CSTL Sharing Meeting 2015 NUTRITION: School Meals Programme Virginia Kachigunda MALAWI Southern Sun Cape Sun– Cape Town, South Africa 23-25 November 2015

Presentation Outline A description of the programme or policy Achievements Challenges Opportunities/Emerging Issues Key lessons learnt

Baseline Survey (2006) Revealed that 60% of school-going children in rural areas aged 8 to 10 years not regularly eating breakfast Study linked Hunger and malnourished children to high drop out rates, poor concentration in class, skipping homework, poor performance and absenteeism. This perpetuates the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition and vulnerabilities and non-productivity.

UNIMA study 2002 : Food insecurity & Education 12% of primary school children dropped out of school in 2001 and 9% in 2002. Children living in rural areas were 30 percent more likely to drop out of school Increased Child labour and abuse (transactional sex leading to HIV & AIDS) Orphans noticeably more at risk of dropping out of school than non- orphans. In terms of erratic school attendance, 11%and 10% of primary school students attended school erratically in the 2001 and 2002 respectively Food shortages were the main reason why children were absent from school in 2001 and 2002 (77 percent of the cases).

Cost of Hunger Study (2012) The 2012 COHA results in Malawi show that an estimated US$ 597 million was lost in the year 2012 as a result of child under nutrition. Overall 18 percent (147,044) of all repetitions in 2012 were associated with stunting, bearing a total cost of US$ 8.2 million Grade repetition rate for stunted children in schools in 2012 was 20.6 percent, as compared to 15.2 percent for non- stunted children, i.e. an incremental risk of 5.3 percentage points for stunted children.

SMP Coverage 2, 201 Public Schools reached with SMP out of 5, 389 Public Schools representing 41% 2.23 million learners are reached with programme 1.11 million boys in 2, 201 Schools receive the Meals 1.12 million girl pupils in 2, 201 schools receive meals

IMPLEMENTERS Implementer Schools Reached SMP Model Used Total Resources WFP 800 Centralized $19 million (2012 – 16) Marys Meals 600 $28 million GoM (MoEST) 680 Home Grown $272,727.3 (3 months feeding only) GIZ/NAPE 40 $2.7 million FISD 25 $25, 000 Millennium Village 5 NA Welthungerhilfe $15, 000 FAO (yet to roll out) $500, 000 JOCA 1

Achievements Increased enrolment and attendance rates in primary schools [ 95% average] Improved pass rates –high concentration in class activitie Improved retention, mostly girls with take-home rations Improved health status especially in lean period Major effort in combating stunting/under nutrition Increased public budget from MK33m (2013/14) to MK150m (2014/15) Improved coordination & M&E activities with partners and sister Ministries Support for complementary SMP package eg. Deworming , WASH interventions, School gardens, Keeping girls in School initiatives etc

CHALLENGES National economic hardships against competing public priorities – ongoing drought affecting education Late disbursement of public funds for procuring inputs for the Home Grown Model Donor fatigue – WFP donor is questioning continuity in Malawi Inadequate infrastructure (i.e. School Kitchens) Over – reliance on wood energy to prepare meals thereby contributing to deforestation – Mary’s Meals now using Brickets (from compressed saw dust) Inadequate resources to reach out to more schools – need for more partners

Opportunities/Emerging Issues New partners expressing interest to implement and/or scale up eg the NAPE II, Mary’s Meals, EU Development of SHN Policy to guide implementation, now at final stage Support to systems strengthening eg SADC support through CSTL Programme Development of Best Practice Handbook on SMP Models & harmonization of indicators – TORs for consultant already developed –funds available High political will – SMP is under National nutritional Policy as a Targeted Nutrition programme as well as under National Social Protection Programmes as a safety net coordinated by Ministry of Economic Planning and Development – Education is member of Steering Committee at both levels.

Key Lessons Learnt Partnership key to scaling up SMP – Advocacy intervention such as the CSTL Supported jamboree is key to motivate partners Linkages in SMP – works better with other programmee eg WASH, Deworming, Agriculture hence need for comprehensive collaboration IT very crucial for M & E esp. at district level Involvement of Media is critical in advocacy interventions IEC Materials such as SMP cloth motivates volunteer women as well as advocate for more support as people get more information on SMP

Thank you so much Zikomo kwambiri

Comments and Questions from the Floor & Other Panellists.