Final: In 2002, WFP provided food aid to 35,050 students in Bhutan, reaching 14,721 girls and 20,329 boys during the course of the school year. While WFP is currently the only food assistance agency working in the country, Save the Children USA, has expressed interest in developing a collaborative role. This partnership could be helpful to WFP if existing programs are to expand, and also to the Government as it pursues planned school construction projects.

Midterm: School meals, provisions for lengthy travel to school, and food in compensation to households for the loss of a child’s labor can help make it possible for children from remote, food-insecure households to attend school. Approximately 27,400 boarding students at primary schools, lower secondary schools, and middle secondary schools receive two meals a day for 295 days of the year under this WFP project. In remote primary and community schools, WFP provides some 13,900 day students with two meals a day for 230 days per year. An additional 1,800 day students at lower secondary schools also receive one meal per day for 230 days a year.

Bhutan is well on its way to establishing a sustainable national school feeding program for all Bhutanese children. The Government of Bhutan has invested, on average, 60% of recurrent educational expenditures for primary education. Enrollment of both girls and boys has steadily increased over the last three years and attendance rates, even during the lowest periods, reach 86%. The number of certified teachers is also on the rise, enabling the country to retain acceptable teacher/student ratios.

Final: In 2002, WFP and the Government of Bhutan jointly conducted a poverty and food insecurity evaluation. The study reviewed school feeding targeting procedures and was used to devise a system that helps identify students with the greatest needs. Based on the findings, criteria for participation in the program included the following:

c) Poverty levels.

Program evaluations have shown that as these measures increase so does relative food insecurity. Future school feeding program eligibility determinations will be based on these factors.

Although Bhutan is making significant progress, it remains one of the world’s least developed countries. This in part stems from its mountainous terrain. Towns and small villages are hard to reach and basic social services are not always available.

Getting to school is a major hurdle for the country’s students. The walk is not simply long. It can be dangerous, given frequently inclement weather and a rugged landscape. Students must leave for school before dawn and begin the walk home around sunset. Consequently, parents are often reluctant to enroll younger children in class.

Even though education is compulsory from age six, these safety concerns often compel parents to wait until children reach eight or nine before allowing them to attend school. In addition, girls are often taken out of the education system when they begin to mature physically. With a late start and early withdrawal, a girl’s entire academic experience may be limited to two or three years.

Recently, education has become a central feature in Bhutan’s development efforts. As a result, the net enrollment rate grew from 45% to 53% between 1995 and 1998. But it is still far from reaching universal primary education. Over the next five years, with the hope of dramatically increasing enrollment, the Government of Bhutan will dedicate 13% of its development budget to education activities. These funds, provided through World Bank IDA loans, will be used to construct more than 175 new schools and provide teacher training to help ensure that more children living in remote areas can attend classes. The Government’s goal is to build new schools that are no more than three kilometers away from any student’s home. Where that is not possible, as in very sparsely populated and remote areas, the Government will construct boarding schools to provide students with greater access to educational facilities.

Midterm: Bhutan is a mountainous, low-income, food-deficit country with a population of about 658,000. About 30% of the population is estimated to be vulnerable to food insecurity throughout the year, with a higher percentage seasonally.

Nearly 80% of the population lives in rural areas and is dependent on subsistence farming. The difficult mountain terrain, limited communications, and highly scattered settlements impede access to schools. The education-sector strategy notes that the biggest challenge to providing universal basic education in Bhutan lies in enrolling and retaining children from poor and food-insecure families living in remote communities.

While there is no major gender difference in enrollment at the primary level, a gender gap appears in enrollment at the middle secondary school level. At present, girls represent 46% of both primary and lower secondary school children, but just 43% of the middle secondary student population.

Final: Bhutan received USDA contributions in 2001, but the commodities arrived late in the year and were distributed during the 2002-2003 school year.

Midterm: Food aid in the Bhutan school feeding program aimed to:

Final: In 2002, the Government of Bhutan and WFP reviewed the overall efficacy of the school feeding program in the country. In a study involving a random sampling of parents and teachers, 75% reported that students would not be able to attend classes without the school feeding program. Food continues to play a vital role in education programs because it eases the economic burdens facing parents and provides the nutritional substance necessary for students to concentrate and participate in class.

Evaluations from the baseline survey completed in 2002 showed the impact school feeding programs can have on student enrollment levels. In Bhutan, school enrollment levels were increasing slowly. But in the 2002-2003 school year, student enrollment jumped considerably. On average, an additional 39 boys and 40 girls enrolled in each school.

The government has reconfirmed that school feeding will remain a critical strategy in its pledge to reduce the dropout rate and attain universal primary education by 2007.

