School Feeding in Republic of Congo: More than Just Rice and Beans ROSALIE KAMA-NIAMAYOUA Minister of Education, Republic of Congo Introduction by: RACHEL ONUSKA Assistant Country Director, IPHD CONGO

Transition Period – SUMMARY of Transition Plan – STEPS leading to – OBSERVATIONS from YR1 IMPACTS of SLP in Congo Conclusion Presentation Overview

School Feeding in Congo: LOCATION SLP 2002 to 2011 As of May , 105,000 students SLP started Nov ,000 students SLP start October ,150 student s

School Feeding Congo: TRANSITION TIMELINE November 2008 – 6 member SLP Transition Team formed and began meetings. – Local food procurement – SLP eligibility for RoC funding – Request USDA to continue SLP for another 3 years while groundwork get put in place. September 2010 – Congolese government approved a School Feeding Sustainability Plan. September Transition Plan developed for IPHD’s current McGovern-Dole Program.

School Feeding Congo: Transition Plan

School Feeding Congo: STEPS leading to the Transition Period National Level School Level

The STEPs: School Level Local Contribution PTAs – over 450 trained Community Involvement

The STEPs: School Level More than Just Rice and Beans

The STEPs: School Level Satellite office in almost every region Monthly school visits Consistent Monitoring

The STEPs: National Level Government Involvement Clear Expectations National Parent Teacher Associations Data Sharing

School Feeding Congo: OBSERVATIONS FROM YR1 Feeding 30,000 students locally – Locally-purchased imported commodities – Consistent quantity and quality of commodities available – High cost of beans $102-$118 per 100lbs. ($2,234-$2,600 per MT)

School Feeding Congo: Experiences from YEAR 1 Monotonous Menu Do you think we could ever have something else besides rice and beans?

School Feeding Congo: Putting “LOCAL” into Local Food Purchases IPHD partnership with local farm cooperative and Ministry of Agriculture GOAL for 2013/2014: – Local food purchases will be produced in Congo – School Lunch Menu will be diversified

IMPACTS of School Feeding in Congo Why is Republic of Congo interested in School Feeding? Enrollment Attendance Minority Groups Student Malaria Post-Conflict Recovery Government/NGO Partnerships

SLP Impact: ENROLLMENT 23.8% increase in enrollment in first four years of SLP SLP 2002 to 2011 First Year with SLP SLP start next school year 9.7% increase in enrollment in first year 50% decrease in dropouts compared to schools without a SLP

SLP Impact: ATTENDANCE RATES 12.9% increase in attendance rates from start of SLP until last school year SLP 2002 to 2011 First Year with SLP SLP start next school year 1.4% increase in attendance rates in first year

SLP Impact: MINORITY GROUPS 35 Babongo (Pygmy) students enrolled before SLP 737 enrolled after 4 years of SLP LEKOUMOU Hoping to see similar impacts in Sangha SANGHA

2006 Study 1000 randomly selected schools 500 SLP schools 500 non-SLP schools Each southern region represented Cause of absenteeism tracked for the 2006/2007 school year SLP Impact: DECREASED STUDENT MALARIA SLP schools had a 66% reduction in absenteeism due to malaria 71% of students in SLP schools owned a mosquito net 31% of students in non-SLP schools a owned mosquito net

SLP Impact: POST-CONFLICT RECOVERY 2002 SLP was first major injection of resources into primary education system since the 1999 civil war. As small conflicts ebbed and flowed after the civil war, the school lunch program was a consistent social safety net for the Southern Regions.

SLP Impact: GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP Road impassable by heavy trucks Railway only shipping option POINTE NOIRE BRAZZAVILLE CONGO TRANSPORT 2001 to 2006

Ministry of Education – Participating School selection, in the field SLP evaluations, development of malaria prevention manuals, layed framework for SLP transition within government Ministry of Foreign Affaires – IPHD given diplomatic status March 2007 Ministry of Finance – Dramatic improvement in tax exemption and timeliness of release of goods from the port Ministry of Agriculture – Partnership for Local Food Production Four out of nine IPHD warehouses and 2 out of 8 IPHD offices were provided by various ministries of the government. SLP Impact: GOVERNMENT/IPHD PARTNERSHIP

Conclusion