Final: Currently 16,876 kindergarten and primary school children receive a mid-morning snack through The Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) Albania’s GFE program every school day. This is an increase of over 800 beneficiaries when compared to the number of children receiving meals at this point last year. The program operates in 68 schools in the northern region of Albania. The increase in enrollment was 2.44% that was 1.35% for boys and 3.89% for girls. CARE has expanded its involvement with communities in three areas, teacher training, PTAs and rehabilitation of schools.

Midterm: Meal delivery began in mid-November 2001 to three pilot schools and expanded to 64 schools by mid-March 2002. As of April of 2002, 16,023 students were eating a school meal every school day. CARE reported surges in attendance as regular non-attendees began coming to class, with increases of up to 17%. CARE also reported an increase in the number of girls relative to boys who are coming to classes. Attendance for girls increased 5.6%, compared with a 5.3% increase for boys. There were also marked declines in absenteeism across all the schools. The program is scheduled through February 2003, with an extension to run until June 2003.

The poorest low-income country in Europe, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more open-market economy. It is ranked 85^th of 162 countries according to United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) Human Development Index. In the spring and summer of 1999, with an apparently stable economy and government, 465,000 Kosovar refugees sought shelter in Albania during the war in Kosovo. Hosting this large refugee community continues to place a considerable burden on Albania’s already weak infrastructure and social institutions.

46% of the Albanian population lives on an income below the poverty line. According to the Albanian Poverty Reduction Strategy, poverty is found primarily in rural areas. Within that context, the poorest prefectures are Kukes, Lac, Gramsh, Bulqize, Diber, Librazhd, and Puke. Indeed, four out of five poor people live in rural areas. Of those who are poor, more than one-third have only an elementary education, and the poverty expectancy for uneducated heads of household is 37% in rural areas.

Regarding gender parity in education, the Government of Albania reports that there are no tangible differences between boys and girls, but there are significant differences in dropout rates between urban and rural areas. While 87% of urban children who enroll in first grade will finish primary school, that figure is only 77% in rural areas. The primary causes of school dropout are different for different levels: For preschool, it is the closure of the public institutions; for compulsory school, economic reasons (35%) and the low quality of education (20%) predominate. 12% of the population over 15 years of age is illiterate.

32% of children in Albania suffer moderate to severe stunting due to inadequate nutrition, and another 11% suffer chronically from moderate to severe wasting. Only 45% of the population has access to potable water in their homes. Less than half of households use iodized salt, which has led to marked levels of iodine deficiency.

The experience of the World Food Program (WFP) has shown that providing food in school both decreases hunger and increases school attendance. Research confirms that education is one of the most effective investments to improving economies and enabling people to improve their lives. For example, a United Nations’ study showed that in countries with an adult literacy rate of about 40%, GNP per capita averaged $210; in those countries with at least an 80% literacy rate, GNP per capita was $1,000 and above. Other studies show that girls who go to school marry later and have an average of 50% fewer children. Research also indicates that women’s education contributes to the reduction of child malnutrition. Indeed, in Albania, children of mothers with less than a secondary school education are more likely to be underweight and underdeveloped than children of mothers with secondary school or higher educational levels.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Global Food for Education (GFE) program is designed to mitigate certain economic reasons for low attendance, relieve hunger-based hindrances to classroom learning, and improve the educational environment for students and teachers. CARE decided to focus GFE interventions in the poorest prefecture in the country. The project was to feed 15,434 children in 45 selected schools in Kukes and repair 30 schools damaged during ten years of social unrest in the area.

Final: CARE requested 18,500 metric tons of wheat, which they received in two shipments in November and December 2001. Both shipments were for monetization, which proceeded after a delay of several months. The delay caused the project’s startup to occur well into the school year. However, losses, damages, and taxes were transferred contractually to the buyers so that CARE did not sustain any losses.

Midterm: CARE requested 18,500 metric tons of wheat. The wheat was to be monetized, with the proceeds from the sales used to implement the project’s multiple components designed not only to increase enrollment, attendance, and performance, but also to enhance the learning environment.

Final: CARE became increasingly involved with the actual nutritional content of the meals. Their GFE program aims to provide children with a well balanced and culturally appropriate meal, which includes bread, cheese, fruits and cold meats. Satisfaction surveys are done periodically in collaboration with school officials, PTA members and students to ensure that the children are satisfied with the meals. The menu is also changed three times a year to ensure variety.

