Final: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) - Guatemala has exceeded the proposed goals, feeding 27,026 children and teachers. According to the enrollment records in beneficiary schools, CRS has documented an 8.25% increase in 2003 and reports near-perfect attendance. CRS has completed 256 infrastructure improvement projects in the 215 schools where the program operates. Over 800 volunteers contributed about 26,000 volunteer labor hours to complete the projects. A total of 731 teachers participated in health training representing 90% of the total 809 teachers.

Midterm: School feeding and other project activities began in more than 250 schools in June 2002. CRS has hired local staff, entered into agreements with local non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), and has begun its implementation planning and community organization activities. CRS personnel worked with WorldShare, SHARE, other private voluntary organizations (PVO’s) in the area, and the Ministry of Education to identify schools to be served and avoid overlap of programs. The CRS project is scheduled to continue through November 2002, with an extension through November 2003 pending approval.

More than 35 years of civil strife and violence left Guatemala one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Peace accords were signed in 1996, ending a conflict that reportedly left 140,000-200,000 people dead or missing and more than 65,000 internally displaced or refugees. Repatriation and return have begun, but the process is often complicated by land disputes, fear, and mistrust. In the areas most affected by the violence, there is often a generalized mistrust of the government, the armed forces in particular, and any outsiders. These factors have exacerbated Guatemala's challenge in dealing with chronic poverty and its causes and consequences.

In its "Poverty Reduction Strategy: The Road to Peace," the Government of Guatemala classifies as extremely poor "a person whose consumption is so low that it is not sufficient to cover his daily protein and caloric needs." In the three departments (states) in the CRS Global Food for Education (GFE) project, the vast majority of rural people live in poverty, with 36-56 % living in extreme poverty. Among the people in those areas, the differences between the indigenous and non-indigenous people are significant. An estimated 88 % of the indigenous of Baja Verapaz live in poverty, while only 30% of the non-indigenous live in those conditions. Among the indigenous people in that department, 56% live in extreme poverty, compared with 16% of the non-indigenous people.

Guatemala has the highest maternal mortality rate in Central America, the shortest life span, and the highest death rate for children less than five years of age. According to the United Nations Development Project's 2000 Human Development Index, Guatemala is in last place in Central America for human development and ranks 120 out of 174 countries in the world. The Institute for Nutrition in Central America and Panama (INCAP) estimates that 240 of 330 Guatemalan municipalities face food security emergencies. More than 46 % of the population is chronically malnourished, and this figure reaches 69% in two departments. Destruction from Hurricane Mitch, several years of drought, and a world coffee crisis have only exacerbated the seriousness of the situation for vulnerable groups.

CRS has targeted Baja Verapaz, San Marcos, and Santa Rosa, three departments that have a poverty rate ranging from 65-75% of the general population and a chronic malnutrition rate of 56-69% for children under age five. Three of the four departments that WorldShare has targeted (Huehuetenango, Alta, and Baja Verapaz) have a poverty rate exceeding 75% of the general population, and chronic malnutrition affects 56-69 % of children under 5. In March 2002, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) declared food emergencies in numerous municipalities in Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Alta, and Baja Verapaz.

"Education for all" is a goal still to be achieved. According to the Government of Guatemala, the poor have only 1.9 years of schooling on average, far below the four years needed to acquire functional literacy and basic mathematical skills. In rural areas only two of every 10 children attend school; of these, only about 20% graduate from sixth grade. In one municipality in Huehuetenango, for example, of approximately 2,800 students who began first grade, only 11 reached the sixth grade. In indigenous communities, it is not uncommon for parents to send their children to school for the first three years only, primarily to learn Spanish. There is a steep dropout rate between third and fourth grades. Indeed, many schools in remote areas only offer the first three grades.

Centuries of virtual isolation and lack of educational opportunity have left 31.7% of the population unable to speak Spanish. Most people participate only marginally in the national cash economy. Adult literacy is 63.6 % on average and only 41.5 % for women.

Within this social and economic context, CRS and WorldShare proposed to target municipalities in nine departments (later reduced to seven to sharpen project focus) in which the problems of malnutrition, illiteracy, and primary school enrollment and attendance were among the most severe in the country. These departments have primarily indigenous populations and "experience the highest levels of social exclusion, the worst social conditions, and the greatest prevalence of poverty and food insecurity." The school attendance of indigenous children is between ten and 15 percentage points less than the attendance on non-indigenous children.

