Final: By May 2003, Save the Children’s (STC) Global Food for Education program had reached 45 schools benefiting 14,693 children. STC expanded its program and extended its duration due to an additional 1,410 metric tons of commodities provided by USDA in August 2002.

Through training programs, STC builds community and local government support, strengthens Parent Teacher Associations, and mobilizes members to participate in school activities such as planting school gardens. Some school income-generating activities include: selling extra produce to pay for teacher’s salary; making and selling bricks; raising poultry and pigs; and weaving baskets and mats. By December 2003, all 164 formal and non-formal primary schools in Nakasongola will participate in the Global Food for Education program, which will benefit an estimated 43,000 children

Midterm: School feeding for about 5,000 students was scheduled to begin in July 2002. Beneficiaries represent the entire school population of the two poorest sub-counties in the Nakasongola district. A total of 640 metric tons of commodities arrived in April 2002. Twenty school management committees have been established out of 25 schools. The committees will assume an active role in preparing the meals at the school sites and monitoring the effectiveness of the program. The Ugandan Ministry of Education has increased its awareness and commitment to the school feeding program by attending a series of training courses conducted by Save the Children on effective monitoring and evaluation. This Global Food for Education (GFE) program is scheduled to continue through March 2003.

Final: Save the Children experienced some problems with the shipping company that transported the 1,410 metric tons of commodities in August 2002. Additional difficulties developed with the managers of the warehouse in Uganda (Maersk). The management of the warehouse was not up to basic standards, and the situation between STC and the warehouse managers went unresolved over a period of months. STC settled these warehousing deficiencies by fumigating and remilling the commodities in June 2003. STC then identified another warehouse in Kampala; a new facility with a proven record of appropriate management, and moved the remilled commodities into the newer facility.

The commodities that were sent from Kampala to Nakasongola district before August 2002 were stored properly and accounted for on a regular basis by the local STC monitor for the district. Additionally, STC devised a plan to increase the pace of commodity distribution through a large-scale expansion of the project beneficiaries.

Midterm: All commodities will be directly distributed to schools to provide a lunch for children. Monetization is not a component of this project. The types and quantities of commodities are shown in the following table.

Although duty-free clearance had been arranged prior to shipment, there was a miscommunication between the Government of Uganda and Save the Children, and the commodities were delayed when they arrived. After discussions with the government to confirm the duty-free status of the donated commodities targeted for direct distribution, the government released the commodities on May 31, 2002, with the exception of the vegetable oil, which was released on June 27, 2002. Demurrage charges were waived through negotiation with the government.

Save the Children will distribute the commodities from the main Kampala warehouse to the warehouse in Nakasongola on an as-needed monthly basis. From there, the dry foods will be distributed to each school. Stock control systems are in place. and the schools are completing the upgrade or construction of food storage areas. A school storekeeper selected by the school management committee will receive the commodities. Upon receipt, the storekeeper will enter the number of items in the ledger books and complete the forms provided by Save the Children, USA. The storekeeper will issue daily rations to the cooks, who will then prepare the food and distribute it to the children. The number of meals provided each day would be checked against the daily school attendance register.

Final: An additional consignment of 1,410 metric tons of USDA commodities was received in August 2002 with the plan to deliver these commodities during the February 2003 to December 2003 period. Due to the problems of storage in the warehouse in Kampala, the commodities had to be fumigated and remilled in June 2003.

STC, under GFE, targeted the Nakasongola District and sought to provide direct feeding to the most vulnerable children, particularly girls, orphans, and child-head households, to increase their participation and performance in primary school.

The goals of Save the Children’s GFE program are to provide one meal a day to primary school children in the impoverished Nakasongola District for one full academic year, to maintain attendance at schools, and to enhance educational opportunities, especially for girls. The feeding pilot project is designed to increase enrollment, retention, and academic achievement, as well as to reinvigorate community involvement in primary schools. Save the Children has identified three specific objectives:

Final: In the Nakasongola District, STC distributed the food in a phased schedule as follows:

The daily food ration consists of: 35 grams of Corn-Soy Blend, 65 grams of Rice, 32.5 grams of Cornmeal, 15 grams of Soybean Oil, and 50 grams of Non-fat dry milk per person. The Corn-Soy Blend, Cornmeal, Soybean Oil and Non-fat dry milk are combined to make a drinkable porridge and the rice is served in a form that is chosen by the school. Meals are provided 20-22 days per month during the months when schools are in session.

