Final: WorldShare, now known as Share Guatemala, was extended to operate through November 2003. By the end of the 2002 school year Share had reached 69,238 beneficiaries in 724 schools. The increase was possible because of a reduction in program operation months due to implementation delays. Food scholarship goals were doubled for the 4th, 5th and 6th grade students and Share was able to reach 15,687 students successfully. Share has continued with literacy training for 200 adolescents and 250 young adults, and data shows that enrollment increased 6% in project schools.

Midterm: In February 2002, WorldShare distributed school supplies to 67,000 pre-primary and primary school students. School feeding began in March 2002. The primary school enrollment was higher than WorldShare had expected or planned for, based on previous government statistics. In March 2002, WorldShare fed 55,838 primary school students compared with 50,000 projected. In April, 61,092 pre-primary and primary school students were fed. Through WorldShare’s Global Food for Education (GFE) project, 15,300 food-scholarship recipients began to receive take-home rations in April 2002; WorldShare had expected 7,000 students. The GFE project has also generated other unanticipated outcomes. Because water is needed for food preparation and cleanup, parents in some schools have been re-energized to try to resolve longstanding problems with lack of water in the schools. The WorldShare GFE program is scheduled to continue through November 2002.

Final: SHARE faced challenges in maintaining the commodities in warehouses over long periods of time. Ultimately, SHARE rotated the GFE commodities, which overlapped with its PL 480 Title II program, on a first in first out basis. It has experienced some minor difficulties with insect control related to its corn supply. To mitigate the risk of the corn being infested, SHARE decided to donate the majority of its corn supply to cooperating institutions for more rapid use during the 2003 school year. SHARE maintains contracts with these Institutions to ensure that these commodities are used for school feeding.

Midterm: The requested commodities and amounts were: corn-soy blend, 460 metric tons; non-fat dry milk, 40 tons; rice, 210 tons; vegetable oil, 60 tons; yellow corn, 250 tons; bulk yellow corn, 20,000 tons.

The corn-soy blend, non-fat dry milk, rice, vegetable oil, and non-bulk corn are to be used in direct distribution through feeding and take-home rations. The bulk yellow corn is to be monetized, with the proceeds used to implement the project's multiple components to increase enrollment, attendance, and performance, and to enhance the learning environment. Delivery for the bulk corn to be monetized was set for October 2001, with the arrival of the direct distribution commodities to take place in December 2001.

The shipment of commodities for distribution went relatively well, as did the first monetization commodity shipment of 10,000 tons, except that it was short 198 tons because of a problem of barge capacity. However, the corn was monetized on time, with no major problems. The second monetization shipment of 10,000 tons included an additional 198 tons to make up for the shortage in the first shipment. This shipment, however, presented another problem, because it was 30 days past the dates stipulated in the monetization contract with the local buyer. As a result of the delay, WorldShare had to offer a $3.00-per-ton discount to compensate the buyer for the late arrival.

There were also delays in getting the letter for the distribution commodities that allows them to enter without taxes. Because of this latter delay, the food did not arrive at the regional warehouses according to schedule, and feeding had to be postponed. Feeding started in March 2002 instead of late January-early February when school began.

The distribution of the commodities to the regional warehouses and from there to the communities is complex and involves significant community participation. One of the responsibilities of the parents is to ensure that the food gets to their community. WorldShare requires that parents pay a small amount of money into a school fund managed by the parent-school committee. This money pays for transportation from the warehouse to the school, as well as for school-related projects.

The first distribution covering the first three months of feeding was well organized and efficient, in spite of the fact that many of the communities are very remote. In some cases, parents carry 100-pound sacks of corn-soy blend up a mountainside for several hours because the schools are not accessible by vehicle. In other cases, the parent committee is able to rent a truck to deliver the products to the school. In a few cases, the municipal government is working with the community to deliver the food by municipal truck.