CRS, WorldShare, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shared the expectation that the GFE projects would be able to make a significant contribution in these impoverished areas of Guatemala. The agreement between CRS and USDA was signed Nov. 15, 2001, with an estimated commodity value of $3,483,160. The agreement between WorldShare and USDA was signed Aug. 6, 2001 with an estimated commodity value of $2,256,400.

CRS requested 27,630 metric tons of commodities in the following amounts: corn-soy blend, 390 tons; corn, 390 tons; rice, 390 tons; soybean oil, 160 tons; and bulk yellow corn, 26,300 tons. The corn-soy blend, rice, soybean oil, and non-bulk corn are to be used in direct distribution through feeding and take-home rations. The bulk yellow corn was monetized and the proceeds used to implement the project's multiple components to increase enrollment, attendance, and performance, as well as enhance the learning environment. Three shipments of bulk corn for monetization arrived in December 2001 and February and April 2002. The commodities for direct distribution arrived in December 2001-January 2002. Shipments went relatively well, except 68 bags of corn in the first monetization commodity shipment were damaged.

There was also a delay in starting the project. First, the agreement with USDA had to be completed and signed. Later, monetization shipments were held up by CRS in Baltimore to review contract language. Because of this latter delay, the implementation of school feeding was postponed, and the feeding began in early June 2002 rather than in late January-early February when school started.

Goals and objectives: CRS and its implementing partners established multiple goals and objectives for their GFE project. They proposed to carry out the following objectives in order to meet the overall goals of increasing enrollment, attendance, and performance, especially for girls.

Final: CRS Guatemala has exceeded the proposed goals. Food was distributed and school meals served to 27,076 children and teachers.

Midterm: Start up of the project was delayed, as described above, so that CRS was unable to initiate the feeding when classes began in 2002. However, within a short period of time, CRS identified its schools, hired local staff, entered into agreements with local NGO cooperating institutions, and began its implementation planning and community organization activities. CRS personnel worked with WorldShare, SHARE, and the Guatemala Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) to identify schools to be served and to avoid overlap of programs. There was also coordination at the local level to minimize overlap with other PVO’s working in the area, and to maximize coverage.

The formal agreement between CRS and MINEDUC was signed in early June 2002. School feeding and other project activities will begin in 251-255 schools in June 2002.

Final: There has been considerable logistical support at the local level by the Ministry of Education and other local governments. In Baja Verapaz, the Governor is loaning a local warehouse free of charge making a donation of about $500 per month, to the Caritas NGO.

Over 800 parents and community members contributed about 26,000 hours of volunteer labor to complete 256 school infrastructure improvement projects.

Partner organizations are providing schools with seeds and training in gardening. In San Marcos, Caritas staff has linked with volunteers studying agriculture at a local university.

Midterm: MINEDUC is implementing a snack/breakfast program in some of the schools, but CRS has been able to avoid overlap to date. From its own organizational funds, CRS has developed a small grants program. Parent associations can apply for these grants to fund projects to improve their schools and the educational environment.

Sustainability: This is a serious issue to be analyzed once the project is fully implemented. Aspects of this program that are sustainable beyond GFE include teacher training, community empowerment, school gardens, infrastructure development, community support for education, and better-educated children. MINEDUC’s effort to provide school snacks is also a very important step in a sustainable program. However, past efforts by the government to support a school feeding program have not been sustained because of other budgetary priorities. The cost of the food and its distribution are issues that must be addressed in any school-feeding program.

Final: See evaluation methodology section in Appendix 1.

Midterm: Both USDA and CRS will carry out monitoring and evaluation activities. The DataPro organization in Guatemala provides the local monitoring for USDA. The principal monitor is an anthropologist skilled in community-based evaluations. She has begun the process of qualitative data collection and will be leading focus groups of parents, teachers, and students in the next few months. Indigenous groups speak more than 20 languages, and the majority of indigenous women do not speak Spanish well. Native speakers who can interpret into Spanish for the data collection assist the monitor in conducting the focus groups.

CRS, SHARE, and DataPro have coordinated their monitoring and evaluation efforts to avoid redundancies while ensuring independence of action. As a group, the personnel reached a consensus on the factors that could impact a GFE project's success. They agreed that most important factors are the regions of the country for various political, economic, and social reasons; and school population. It was agreed that school size was a proxy indicator for many other important factors. Schools with fewer than 100 students are likely to:

All these factors contribute to success or failure of any educational effort. They would also impact the administration and supervision of the project by CRS and its cooperating institutions.