Midterm: CARE established multiple goals and objectives for the GFE project. In order to meet the overall goals of increasing enrollment, attendance, and performance (especially for girls), CARE proposed the following objectives:

Final: Currently 16,876 kindergarten and primary school children ranging in age from three to 18 receive a mid-morning snack every school day. This number represents an increase of over 800 beneficiaries when compared to the number of children receiving meals at this point last year. The program operates in 68 schools (45 in Kukes district, 20 in Has district, and three in Tropoje district) in the northern region of Albania. 47.9% of the beneficiaries are female, and 52.1% are male.

The CARE team assessed schools located in the area of operation, and met with community leaders, school directors and teachers in 72 communities in the Kukes region, in order to decide which schools should be selected to participate in the GFE project. The selection process included the following criteria:

CARE also administers a small grant program for Parent Teacher Associations and teacher training. They have applied with USDA to use the available money beyond what was expected from the monetization in order to fund school rehabilitation. Many schools have inadequate facilities such as leaky roofs, and are unable to contend with the challenges posed by the harsh winters in the Albanian mountains. Temperatures inside the schools can dip to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) in the winter.

Food suppliers were required to meet with CARE approval as well. The minimum criteria for selection of food suppliers included:

The preparation of the snack followed a prearranged menu that was established via a sample questionnaire administered to 574 pupils across the region. Nutritional requirements and the local availability of food items were then factored with the responses from the students. The final consensual menu consisted of 100 grams of bread, 30 grams of cheese, 50 grams of meatball, one hard-boiled egg, one seasonal fruit, and one small juice for the kindergarten students. The menu varied slightly depending upon the seasonal availability of the fruit.

Midterm: Meal delivery began in mid-November 2001 in some schools after a delay from the intended start scheduled for September 2001. The delay was due to late arrival and monetization of the commodities. The meal program will continue through the summer months. The 12-month project was scheduled to end in February 2003, but it has been extended until June 2003 in order to complete the school year. During the project startup in September and October, prior to the completion of monetization, CARE identified target schools using the following criteria: Access to the school by road for food delivery and monitoring of activity; number of students enrolled; and approval from the District Board of Education Directors.

Based on these criteria, three schools were selected as a pilot to begin the feeding in November 2001. The project was then expanded to 45 schools by the end of December, 51 by the end of January 2002, 55 by the end of February, and then to 64 schools by mid-March 2002. Forty-two of the schools are in Kukes, 20 are in Has, and two are in Tropoje. As of April 30, 2002, 16,023 students had received a mid-morning meal during recess every school day. The feeding is focused on kindergarten and grades one through eight. A few older students who study in the same building receive meals as well. More than 1,000 teachers also receive the mid-morning meal.

The feeding is handled by local commercial food vendors, who were selected through a competitive bid process. However, in two isolated rural communities in which no acceptable local vendor was found, the parents were mobilized and receive direct payment to prepare meals at home that the children bring every day.

CARE based the school menus on the results of a school questionnaire among 574 students. With additional input from parents, local vendors, and teachers, the menu selected was bread (100 grams), cheese (30 grams), meatball (50 grams) or salami (25 grams), one hard-boiled egg, one seasonal fruit, and a small juice for the kindergarten students. Most children eat the entire meal at school; however, for those who walk up to seven kilometers each way, many often save part of the meal for the walk home.

CARE provides small grants to PTA’s to finance school and educational improvements. This encourages PTA initiatives to organize school-based community activities, which provide a venue for informal contact between parents and teachers. Examples of funded projects include regional excursions for children from isolated villages, organization of intramural sports programs, cleaning of school surroundings, and environmental awareness and protection programs. CARE has also used these occasions to distribute mine awareness posters produced by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Albanian Mine Awareness Foundation.

CARE will begin its infrastructure repair work in May 2002 and continue through the school holiday months of June-August. GFE funds will be utilized to improve 30 schools that serve 12,000 students. CARE will provide desks for 1,010 students in 20 schools in Puke District and repair 21 schools in Has, Kukes, and Tropoje Districts. Local construction companies competed in a limited tender, and the bids were opened in the Tirana office of CARE in late April. More than 60 local firms competed.