Midterm: Commodity distribution was scheduled to begin in July 2002 to 25 schools. Beneficiaries represent the entire school-going population of the two poorest sub-counties in the Nakasongola District. The Nakasongola District is approximately 150 miles outside of Kampala, the capital city. The area is rural, with families involved mainly in fishing and farming. There are 8,959 children enrolled—4,571 girls and 4,388 boys, many of whom suffer from malnutrition. However, since enrollment levels determine government funding, the figures are often inflated.

Save the Children encourages strong community involvement, support, and contribution to schools. Community involvement includes the establishment of school management committees in each school. Save the Children has worked with these committees in both its community-based schools and the formal primary schools in these two sub-counties. In the GFE project, the school management committee is responsible for menu development and time allocation to prepare and serve food at the school site. Save the Children project staff have trained the committees in food storage, preparation, and nutrition, and will deliver the dry foods and monitor the program on a weekly basis.

Meetings have been held in each school with the head teachers and committees, as well as with parents, who are very excited about the project. The schools have established food committees and have identified a cook, storekeeper, and a guard. The schools submitted to Save the Children a list of materials they would need to ensure that the food could be properly stored. For the formal schools, this primarily meant renovation of existing stores, which they were able to do themselves. For the community-based schools, many requested iron sheets and doors to attach to the huts they built. Save the Children has also provided water storage containers to each school.

Meetings have been held at various levels within the district to explain the project and ensure support. The district education officer, the community development officer, chief administrative officer, and other members of the district council have been active partners in implementing the school-feeding program.

Final: In June 2003, the Nakasongola District Department of Works provided two trucks with drivers to facilitate distribution of food to the schools. A Roman Catholic Priest has also pledged a truck and fuel to deliver food to schools in Wabinyonyi Sub-county. Schools also use parental contributions to cover some of the costs of fuel.

Midterm: Save the Children will work with community-based organizations, district education offices, the national Ministry of Education and Sports, and education-focused international non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) operating in the program area. Given similar strategies for educational support and the collaborative agreements in other sectors, Save the Children will consult closely with the World Food Program to identify common goals, implementation methods, and impacts. Collaboration between all sectors will ensure that the school feeding program activities and training curriculum correspond to national goals and standards, meet the needs of communities and households, and support other intervention in the education sector.

Final: The Nakasongola District Officials and school-communities have been involved closely with GFE and their education and training in school feeding programs are instrumental to longer-term sustainability.

STC ensures that district staff participate in every workshop. Officials from the District Inspector of Schools, District Education Officer, District Works Department, as well as others, participate in and even facilitate sessions on orientation and training for storekeepers, cooks, record keepers, and program managers and monitors. District staff also assist in monitoring the implementation of the program through frequent school visits and regular contact with STC staff.

Midterm: Sustainability is a key component of Save the Children’s GFE program. The project supplies commodities, training, and basic equipment. Manual labor, materials, and volunteers work to implement the feeding program. This involvement promotes a sense of ownership and long-term sustainability.

Save the Children has started working with local communities to develop small gardens that will serve as sources of food for the schools. Additionally, community leaders have been encouraged to ask families to allow students to bring a vegetable or fruit item to school as often as possible to enhance the diet and strengthen community involvement in the education of their children.

Save the Children identified and trained field workers who monitor on a daily basis the implementation and impact of the program. They rely heavily on Class Registers, Daily Attendance Records, and other school data to track improvements in performance and increases in enrollment and attendance. However, data collection has been problematic since school registers for past years often cannot be located. They are often lost, destroyed by weather, and even eaten by rodents or insects. When the records are found, they are often incomplete or incorrectly filled out. Because STC recognized the importance of training school staff and monitors in accurate data collection, they focused their initial school staff orientation on building skills in accurate record keeping and documentation.

Midterm: Monitoring and evaluation is the responsibility of both the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Save the Children. USDA’s local monitor and Save the Children staff developed a matrix consisting of all the schools participating in the program. They divided the 27 schools according to two criteria: type of school, either formal or non-formal; and type of community, fishing, farming, or both. A random sample of 20 schools was selected.

Save the Children is conducting a baseline survey and intends to collect data throughout the pilot year. Training is underway for field monitors and food committees on data collection and report completion. Five female community field monitors have been identified and trained to work with the food committees, the children, parents, and teachers on a regular basis. These volunteers will report to the Save the Children monitor and will receive occasional incentives, such as a bicycle and/or tee shirts.