Midterm: USDA provided commodities to WFP’s school feeding program titled, "Improving Rural Children’s Access to School." The school feeding program is part of a larger effort to enable poor households to invest in human capital through education and training. Children from remote, food-insecure households are able to attend school because the program helps alleviate some of the economic burdens facing parents. Through the provision of school meals or additional take-home rations, households are compensated for the loss of their children’s productive labor and are free to get an education.

This activity aimed to increase the educational levels of children living in such hard hit areas while reducing the cost of education for their families. Specifically, the program focused on the following:

Final: As a result of the restricted diets in these areas, WFP targeted children in Bhutan who commonly suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. The USDA provision of Corn Soya Blend (CSB) helped to ensure that program participant’s intake of essential micronutrients corresponded with improvements in overall nutrition and health. In several schools, cooks also developed special recipes that mixed the CSB porridge with local spices and vegetables. The recipes for these student favorites are now being used in WFP’s mandatory food training sessions.

A critical review of food distribution costs and practices in 2002 resulted in adjustments that have improved efficiency and will produce an average savings of 50% over the previous annual rates. The Government is now meeting the costs of transporting commodities from the ends of the main roads to the schools. This contribution has also helped to reduce delivery costs.

Midterm: The students in community, primary, lower secondary, and higher secondary boarding schools receive two meals per day from WFP. The parents contribute the third meal in the community and primary schools. In the lower secondary and higher secondary boarding schools, a stipend from the Government of Bhutan covers the third meal. The targeted day students in community and primary schools receive breakfast and midday meals from WFP. Lower secondary day students receive one midday meal per day.

At the school level, the head teacher coordinates the school feeding program and manages the receipt and distribution of the commodities as well as the reporting activities. The Department of Education finances the construction of kitchens and storerooms and provides furniture, cooking utensils, and stoves. In addition, it provides government salaries to cooks and covers the costs of cooking fuel.

Final: UNICEF and WFP are working together to pilot the fortification of school meals with iron and vitamin A in order to decrease deficiency diseases among school children. UNICEF’s core program activities complement school feeding operations. Upcoming plans include restoration and upgrades of water and sanitation facilities in all existing schools. Another project will help support the construction of 100 new primary schools by covering the importation costs of the building materials. The agency will also provide staff training and assistance in curriculum development. The combined activities will dramatically improve the overall educational environment for thousands of students.

Similarly, WFP and WHO plan to pilot a de-worming program that will help children get the maximum benefit from meals at home or school.

The Government of Australia has expressed a strong interest in supporting part of the school feeding program in Bhutan. WFP continues to discuss the possibilities with Government representatives in the hopes of securing such additional contributions.

Midterm: The Government of Bhutan has planned major investments in education, including the construction of more than 128 community primary schools, 26 lower secondary, and 23 middle secondary schools. Teacher training will be expanded with Asian Development Bank assistance. Principal donors will be Denmark, Switzerland, and the United Nations Children’s Fund. IDA loans from the World Bank will also supplement resources needed for infrastructure development.

Final: WFP contact with beneficiaries and regular monitoring show that the donated food is well received by the students, losses are minimal (less than 0.02%), sound impact data is maintained by the schools, and meals play a key role in ensuring regular attendance and active student participation.

The Government of Bhutan credits the school feeding program with being a major contributor in its efforts to achieve universal primary education, support democratization and promote economic growth. The success of the program can also be seen by looking at school feeding graduates. Previous WFP school feeding projects assisted many of Bhutan’s current generation of politicians, entrepreneurs and civil servants. The support the program receives today is due in some part to the very personal knowledge that school feeding programs work, providing children with the nutrition and educational foundation they need today to achieve their individual and professional goals tomorrow.

Midterm: The activity focused on the following outcomes:

The activity included the following outputs:

To date, the WFP Bhutan school feeding program has demonstrated the successful partnership between a committed government and a United Nations-assisted development project. Since 1998, enrollment levels have increased, and attendance rates now average over 90%. Parents are more involved in the schools and encourage regular attendance from their children.

The Goenshari Community Primary School is situated on the Punakha –Tashithang motor road, about an hour outside the town of Punakha. WFP began assistance here in 2002. At school, WFP provides a nutritious morning drink of Corn Soya Blend and a midday meal. The food alone provides parents with a significant economic incentive for sending their children to school. Most of the students’ parents are poor subsistence farmers and the provision of a vitamin and mineral enriched meal to a child at school means a significant savings to the family.

The morning drink gives students the nutrition needed to start their classes full of energy. Teachers at Goenshari Primary School report that the thought of a hot drink waiting for them after the long trip to school has increased the number of children arriving on time for classes.

"With school feeding programs in place, students stay attentive in class and run and play more than before," reported one teacher. Overall, the school reported a 10% increase in enrollment after food assistance started.