During the first four months of actual GFE school feeding, 16,023 students received daily school lunches in 43 schools in Kukes, 19 schools in Has, and two schools in Tropoje Districts. Furthermore, during the most severe winter in northern Albania since the 1970’s, GFE food suppliers continued to provide meals to students in almost all rural schools in the area. "While the Albanian government and Red Cross airlifted emergency food supplies to stranded villagers by helicopter, the CARE USDA GFE school feeding activities supported household food security by providing one meal every day for participating pupils in these areas."

Other donor support: CARE distributes mine awareness posters produced by UNICEF, UNDP, and the Albanian Mine Awareness Foundation. Teachers, school officials, and parents contribute labor and logistical support at the school sites.

Final: One of the keys to the sustainability of this program lies in the involvment of the PTAs and local community organizations. Other program activities, such as the training of these PTAs, and a small grants program for the PTAs and teacher training, are all geared toward creating a sense of ownership and self-sufficiency among those involved in operating the program. The idea is that with further training and development, CARE would be able to withdraw from its role in the administration of GFE, and the school feeding would continue under the leadership of these community and school organizations.

The main goal of the PTA training was to increase the capacity of interested and committed community members on various aspects of school activities, in order to enhance and facilitate their involvement in solving educational problems, as well as plan and organize extra-curricular educational activities. PTA members were provided training in areas including leadership, organization, decision-making, monitoring school facilities, projects, giving feedback recommendations, etc. Establishing and training the PTAs was seen as important because community participation is seen by many in Albania as a tool of the old communist regime, and therefore as a form of forced labor. CARE is continuing to struggle with that concept.

Midterm: This is a serious issue and will continue to be analyzed. In its focus on improving education in Albania, the government proposes to increase attendance through eighth grade using a variety of strategies including providing scholarships, textbooks, and food. The PTA’s facilitated by CARE represent sustainable infrastructure enhancements that will help resolve local school needs into the future. Other aspects of this program are sustainable beyond GFE. These include parent and teacher training, community empowerment, infrastructure developments, and community support for education.

Final: See evaluation methodology in Appendix 1.

Midterm: Both USDA and CARE will be carrying out monitoring and evaluation activities during the project. CARE has been carrying out extensive monitoring of its GFE project, developing a database to track attendance when official records proved less than satisfactory. It sends monitors to villages to examine the implementation of GFE. Even during the harshest winter months, with few exceptions, CARE reported that its monitors were able to visit schools and observe the GFE project. USDA has hired a local monitor to carry out the survey of 20 sample schools and the local monitoring for USDA.

CARE and the USDA monitor will coordinate their monitoring and evaluation efforts to to avoid redundancies while ensuring independence of action. As a group, the personnel will discuss factors that could impact a GFE project's success and reach consensus on the factors to use in the development of a sample matrix. The factors identified would contribute significantly to success or failure of any educational effort. They would also impact the administration and supervision of the project by Catholic Relief Services.

A matrix will be developed of all CARE schools. Schools will then be chosen from each cell on a random basis to arrive at the 20 sample schools. CARE has gathered baseline data on enrollment and attendance in all of its GFE kindergartens. The USDA monitor will use a questionnaire to obtain preliminary baseline data before initiating focus groups of parents for qualitative data collection.

Final: The increase in enrollment was 2.44% that was 1.35% for boys and 3.89% for girls. Albania does not suffer from low numbers in enrollment and attendance in school. Because of strong societal and cultural expectations, families make sure that their children are enrolled in school, even in some of the most impoverished areas. Therefore, the numbers will not reflect a substantial increase in these indices; simply because they were already high.

Midterm: CARE decided to develop its own statistical database to track enrollment and attendance figures. Official enrollment statistics were not useful for the purposes of GFE monitoring because once a student is enrolled, the child is maintained on the official records of the original school even if the child later drops out or transfers to another school. There is not yet anything statistically significant to report.

Final: Prior to the 2001 implementation of the program, the overall attendance rates of children in Northern Albania stood at approximately 86%. In the time since the program has begun, school attendance has increased to 92%. Kindergartens have posted even stronger results, with attendance rates up from 95.7% to 98%. CARE’s preliminary results have shown increases in attendance of at least 5%, and in some cases upwards of 56%. Average increases will likely fall into the 20-25% range. The higher increases were found in the more remote schools, as expected at the outset of the program.

