In a significant stride toward addressing hunger and malnutrition among school children, the Nigerian Home Grown School Feeding Program received a substantial boost through a strategic collaboration between the Federal Government and the Partnership for Child Development, PCD, at Imperial College London
Yetunde Adeniji, The Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Home Grown School Feeding Program, who disclosed this at a stakeholders’ workshop on Thursday in Abuja, said it was part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Action plans.
Adeniji, noted that the workshop was to launch the Value for Money Study, which seeks to estimate the cost of the National Home Grown School Feeding Program, in order to reflect on its multi-sectoral benefits and its impact on socio economic, as well as human capital development of the country.
She explained that the objective of the study was also to determine the effectiveness of the school feeding program in improving students’ attendance and academic performance, in other words, she said it was comparative analysis of the benefits of investing in school feeding, versus other education interventions.
“This study, fully sponsored by the Imperial College, is a research that improves the level of school feeding within the states. It will help evaluate the program to know issues, indices, and whatever challenges the program has or had in the past.
“This program or research will also help us when it comes to our international partners. Once Nigeria is certified, we know that we will be able to get more value, especially when we are talking to our foreign partners, foreign development agencies and NGOs,” she said.
She said the study, which will first be launched in Kaduna and Osun states, will subsequently extend to six states, one from each geopolitical zone of the country, and fully cover the whole 36 states by the end of the year.
She noted that the data for the study will be through primary and secondary sources, and youths in the states will be recruited to collect the primary data from relevant stakeholders including schools, state ministries, departments and agencies relevant to school feeding, cooks, farmers, and community members.
“These data would be forensically analyzed by local and foreign experts, led by Prof. Lesley Drake of PCD Imperial College, London.
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“The research is a commendable one, it is a huge one, it also is going to benefit some of our youths within those states, because once they are appointed to be part of the research, they will also get paid, and it will help them improve their status or whatever they are doing for a living.
“The Research will ensure transparency, accountability, but most importantly, preventing bottle necks, the program will ensure bottle necks are actually cleared towards a ensuring a better school feeding program.
“With steps like these, we will ensure improved implementation, knowing that we have been certified by reputable institutions,’’ Adeniji said.
She added that the stakeholders’ meeting marks the take-off of the program, which will then be taken to the states, then to the local government areas.
She also said teachers, principals, traditional rulers, and community members, would be carried along in the implementation process that would be fully monitored by state governments.
“The end participants, however, are the kids,” she noted.
Abimbola Adesanmi, of the PCD, Nigeria Office, said the Value for Money Study was aimed at determining the cost of the program and its benefits to the government.
“The essence of the study is to provide an empirical report to the government to guide it on the scale up of investment on the school feeding program,’’ Adesanmi said.
She said the study would help understand many issues such as; the cost of transportation, feeding, what teachers spend to have children in class, and cost of infrastructure, all in a bid to improve implementation.
“All the research and study is to help us understand what the farmers are providing for us; is it season based or on availability? What are the factors influencing the cost of the meals? All these are to enable us ensure healthy and nutritious meals to school children, and local small holder farmers are part of the program.
“If we are able to marry those two goals together, definitely there will be impact on human capital development and economic empowerment in the country.
“It is a nationwide program, and starting with Kaduna and Osun states is a proof of concept, since it is also being supported by some partners within the country.
“By the end of the year, we hope to complete the 36 states and give the government a report to say this is what you need to improve, to restructure, and to redesign the program,” she said.
Over the years, the Nigerian Home Grown School Feeding Program has generated economic opportunities for small holder famers, local businesses and women led enterprises.
Other partners in the program include; Harvard University, London, the federal ministries of Humanitarian Affairs, Education, Health, Agriculture, Budget and Economic Planning, the Universal Basic Education Commission, among others.
The study is aimed at evaluating the nutritional impact of the program on Nigerian students’ health and well-being, assessing how the income transfer to families through the program helps achieve social protection, how it creates jobs and its impact on food systems in the country
The key outcomes expected from the study are; estimated cost of the school feeding program, its benefits, increased years of education, prevention of malnutrition, increased demand for local food production, and many others.
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