The corn-soy blend is widely accepted. It is well received in traditional hot atole (porridge/gruel) drinks. Children like the flavor, and mothers know how to cook with it. It should also be noted that one use of the monetization proceeds is for the parent committees to purchase local foods to complement the atole. This has been a success because it allows children to eat fruit when it is not traditionally available to them. Furthermore, it helps stimulate the local economy and productive capacity.

Goals and objectives: WorldShare and its implementing partner, SHARE de Guatemala, established an ambitious set of goals and objectives for their GFE project. In order to meet the overall goals of increasing enrollment, attendance, and performance, especially for girls, they proposed carrying out the following objectives:

Final: In 2003, classes were scheduled to begin again in mid-January. However, due to a two-month long teacher’s strike throughout Guatemala, classes did not officially begin in 2003 until March 12th. The teacher’s strike had a strong impact on Guatemala as a whole (blocking central roads, ports and even airports around the country) and especially on Guatemala’s education system.

SHARE continued to distribute school material kits to primary and pre-primary school students during 2003 and distributed 500 teacher materials kits in 2003 to motivate teachers, given the pivotal role they play in overall program implementation. SHARE has found that the materials kits motivate poorer families to enroll their children, as it alleviates the total cost for parents of sending their children to school.

SHARE found that it needed to create early education services in project areas to adequately reach children under the age of six. About 1,000 children were reached during the year. Reports from this component indicate that it was highly successful, both in motivating parents to do more early stimulation activities with their young children, which they generally didn’t do before GFE, and in preparing children to enter the classroom for the first time in primary school. This second point is especially important in cases where the child’s native language in the home is not Spanish (this is most often the case in project areas where SHARE works). To implement this component, SHARE trained 587 mothers as early education activity facilitators, teaching them games, songs, motor skill development activities, etc., and paying them a stipend to coordinate early education group sessions in their communities.

SHARE finished 21 infrastructure improvement projects, which included building kitchens, storage rooms, water systems, latrines, classrooms and school building improvements.

Midterm: WorldShare entered into an agreement with its affiliate, SHARE de Guatemala, to carry out the GFE project in the country. SHARE entered into agreements with four non-governmental organization (NGO) cooperating institutions, identified target schools, hired local staff, and began implementation planning and community organization activities. WorldShare and SHARE de Guatemala personnel worked with CRS and the Guatemalan Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) to identify schools to be served and to avoid overlap of programs. Despite the effort to carefully coordinate activities, MINEDUC began its school-feeding program about one month after WorldShare began the GFE program, and there is overlap in some schools. WorldShare also coordinated efforts at the local level to minimize overlap with other PVO’s working in the area and to maximize coverage.

WorldShare got a somewhat late start in the direct feeding because of the delay in the delivery of the commodities. Although feeding could not begin at the start of the school year because the distribution commodities were not yet in place, WorldShare provided 67,000 students with a bag of school supplies, including items such as notebooks, pencil, pencil sharpener, eraser, scissors, crayons, and a ruler. The lack of school supplies often presents an obstacle to student enrollment and attendance because parents do not have the money to purchase these items.

School feeding began in March 2002. Pre-primary school enrollment has been lower than planned because of the lack of kindergarten schools and parental disinterest (9,256 actual enrollment in March versus 12,000 planned). On the other hand, primary school enrollment was higher than WorldShare had expected or planned for based on previous MINEDUC statistics. In March 2002, WorldShare fed 55,838 primary school students versus 50,000 projected. In April, 61,092 pre-primary and primary school students were fed. Through WorldShare’s GFE project, 15,300 food-scholarship recipients began to receive take-home rations in April 2002, compared with an expected 7,000 students.

WorldShare completed initial teacher and parent training in the control and use of the commodities, as well as management of the school nutrition committee, tracking and documenting expenditures, and financial recordkeeping. This transparency of financial records and careful recordkeeping required by WorldShare builds greater trust among other parents in the workings of the committee. In addition, it promotes a closer working relationship between parents and teachers.

