ASSESSING THE CAPACITY FOR A SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM HAITI CAPACITY ASSESSMENT REPORT

Transcription

1 ASSESSING THE CAPACITY FOR A SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM HAITI CAPACITY ASSESSMENT REPORT Port-au-Prince, February

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2

3 GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AECID ANC BND BTF CNMP CFSAM CNSA CORDAID CRS DHS EC EFA EMOP FAO FEWS NET GDP GIS GRAFHES HDI HQ IDB IFAD IHSI IICA IRD Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation Afè Nèg Combite (a local association) Bureau Nutrition et Développement Brazilian Trust Fund Commission Nationale des Marches Publics Comprehensive Food Security Assessment & Monitoring Coordination Nationale de la Sécurité Alimentaire (National Coordination for Food Security) Catholic Organization for Relief & Development Aid Catholic Relief Services Demographic Health Surveys European Community Education for All Emergencies Operations United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Famine Early Warning Systems Network Gross Domestic Product Geographic Information Systems Groupe d Action pour l Habilitation Economique et Sociale de la Famille Haïtienne Human Development Index Head Quarters Inter-American Development Bank International Fund for Agricultural Development Institut Haïtien de Statistique et d'informatique Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura International Relief & Development 3

4 MARNDR M&E Ministère de l'agriculture, des Ressources Naturelles et du Développement Rural (Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development) Monitoring and Evaluation MENFP Ministere de l'education Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle (Ministry of National Education and Professional Trainning) MSPP FNDE NGO ONAPAM PIU PRRO PRSP TWG UFAPL UN UNDP UNESCO UNICEF USAID VAM WB WFP Ministere de la Sante Publique et de la Population (Ministry of Public Health and Population) Fundo Nacional de Desenvolvimento da Educação (National Fund for Education Development Non-governmental organization Office National du Programme Alimentaire Mondial Project Implementation Unit Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Technical Working Group Unité de Facilitation des Achats des Produits Locaux (Facilitation Unit of Local Procurement) United Nations United Nations Development Programme United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations Children s Fund United States Agency for International Development Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping World Bank World Food Programme 4

5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document is the result of collaboration between the Government of Haiti, the World Food Programme and the Brazilian Government in support of the Haitian National School Feeding Program. It presents the results of a capacity assessment of the Programme National des Cantines Scolaires (PNCS) done in September-November of This study aims to assess the effectiveness and potential for sustainability of the existing national school feeding program and present recommendations on how to strengthen it further. It is expected to increase the knowledge base of the school feeding program in Haiti and to help the government make appropriate decisions in the near future. This analysis is done in the context of one of Haiti s most challenging years in recent history. Over the course of 2010, the country has had to respond to a devastating earthquake, a cholera epidemic and civil unrest. All of these events have highlighted the need for safety nets that can shield the most vulnerable from the impact of shocks. In this context, school feeding has emerged as a long term investment in human capital, and also one of the only safety nets in place which can quickly reach vulnerable households with much needed food and other supplies during recurrent shocks and disasters. The overall analytical framework guiding this study is based on the findings of the World Bank/WFP publication entitled Rethinking School Feeding: Safety Nets, Child Development and the Education Sector ; 1 on work done by the National Fund for Education and Development (FNDE); and on a tool developed by WFP entitled the School Feeding Capacity Assessment. The tool was adapted for the Haitian context and measures seven capacity areas which are: 1) whether there are strong government policies defining school feeding; 2) whether there is sufficient government funding for the program; 3) if the program is based on sound design; 4) strong national implementation capacity; 5) whether the program has links with local agricultural production; 6) if there are strong intersectorial linkages and partnerships; and 7) whether there is community involvement. Field work for this assessment began in the month of October, around the time of the cholera outbreak and the hurricane that hit the country in November. These two unforeseen events prevented the team from doing all the site visits that were planned. Some scheduled interviews with government officials had to be cancelled. Thus, the report does its best with the information that was available and highlights important gaps and areas that need to be investigated further. The main findings of this analysis are presented by capacity area, as are the recommendations. Main findings i. School feeding in government policies and frameworks The absence of a national school feeding policy and legal framework is the single most important threat to the sustainability of the program. Although official documents at national and sectoral levels mention school feeding, the government has yet to issue a specific school school feeding policy, which would 1 Bundy, et al Rethinking School Feeding: Safety Nets, Child Development and the Education Sector. Directions in Development. World Bank. 5