A matrix was developed, and all CRS schools will be distributed on the matrix once CRS finalizes its list of schools. Schools will then be chosen from each cell on a random basis to arrive at the 20 sample schools. During the work session with CRS, WorldShare, SHARE, and DataPro, there was subsequent discussion with DataPro to be sure that the schools would be representative of their GFE projects. Alternate schools will be chosen in case a school should drop out of the project, or some other unforeseen circumstance should occur (such as impassable roads). Preliminary baseline surveys have not yet been carried out because the list of schools is not yet finalized.

Enrollment: Normally, enrollment takes place from January through March only and then it is determined for the year. This year, a teachers’ strike began in January and ended in March, resulting in a delay in the closure of enrollment figures. In May total enrollment in beneficiary schools had risen by 8.25% over last year’s figures. This can be compared with an average yearly increase of 4% that the Ministry of Education routinely expects to occur without any program in place. The conclusion is that this GFEI project has resulted in an enrollment increase that is approximately twice as high as it would have been without the project in implementation. Given the fact that this project is covering all of the schools in designated geographical areas, very little of this increased enrollment can be attributed to students migrating from a non-beneficiary school to enroll in a beneficiary school. Also, CRS and partner organization staff believe that the teachers’ strike from January to March had a negative impact on enrollment and that some children, who might have enrolled in school this year, migrated to work on plantations.

Attendance: The second indicator is for an increase in attendance, with a goal of 10%. Schools report an average 95.54% of attendance. The USDA monitoring agency, DATAPRO is seeking historical baseline data for attendance levels. Teachers report verbally that attendance is substantially higher than it was before the program began and reached only 80% previously.

Performance: In the School of Monteverde Village, the teacher Irma Pichilla was very thankful for the program. She is convinced that the students’ perfect attendance in this school was due to the food aid. She reports that the children no longer complain of headache and stomachache.

Special emphasis on girls: Girls in San Marcos received school bags and support for the purchase of school materials and uniforms. In the school committees the participation of women is strong with women representing over 50% of the participants and learning about the importance of gender equity and educating their daughters.

Other program achievements: Include the income generation projects listed below.

Final: Income generation cooperatives were available to motivate participation in the program. Anybody who participates regularly in cooking school meals is eligible to participate in an income generation cooperative. It should be noted that these are very small projects. For example, a group of 25 women may have about $10 to consider for investment during a given quarter. Participation is intended to be a social learning activity where a group contemplates a small amount of money and what "micro-business" to invest in, then they try a project. For some women this is the first time that they have made a financial decision that involves an investment. Partner organization staffs have provided guidance in the development of feasible plans, organization of groups and have provided some training on how to do certain activities. Some of these income generation activities listed above will be self-sustaining after this 18-month project and a few of them already are. The idea itself has provided a successful motivational stimulation for high levels of participation among school cooks.

Final: The importance of school feeding and its impact needs to be communicated to the Ministry of Education to establish a firm national commitment to the program.

The work of the Catholic Church in Guatemala is valued in the community and that has contributed to project credibility and help the program become established locally with municipal and regional support.

Midterm: Because CRS had a longer startup period, it was able to negotiate over the targeted schools and municipalities and thereby avoid the overlap with MINEDUC feeding programs.

Fifty children return to school! In the School of Trapiche, the administrative technical coordinator reported that 50 students that had dropped out returned when feeding began and rations were available. Many of the children routinely miss over 50% of classes because of work. Thanks to the school feeding and rations these children returned to school, arrived every day and were able to take their final exam and pass to the next grade. Researching attendance records, coordinators found it was too hard to document prior year’s attendance. However, with such frequent habitual absences teachers notice perfect attendance all the more and this is sufficient proof that the program is necessary.

Twelve families stay for food. In a community of Baja Verapaz, suffering from the drought and loss of income due to the ailing coffee industry, only 30% of the children were enrolled in primary schools, the others had migrated to find work. Because of the combination of rations and school feeding, 12 families are documented to have remained to enroll their children in school.

Death Threats. The region of San Marcos suffered heavy oppression during the armed conflict in Guatemala. In general, communities distrust and resent the government and institutions. Program implementation in this region was particularly difficult given the lack of trust. When CARITAS, an implementing NGO, delayed food distribution due to logistics problems they got death threats from frustrated and suspicious members of the community that had come long distances to pick up the food. Despite the risk of reprisals and for the sake of the children, the NGO went back into the region and continued to serve the area.

Last modified: Monday, April 14, 2008 06:13:23 PM