WorldShare has initiated a food scholarship pilot project for 449 students who participate in the telesecundaria program, a government distance-learning project aimed at people who dropped out after third grade. WorldShare is also giving literacy classes to 253 adults, many of whom are mothers participating in WorldShare’s ongoing maternal-child health project. This is significant because the greatest predictor of a girl's educational level is her mother's. The mothers in the program will be more likely to send their girls to school.

Other donor support: MINEDUC is implementing a snack/breakfast program in some of the schools. This has led to some confusion and overlap, but WorldShare is working with the schools to help them distribute the food in such a way that it maximizes the feeding potential. PRONADE, a government program to assist community-managed schools, gives some basic school snacks on a somewhat irregular basis, student and teacher educational materials, and some teacher training. PRONADE schools are generally in the remotest areas and poorest communities. Three programs through the Ministry of Health provide health education, water and sanitation, and other health services. The Ministry of Health is carrying out de-worming campaigns in some schools.

Some municipal governments are donating transportation and delivering the food commodities to the schools.

There is some activity by the European Union in the construction of infrastructure in some schools.

Plan International is active in a number of communities and carries out a variety of activities, depending on the school. These activities include donations of educational materials, teacher training, and reproductive health training.

Sustainability: There is significant parental support for this project, as demonstrated by the high levels of participation and the payment of a small monthly fee for transportation of commodities and school improvements. MINEDUC effort to provide snacks is also a very important step in a sustainable program. However, past efforts by the government to sustain a school feeding program have resulted in programs that ended before the end of the school year because of other budgetary priorities. WorldShare intends to work on identifying potential donors in the private sector this year to begin to develop funding partners.

Final: See evaluation methodology in Appendix 1.

Midterm: Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and WorldShare are carrying 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. Guatemala has indigenous groups who speak more than 20 languages, and many of the indigenous women do not speak Spanish well. Native speakers who can interpret into Spanish for the data collection will assist the principal monitor in conducting the focus groups.

Final: The CRS project schools have experienced a 6% increase in enrollment. Supply packets and food scholarships motivated parents to let their older children attend 4th, 5th and 6th grade. Traditionally, in a family with four or five children, parents are more likely to send their youngest children to school, keeping their older children at home to help work and to reduce the costs of buying school supplies. Many parents commented that with this program they could now send all of their children to school.

Midterm: Teachers in almost every sample and non-sample school visited to date reported somewhat higher enrollment and the return of past dropouts. However, not enough data has been collected for a comprehensive analysis. Early indications are that as children find out about the project, they enroll even after the official enrollment period is over. Their presence is then reflected only in the attendance figures.

Final: Because of the hot corn soy blend drink and food complement of fruit, tamales, bread and vegetables, parents reported that they send their children to school everyday.

Midterm: Reports indicated that absenteeism has dropped to almost nothing. Furthermore, teachers have noted that punctuality has improved, particularly in those schools that serve the food early in the school day. Both teachers and parents said that the children now stay home from school only when they are truly sick. Enough data has not yet been collected for a statistical analysis.

Performance: Teachers report that students are more attentive in class, play with more enthusiasm and energy at recess, and learn more quickly. Teachers tell monitors that, since the school feeding began, it takes them less time and fewer repetitions to teach a lesson before the children learn it.

Special emphasis on girls: Data has not yet been collected and analyzed to be able to say with any certainty how enrollment or attendance by girls has been affected. However, it must be stated that Guatemalan girls lag far behind boys in enrollment, attendance, number of years studied, and literacy. Of the girls who do attend primary school, there is a significant drop in enrollment after third grade, which WorldShare is attempting to address through its food scholarship program for fourth and fifth graders.

Other project achievements: One of the results of the initial implementation of GFE is that teachers report a stronger parent-school bond. Because they work cooperatively and collaboratively on the feeding (teachers track the commodities, and parents manage the complementary food purchase and snack preparation), they must work together. This is a great advance from the perspective of the teachers, who commented on this frequently.

Because water is needed for the preparation and cleanup of the atole, parents in some schools have been re-energized to try to resolve longstanding problems with lack of water in the school. In Baja Verapaz, for example, children have to bring a jug of water to school to make the atole. The parents of Nimacabaj are trying to finish a water system so that the school will have water.