CARE’s analysis in the rural regions has shown an incredibly strong impact on children living outside urban centers. In areas such as Kukes district, schools like Brekije, Dukagjini and Surroj recorded rates of attendance averaging 72% prior to GFE. This year, the average attendance has increased to 98.2%, 96.2% and 99.7%, respectively.

On the district level, recorded rates of attendance averaged 82.2% for Kukes, 94.8% for Has, and 93.7% for Tropoje prior to GFE. This year, the average attendance has increased to 96%, 97.9% and 97%, respectively.

Midterm: In the first four months of feeding, CARE has seen four kinds of increases attributable to the GFE project. The first was an attendance surge, which came after the introduction of the daily lunches in the schools when a number of regular non-attendees began coming to class. For example, attendance increased by 12.8% in the border school of Orgjost, and a striking 17% in the predominately Slavic-speaking rural village of Brekije. The second kind of increase was identified after CARE had constructed its database of sample schools and reflected a broader pattern of steadily increasing attendance. This was particularly noticeable in rural villages like Mamez, which registered a 17.3-% overall increase. A third kind of increase attributable to GFE is the impressive increase in younger pupils in kindergartens served by GFE. The average attendance increase was 10.1%, more than twice the increase typical for the other primary school grades.

Lastly, GFE registered an increase in the number of girls relative to boys who are coming to classes during GFE feeding. Prior to GFE, there was a noticeable (1.5%) difference in the number of boys who went to school compared with the number of girls. After feeding began, the number of girls attending school increased by 5.6%, compared with a 5.3% increase for boys. The charts below are from CARE Albania’s Statistical Annex to the June 2002 Executive Summary report.

Final: CARE conducted a number of teacher training sessions, which were very well-received, and these are expected to continue. All involved have expressed a desire to see further trainings.

Community involvement is being accepted, and is continuing to grow. The idea of contributing to the program is continuing to take on merit. Some PTAs are offering real community contributions (like labor and monitoring) for implementing small grants projects. Small grants in the next year of the program would require a 25% contribution.

CARE is concentrating on expanding its involvement with communities in three areas:

CARE has noted a number of secondary impacts as well. These include economic development, the infusion of 1.5 million USD into 65 small communities by contracting 95 small village-based food suppliers to prepare and deliver the snacks. There have also been developments in civil society. Kukes prefecture is politically, culturally, economically and socially isolated from the rest of the country. Through the project the small food suppliers had to register as a business, accept monitoring and understand tendering, banking etc. This has had a great impact on connecting the northeast of Albania in the application of standard business practices.

Midterm: Evaluating the impact of GFE on student performance would be premature after only four months of school feeding.

Final: CARE has seen an increase in gender equality by almost 5% with a slightly higer increase in the attendance rates among females over males. Prior to the implementation of the program, there was a small disparity among genders. 88.6% of females attended, while 90.2% of boys attended. For the 2001-2002 school year, attendance among girls has increased to 95%, and the attendance among boys has risen to 93.1%. In the 2002-2003 school year, CARE has seen the average attendance rate for females rise again, to 98%.

Midterm: Prior to the GFE project, there was a notable difference in attendance between girls and boys, with girls having a higher absentee rate. During the initial four months of the feeding program, attendance increases were higher for girls relative to boys, although girls continue to miss more school than boys overall.

GFE has helped foster a positive image for the United States in Albania. During a field visit to GFE schools, the U.S. ambassador used the occasion to discuss other initiatives, including bringing back the Peace Corps. He felt that GFE was a good example of how Albania was making the kind of progress that allowed development projects to have an impact.

CARE Kukes developed a database and began tracking enrollment and attendance data on sample schools that it collected through CARE monitors. CARE reported a surge in attendance in the first 6 months after the school feeding program was introduced. That spike was followed by general declines in absences over the next months of feeding in all 64 schools. In the Kukes district, for example, Borje school averaged an 8.6-% absentee rate for November, 1.5% for January, and 0.8% in February. In Tropoje District, student absenteeism at one school dropped from 11.5% in December to 5.5% in January, 5% in February, and 4.7% in March.

CARE has begun its work on school infrastructure repair and improvement. In Puke, CARE delivered 258 student desks to the Board of Education in May, and another delivery was scheduled for June. CARE also awarded 15 contracts to rehabilitate 22 schools in Has, Tropoje, and Kukes. While there were minor difficulties with the construction of some of the sanitation facilities and some issues as to how the schools should be connected to the Kukes public water systems, all problems were resolved and three rehabilitation projects were completed by June 2002.