Final: Feeding began in July 2002. Because of the problems with collecting accurate school data, the results are still pending for the first year. The USDA monitor reported a decline of 4% in enrollment in the small sample of 17 schools. The program has since doubled, and STC is continuing to monitor and collect data. The security situation in Northern Uganda has become more difficult since mid 2002. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have targeted children between the ages of eight to fourteen years. STC, however, does report anecdotal evidence of increases in enrollment and attendance. They also report that children who do come to school stay all day, are less sick and are more punctual.

STC has tracked "the number of children attending less than ten days per month." Focus group discussions with head teachers, teachers, and pupils indicate that both children and teachers are showing up to school more regularly and are more likely to stay for the whole day. In the past, pupils and teachers alike would often leave the school at lunchtime in search of food, with the likelihood that they would not return for afternoon sessions. In some schools this trend is being reversed, as was noted in Namiika, Nakasongola Army Barracks School, and Zengebe. A P3 teacher noted, "Teachers are also lively in attending class daily. There is better keeping of time since feeding started." Part of this may be a result of the fact that teachers often had to travel long distances to get or prepare lunch. Having food readily available at the school means the teachers do not have to leave the school compound.

Teachers have also reported that children are healthier since the introduction of the feeding program, and they cite fewer visits to local health centers as evidence. Teachers at the Nakasongola Army Barracks Primary School noted that the incidence of illness amongst pupils has dropped. In the past, pupils sometimes fainted as a result of hunger, but these days this is not so common. They also noted that fewer children sign out because of illness. "Children no longer pretend to be sick in order to receive oral rehydration salt (ORS) like before," confirms the Head Teacher of Nakasongola Army Barrack Primary School. When the children were asked, they confirmed this by saying, "We used to go to the health center because of hunger, but now that we have rice and porridge, we no longer need the ORS."

Teachers at several schools have noted that pupils are more punctual since the introduction of the feeding program. Teachers at Zengebe have noticed that the number of children arriving late has been greatly reduced. Pupils are more punctual, especially in the afternoon, because prior to this program they would have to go home for lunch. Because of the long distances, some would arrive very late or not at all. Nakasongola Army Barracks School indicated that previously, pupils used to leave and dodge classes and there was a high incidence of irregular attendance. This is not the case now, since they remain in school for lunch.

Enrollment; Focus group discussions with two of the six schools where STC data collection was undertaken indicated that class sizes have swelled. These included Nakasongola Army Barracks Primary School and Zengebe Primary School. Nakasongola Army Barracks Primary School indicated they added another stream of P1 pupils in 2003. Anecdotal evidence from other schools suggests similar phenomena. "I cannot believe the rate at which the children want to join my school since they heard about the feeding program," confessed the Head Teacher of Iriimba Primary School.

Performance: Those interviewed consistently pointed to two positive impacts: First, attendance is more regular. Children and teachers are showing up on a more regular basis and staying for the full day. More time in class means more time for learning. Second, some teachers said that the food helps to maintain alertness and concentration, and both teachers and children reported that students are more energetic and enthusiastic.

Several schools have noticed an improvement in performance. In Kisaalizi Primary School, the Head Teacher indicated that as a result of the food program, performance has improved. In 2001, the pass mark was 50%, but in 2002 it was 80%. Nakasongola Army Barracks Primary School noted an improvement in performance compared to last year. They indicated that 50% would now be considered the pass mark (in most schools the pass mark is usually 40%).

Nearly all schools visited by STC local monitors indicated that with GFE, children are now more alert, attentive and lively in class, and show higher levels of concentration, especially late in the day. In two schools (Zengebe and Nakasongola Army Barracks School) teachers noted that in the past, as a result of hunger in class, children sometimes slept, but since the introduction of the feeding program, the teachers stated that the number of children dozing off has reduced.

Some schools note that classroom control is easier since food is being provided and children are more cooperative. Zengebe Primary School teachers indicated that there is better discipline in the classes, and since pupils are more content they are easier to control. Contrary to this opinion, some schools suggested that classroom control has become more problematic, because class size has risen (Nakasongola Army Barracks Primary School).

Special Emphasis on Girls: In all of its programs, STC works to ensure both girls and boys are benefiting equally. As of the end of March 2003, of the total number of children benefiting in the 31 schools receiving food (10,477), 48.6% were girls and 51.4% were boys. STC will disaggregate all performance, enrollment, and attendance data by gender to ensure impact on both girls and boys is maximized.