Teachers in one school reported that because of parental participation in the feeding program, students now show a greater interest in school government and are helping to carry out the snack program.

It is worth noting that the commitment of parents in becoming involved in a public leadership role requires self-sacrifice and courage. During the long armed conflict, community leaders were frequently the targets of assassination. That parents would be willing to assume these public leadership roles, and allow their children to do so, speaks volumes about their commitment to the GFE project and the benefit they see for their children.

Some parents report that they have received lectures from their children on the need to wash their hands before eating and after using the latrine—lessons the children learned at school in conjunction with the GFE feeding.

Final: SHARE’s project also included children under the age of six and adolescents and young adults. Outreach to these target populations is very difficult without an established vehicle, organization or institution where these groups congregate. SHARE determined that in order to maximize service to these groups, it needed to create early education services in project areas to reach children under six and opportunities for adolescents that were no longer connected to school.

SHARE has found that the food scholarships and material kits motivate poorer families to enroll their children as it alleviates the total cost for parents of sending their children to school and reduces household food expenses.

Midterm: Although it is very early in the WorldShare/SHARE project in Guatemala, some simple lessons have been learned.

Many children come to school hungry, and some eat littile or nothing other than what they get at school. Parents have cited the lack of food as a reason to keep their children at home as surely as the need for the labor of children at home or concerns about bad weather.

Timely startup and kept promises are important to overcome traditional skepticism about organizations and agencies fulfilling their promises. According to the USDA monitor in Guatemala, the fulfillment of assumed responsibilities, the quickness of the delivery, and the lack of bureaucracy have given the WorldShare/SHARE GFE project a good reputation.

By providing administrative support and avoiding paternalistic attitudes, WorldShare has shown that an organization implementing a GFE project can strengthen the local community’s power, skill in project administration, and women's participation. For example, in Nimacabaj, Rabinal, the parents' school nutrition committee has an accounting book in which they record their expenses and collect receipts for purchases. The parent committees administer the funds for the GFE Project, while getting support from the teachers. This avoids misunderstandings in the financial management.

USDA should explore putting a delivery delay assessment in the shipping language for GFE commodities so that the shipper has an incentive to deliver the commodities on time. This would help avoid any late startups due to delayed commodity shipments.

Delivering a modest amount of school supplies to children during the first weeks of school provides significant help to parents, and removes one of the barriers to children's attendance at school.

Final: Many communities are not accessible by vehicle. These communities are typically the poorest, but the parents make great efforts to send their children to school and help. In the hamlet of Jolotes in Huehuetenango, the community is dispersed and children walk 45 minutes to school. They are often barefoot and have to walk through rain and mud during the six-month rainy season. The poverty of the area can be seen in the school, which offers all six grades of primary school with only one teacher. Nonetheless, the parents and their children who attend school have a commitment to the school. The student government put up screening in the school, which had fallen, and parents and students organized themselves to do more school improvement work. The parents have asked for help to construct at least one more classroom at the school.

A Reason to Cooperate. All communities are required to have a parent teacher committee to run the school feeding program. In the region of Baja Verapaz there was much conflict between the teachers and parents. Teachers did not want the parents involved in the school or the program. The situation was very tense. Share withdrew the area supervisor sent to establish the committee and help implement the program. Faced with the loss of the school feeding program the parents and teachers resolved their differences and cooperated to establish and operate a program. Hopefully, they will continue to resolve other educational issues and improve the school environment as other committees have.

High retention rate for girls. In the Santo Domingo community, only one student out of 63 dropped out, compared to 4 students last year. Director Maria Martin Equit said, "this year we have 14 students in the sixth grade compared to 6 last year. Of these, 7 are girls, compared with only one last year…"

Midterm: The Fruit Benefit. Of all the foods that given to the children, they enjoy fruit the most. The fruit has several positive effects, according to the teachers, because:

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