associations to take full implementation responsibility for school feeding programs. WFP’s creative methods of program implementation have led to strong parental involvement and greater buy-in to the importance of education for their children.

Odette Loan, National Director of School Canteens in Côte d’Ivoire, is a true believer. "This is not just a job," she explains in proper, slightly Africanised French. "School feeding is a real solution."

Seated in a modest office behind a desk crowded with files, Mme Loan speaks with quiet determination about her duties to the Government and her responsibility to the children of Côte d’Ivoíre. For the past 11 years, she has distinguished herself in her work with the World Food Program to establish school feeding in her country. Now she wants to take the next step. "This is what keeps me up at night," she smiles, glancing out her five-story window at the bustle of downtown Abidjan. Our school kitchens must become self-sustaining."

Mme. Loan has been involved with school feeding since its inception in Côte d"Ivoire. After receiving her degree from the University of Abidjan, she was recruited by WFP to assist in a feasibility study for a school feeding project in 1989. She then became instrumental in turning theory into practice. Among her successes, she organized a meeting in the northeastern city of Bouake, bringing together 277 village chiefs from all over the country to initiate the program in their villages. It was her personal touch that facilitated such unanimity among the congregation. "On the evening they arrived," she remembers, "I visited each and every one of the chiefs. I came to them and told them that I was their daughter and what I was trying to do was for the children. They really appreciated that."

In 1999, she was appointed National Director, charged with shaping canteen policy, administering the distribution of hundreds of tons of commodities and ensuring their delivery to the more that three thousand school canteens scattered across the breadth of the country. "It is true that in the past there was some corruption," she acknowledges. "But it is important to note that this corruption was not at the base, grassroots level. There is real mobilization amongst the parents, the educators and the children themselves. The corruption was at the central level."

The problem, according to Loan, was the lack of transparency. For example, WFP did not have access to the Government files of what was going where and to whom. "As soon as I took this position that was the first thing I addressed. We started this process of documenting the distribution of commodities. Now nothing happens unless WFP and I have okayed it," she explains. "I try to make sure the delivery (from dock to school canteen) takes no more than 20 days."

She credits memories of her own struggle with school and hunger for giving her a special understanding of her work. "It is not when you suffer that you feel it. It’s when you look back on your suffering it hurts the most." Originally from Floleu, a small village in the west of Côte d’Ivoire, Ms. Loan was the youngest of three. Her father insisted that all children attend school, boy or girl. In fact, Ms. Loan and her sister were the only girls from her village who attended classes at that time.

Schooling was difficult. Her mother would rise at 5 a.m., prepare the three children for class, and walk them six kilometers to the school in the next village, then return to work in the fields. She would give them each a ball of rice for lunch. Later, when they attended a Catholic boarding school, the riceballs were no longer available.

Hunger drove both her siblings away from school. "My sister dropped out of school because she didn’t have food. I managed to get by because I made friends who helped me along the way. If it wasn’t for that," she says with a chuckle, "I think I would have quit too! But I just decided that I would go all the way. And so that is the relationship I have with this work. Beaucoup de sentiment. Because I know what it means not to have anything to eat."

Mme. Loan fervently believes, however, that school feeding should never be just a handout. "When you give something to someone and they do not do anything for it, it’s a gift. C’est un cadeaux. But there has to be follow up. When you involve people in a project, you know they will follow up. If a parent pays money for the services, the parent will ensure that the program is running as it should. They themselves will go to the school to make sure their child is fed well."

Her focus now is transforming school canteens into the catalysing force for empowerment that she believes them to be. She sees school feeding as a vector for development, not just a top-down effort by the Government and international organizations to assist the needy. It should also mobilize communities at the grassroots level. This is an opinion she shares with Côte d’Ivoire’s President Laurent Gbagbo, who took special notice of her work in a speech last July. "I thank Mme Loan," he said after announcing the progress of Côte d’Ivoire’s school feeding programs, "in the name of all the children in Côte d’Ivoire and the Government which I represent."

But her job is far from done. WFP, United Nations Development Program and others are working with Ms. Loan to fine tune a plan for the takeover of all the canteens by the Government. As WFP looks at phasing out of operations in Côte d’Ivoire, Mme. Loan is preparing the way for canteens that are organised, paid for and run by villagers themselves. Canteens stocked, not with commodities from abroad, but with locally produced goods. Step one of this movement to self-management has been the formation of village committees who are elected and given charge for the upkeep and management of the canteens. The national Government, while not involved in the day-to-day decisions of the canteens, will provide basic necessities such as pots and pans.

There is concern, of course, as WFP progressively pulls back its presence in Côte d’Ivoire – a positive step, according to Loan – that if it is done too quickly the program might be jeopardized. "That is why we are saying to WFP to stay with us through this transition. We will eventually be able to move to total self-sustainability but we are not there yet." Still, she is determined to see the total self-reliance through. "We must become self-sufficient. C’est un risque, yes, but it is a risk we must assume."