School Feeding Initiatives in Southern Africa through the Lens of the Triple Nexus

• In Event: Intersectoral Approaches to Education in Humanitarian Crises and Emergencies (II)

Proposal

In 2015 an El Niño severely impacted Southern Africa, where upwards of 70% of the population depends on agriculture, resulting in Integrated Food Security Phase Classifications (IPC) Level 3 (Crisis) and Level 4 (Emergency) (WFP, 2016a). As stated in the Executive Summary of the World Food Program’s School Feeding Strategy 2020-2030 report, “sick children cannot attend school and hungry children cannot learn” (WFP, 2020a, p. 4). In response to the crisis, the World Food Program recommended implementing school feeding as a safety net program, as, per its estimates, SFIs had the potential to reach the greatest number of beneficiaries in the countries impacted and could be quickly implemented (WFP, 2016b). An international non-governmental organization’s (INGO) country offices in Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe submitted proposals to international donors to serve as SFI implementing partners in underserved areas of their respective countries. The aims of the SFIs were to improve nutrition, increase school enrollment and strengthen children’s resilience. The funded projects began in 2017 with the expectation to provide meals to over 20,000 children in approximately 70 schools. In the third year of the project, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of school meals as enrollment remained low after pandemic lockdowns were lifted. The SFIs were funded for three years, with the expectation that communities would develop management and infrastructure to ensure longer-term sustainability. The INGO recognized the opportunity to investigate the structure and effectiveness of the SFIs to bridge the humanitarian-development-peace nexus (Triple Nexus).
The proposed presentation will cover the development and findings of a theoretical study conducted by an independent research team on SFIs, the Triple Nexus and the INGO’s implementation of SFIs in five Southern African countries from 2017 to 2022. In addition, the organization asked the team to investigate the SFI’s impact on cross-cutting issues of gender-based violence (GBV), resilience, and sustainability/climate change. The team conducted a desk review of the INGO Country Offices’ proposals and implementation reports as well as interviews with key INGO stakeholders on the ground from December 2022 to June 2023. This research is the basis for a larger empirical study that will inform the INGO and humanitarian response and development assistance actors on the effectiveness of SFI programs to achieve the multisectoral goals of the 2030 SDGs.
The INGO’s county offices have implemented SFIs around the world for over a decade predominately within emergencies contexts in Southern Africa. Besides the drought, these country face complex and overlapping crises of conflict, global financial impacts, and flooding. As a result, people living in these areas suffer from increasingly dire food insecurity impacting children who show signs of stunting and malnourishment. With limited economic resources, families are unable to support their children’s school attendance and school enrollment drops. Children are expected to work in order to support their families and girls are married-off for dowery or to reduce the economic burden on the family. Children have also turned to detrimental activities such as drug dealing and transactional sex.
Research has shown that SFIs improve students’ readiness to learn by improving the nutritional status and overall health of children thereby reducing absenteeism and supporting increased learning. As a social safety net, SFIs can strengthen the economic livelihoods of households and communities by supporting smallholder farmers and local markets, in turn creating increased access for children to enroll in school. If structured and implemented well, SFIs provide the means to bridge the Triple Nexus. During crises, SFIs may be quickly implemented and scaled up to provide immediate relief while encouraging students to stay in school. The initiatives can strengthen civil society and government action in response to children’s educational needs and development. Lastly, SFIs can address cross-cutting issues such as climate change, gender-based violence and student resilience to future crises. The World Food Program has shown that SFIs touch upon achieving eight of the seventeen 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The authors include a ninth, Goal number 6, clean water, and sanitation (AUDA-NEPAD, 2022).
The research team’s analysis found significant strengths and weaknesses when applying the Triple Nexus lens to the SFI. Strengths included training, collaboration and coordination with government, non-governmental and community representatives which garnered engagement and support to implement SFIs. Some Country Offices and local communities were able to seek out private-public partnerships. And Country Offices were able to engage school communities in establishing school gardens, with community members adopting some of the agricultural practices that were taught and implemented. Weaknesses were identified as to the sustainability of the SFCs and the school gardens. Reports indicated that SFC had to be reformed or members were unavailable when funding was not available, or when other opportunities arose for teachers and parents to make needed money. Also, INGO County Offices found it difficult to engage communities that were transient, such Internally Displaced or Refugees. During the emergency phase, SFI funding was provided from external donors, with the expectation that internal funding structures would be developed, especially through Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) initiatives. However, the researchers found that Country Offices considered school gardens as HGSF, overlooking the long-term strategy of developing sustainable agricultural markets. Lastly, the SFI projects did not incorporate a structured approach to disaster risk identification and preparedness to strengthen community resilience.
Based on its analysis, the research team recommended the INGO adopt longer-term and broader goals from the outset of the emergency response for SFIs to include “Readiness to Learn” as well as a cohesive funding strategy. Readiness to learn is a three-pronged approach that weaves together the complementary benefits of nutrition, health interventions, and WASH to ensure that students receive the full benefit of school meals as well as have the necessary level of overall health to attend and participate in the education process. The longer-term outlook for funding provides stability and flexibility to phase out external support as local systems are established. Lastly, the analysis found that the SFIs did not incorporate cross-cutting issues effectively and provided recommendations on how these areas can be improved.

Authors

• Anne S Corwith, United Way of the National Capital Area

• Kella Merlain-Moffatt, Teachers College at Columbia University

• Pascal Pax Andebo, University of Maryland College of Education