Other Project Achievements: Save the Children’s efforts have received support and appreciation from all levels of government, in particular at the district level, as well as widespread popular support of pupils, parents, teachers, and Head Teachers. District support has been particularly noteworthy and has come in the form of the district’s active participation in orientation and training workshops for project schools, their on-the-ground mobilization of communities, their support in monitoring and evaluation, and provision of trucks and drivers to aid the distribution of food to schools.

As a result of training provided, the School Management Committees and Parent Teacher Associations have been strengthened and members mobilized after recognizing and acknowledging their responsibilities for their children’s education

In some schools, gardens were established as part of the school feeding program. As a result, vegetables that are harvested are automatically included to augment the feeding program.

Several schools have established income-generating activities. In Kiranga school the parents have planted a plot of maize, potatoes, and beans, which they sold to pay for a teacher for new P1 and P2 classes and to improve school infrastructure. In Kyabutaika school the parents made bricks for the school, and are now making and selling bricks locally. This is particularly interesting in that brick making is traditionally a male occupation, but in this project women are taking the lead. In Kibalizi School parents have started a piggery and have planted potatoes and maize, which they plan to sell to support the school. In Namayonjo the women are weaving baskets and mats, and the men are burning charcoal. In Kanaka the parents have formed the Kanaka Parents Group. They are undertaking brick making and poultry raising and intend to use the money raised partly to support the school, and partly to form their own association.

The relationship between the parents and the school officials is strengthened because of the regular contacts between them, which now take place because of the feeding program.

Midterm: Food distribution was scheduled to begin in July 2002, and baseline data is being collected. Reports indicate that parents are re-enrolling their children in schools where they believe food distribution will take place. Twenty school management committees have been established out of the 25 schools. The committees will take an active role in preparing the meals at the school sites and monitoring the effectiveness of the program. The Ministry of Education has attended a series of training courses conducted by Save the Children on effective monitoring and evaluation.

Final: A key objective of the Nakasongola School Feeding Program was to mobilize parents around quality education and healthy diets. An unanticipated outcome is the generosity being demonstrated by individuals from within the community, in some cases even by those who do not have children in the schools. One parent at the Kigingo School is watering the school garden even when the school is not in session. Another community member provides regular food supplements to Mpumwire School in the form of beans and sometimes fish, free of charge. At that same school, a community member who does not have a child attending any of the schools is the school’s storekeeper. Another man supplies Kyawaikata with matches.

While STC has actively supported the digging of school gardens, it came as a welcomed surprise when four schools took the initiative to establish tree-planting projects.

Final: Storage issues need to be resolved early in order to protect the commodities from deteriorating.

Midterm: Clearing commodities is not easy in Uganda, presenting a widespread problem impacting all NGO’s that import commodities. The government frequently changes requirements without informing the NGO’s.

NGOs should ensure that all commodities are shipped in 20-foot containers. Forty-foot containers (used for the vegetable oil) at the port in Nakawa must be transported overland to Kampala. The international freight forwarding company responsible for shipping and clearing the commodity does not bond the Nakawa port area.

Final: Parents from many schools have expressed their gratitude for the program. Parents of the Kibuye CHANCE school said their children are now more interested in going to school and their performance in class is improving noticeably. One child stated, "After eating, we get satisfied and are more active in class."

At Nakasongola Barracks Primary School a teacher remarked, "We all look better now. We are ‘glittering.’" An 11-year old pupil at Namiika Primary School laughingly noted as he pointed to a friend, "We’re looking good, look how fat my ‘son’ (referring to a fellow pupil) has become."

A Field Monitor, noted "In the past, many children got injured climbing mango trees to get the fruit. Children often dodged afternoon classes looking for food. Absenteeism was common. Since the feeding program began children want to go to school. I have seen this even in my own family."

Midterm: In Nakasongola, the children were all very excited about the program and expressed a great deal of appreciation. When asked if they would like a meal at school, all of the children said yes. Many children in the government schools go without a meal or water all day long. During soccer games, which take place in the hot sun, the children do not have water. One little girl said, "I’m dizzy and I do not want to play with the other children because I’m hungry." A number of the children were eating plants that grew near their school because there was no other source of food.

The chief administrative officer of Nakasongola District pledged his full support to the school feeding project. "Combining school work with the distance children have to walk on a hungry stomach will greatly affect the learning process, performance, and attendance. This project is long overdue," he said.

A community leader said, "Girls who normally stay at home to cook meals for other siblings who are in school will now be able to get an education, too."

A mother offered this comment on the program: "Because of poor nutrition, our children are sick frequently. We hope that this program will help keep the children healthy and lead to better performance in school."