Final: CARE has found tremendous value in monitoring and adjusting the nutritional content of the meals served in their GFE program. They aim to not only provide a meal to schoolchildren, but to provide a meal that is well balanced, nutritious and culturally appropriate. This includes bread, cheese, fruits and cold meats that are traditionally a part of the Albanian diet. Satisfaction surveys are done periodically in collaboration with school officials, PTA members and students to ensure that the children are satisfied with the meals. The menu is also changed three times a year to ensure variety.

Midterm: Any program that seeks to increase enrollment and attendance must ensure that the needs for additional classroom space, desks, staff, and educational materials are addressed. Increases in attendance will require additional infrastructure to support the increased enrollment and attendance. In the first year of GFE CARE project in Albania, the increased number of children attending school has led to an increase in the demand for kindergarten education beyond the capacity of the district schools to meet. Because there are not enough teachers and classroom space, some schools can accommodate only about 50% of the children wishing to attend kindergarten.

Another lesson learned is that the GFE food distribution system produces plastic bags that litter the hillsides of Albania. CARE intends to introduce trash management, hygiene, and litter pickup through the PTA’s as part of its civic education and work in building civil society.

Fshat. One parent in the village of Fshat reported to CARE monitors that the program is helping him save money, because he does not have to buy fruit, cheese and meat for his children. Now they are receiving those food items in school

Hoxhe Zogu. This school is in a very remote and rural area, close to the border with Kosovo. The surrounding hills are riddled with minefields. The CARE GFE program has offered a healthy meal every day for the children, as well as infrastructure repairs to the schools sanitation and windows. The improvements have brought the children in to school, where they are educated about the dangers of the minefields that are all around them. This education is vital to not only their educational development, but to their immediate safety and security.

In Bele village, located at 950 m altitude, CARE monitors reported that despite very bad weather condition and poor infrastructure attendance in Kindergarten was 98%, as the children did not want to miss the food provided to them. The kindergarten pupils are even asking to have classes on Saturday and Sunday as well. In the school of Brekije, Parent Teacher Association members reported that children are going to school even on holidays hoping that food will be delivered to them.

In the village of Vranisht in Has District, CARE monitors reported that four children from a poor family of nine members do not eat their snacks at school, but instead take them home to share with the rest of the family. The children, as well as their parents, are very thankful to USDA and CARE for the school-feeding program.

Myc-Has School. Fiscal considerations often obligate parents to keep their children at home to help them. This was the case with Gezimi, a 12-year old boy who quit school. His family was very poor, and could not afford to keep him at school because there were too many children to feed. Gezimi was the eldest son, and the only one who could watch the cow that provided the family its livelihood. Gezimi’s little brother also dropped out of school, so that he could help their father collect wood in the forest. It was only when CARE started that feeding program that the brothers started returning to school. The main reason they began returning to school was for the meal. They could now attend classes, and still be fed a good meal every day.

Letaj School. Ahmet is the father of three children, named Anin, Besim and Rexhep. "CARE was a great relief to me," says Ahmet. His family was big and poor and quite often he was unable to find work. The CARE GFE program not only gave his children an opportunity to have a good meal every day, but Ahmet believed that it also kept them in school where they could develop and pursue their ambitions.

Gostil. Eda is the youngest girl in a big family in Gostil. She really likes going to school, but her family’s financial situation did not allow her to attend school. Her family lacks the money to feed her or properly clothe her. She and her family were very happy when they heard about the CARE GFE program, which fed all of the children in their local school. Now Eda goes to school every day, and enjoys the tasty meals. She often saves the banana or apple from her meal, to bring home to her mother, who is ill.

CARE GFEI monitors reported that five pupils who abandoned school last year to graze animals returned to school after the introduction of the school feeding program in Pac school in Tropoje District.

CARE monitors reported that a child in Bustrice village refused to move to Tirana with his parents, as he was afraid of missing out on the GFE meals, as his parents were unemployed. This young boy decided to stay with his grandparents in the village and continues to receive his daily snack at Bushtrice School.

In the school of Gostil, CARE monitors reported that one extended family of 15 members living in the same house could not afford to send all the children to kindergarten, because they could not afford to prepare meals for all of them. Since the introduction of the lunch program, all of the children now attend kindergarten.

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