6 improve set standards for the program, create consensus over the program or galvanize support for more harmonized approach to the program in the country. ii. Government funding arrangements for school feeding There are three major concerns regarding the financial arrangements for the program. The first is that school feeding financing is not stable or institutionalized in the budgeting and planning process. School feeding is not included in the budget of the Ministry of Education. The second issue is that disbursements are made to the PNCS on a monthly basis and are always subject to fluctuations (the amounts that the PNCS gets are not necessarily the same from month to month and not always equivalent to the actual needs of the program). The system of monthly disbursements does not allow the PNCS to plan its procurement schedule properly, forcing it to buy food at times when the prices of the commodities may be higher, and severely impacting the cost effectiveness of the program. The third concern is that eventhough the government finances part of the program, school feeding in Haiti is still heavily dependant on donor contributions, which are often not multi-year commitments and therefore vulnerable to changes in donor priorities. iii. The design of the school feeding program implemented by the government Despite the fact that the government has done tremendous efforts to reach as many children as possible with a meal at school, there are several issues regarding the design of the program which need attention and could be improved. The existence of a school feeding policy would certainly help in defining the objectives of the program as well as the nutritional standards and the targeting criteria, which at the moment are not clearly defined or applied. While the PNCS has done a remarkable job at including locally produced foods into the food basket, a nutritional analysis of the food baskets has not been done. Lastly, the actual and standardized cost of PNCS s programme has not been adequately calculated, since PNCS has only made an estimate, which is not sufficient for planning purposes. iv. Government institutional and implementation capacity Unlike many other developing countries, Haiti has a national institution in charge of school feeding, which is already a signal of strong government capacity for the program. Despite this impressive achievement, the PNCS is still not properly institutionalized within the structures of the Ministry of Education. As a result, it does not have the autonomy to oversee and coordinate all school feeding efforts in the country, including making certain crucial operational decisions and coordinating with partners. In terms of staffing, PNCS has a strong operational component but does not have enough technical experts on management, nutrition, monitoring and evaluation and planning. In terms of its business model and administrative arrangements, the program is excessively centralized, lacks clear guidelines and procedures for finance, planning, storage, nutritional standards and school level operational requirements. Importantly, PNCS has not developed appropriate quality control standards. The quality control conducted by PNCS is done only in relation to the sensory aspects of the food (appearance, color, presence of dirt and insects). Food is not submitted to laboratories for analysis of physic-chemical and microbiological conditions. Finally, PNCS faces some important challenges with the monitoring and evaluation of the program. It has been difficult to determine whether PNCS has a monitoring and results framework with clear output and outcome indicators that are being tracked. The system of information flow from the schools to PNCS could also be improved. 6

7 v. Links between local agricultural production and school feeding There is increasing interest in supporting the local purchase agenda of the government and already some early successes in the form of pilot projects or full blown schemes. Despite several promising initial activities such as WFP s milk pilot project and BND s processing capacity, there are some significant challenges that need to be tackled. The government s capacity to lead and coordinate efforts is still very weak. There are still few concrete mechanisms of coordination among all the actors and institutions involved with the agricultural sector, specially the local producers, which would allow a better articulation of efforts and foster a better environment for their development. One of the main impediments for the strengthening and improvement of the local production schemes in the country, including the supply for the school feeding market, has been the lack of stable funding, which if available, could enable farmers, associations or NGO s to invest in improved technologies, diversify and improve the quality of their products and reduce prices. Another specific challenge, especially in the case of school feeding, is the law of public contracts which force the PNCS to buy through public tenders which are very difficult for small farmers or small production companies to compete in. It is clear that stonger leadership from the Ministry of Agriculture, a better coordination among the partners including PNCS, and an analysis of the legal and institutional impediments to local purchase are needed. vi. Partnerships and inter-sectorial coordination PNCS has several partners for the implementation of the school feeding programme in the country: WFP, the WB, USAID, Brazil and more than 25 national and international NGO s. Dialog among all partners, donors, private sector and local representatives has begun in order to strengthen the institutional and intersectorial mechanisms of PNCS. The process of coordination and harmonization has just started, but it still needs to be strengthened and PNCS still has to take the lead in this process. The Conseil National de Cantines Scolaires does not have a structured agenda of work and it has ceased to be operational recently, therefore not being able to support PNCS in its role as coordinator and leader of the school feeding programme in the country. The School Feeding Technical Working Group, meant as a coordination mechanism between the PNCS and partners and donors, met twice in 2010 but has yet to be formalized and develop a workplan of its own. These two coordination groups need to be institutionalized within the framework of the Ministry of Education. vii. Community involvement Even though the creation of a School Canteen Management Committee is a requirement, not all schools have implemented one and even when they do, the committee might not be very active. Some reasons for this might be lack of sufficient sensitization and training and infrequent visits from the food monitor to the schools. Also, the cash contribution that is asked for parents might be a burden to some families. Recommendations i. School feeding in government policies and frameworks 1. PNCS, with the help of its partners and the support of the CNCS, should draft a policy document and engage in active policy and advocacy process with political leaders, public officials and civil society to get that policy approved. It is important that the policy clearly defines the rationale and objectives of the program, the nutritional standards, implementation arrangements (including the role and mandate of the PNCS), output and outcome indicators and funding. The policy should also outline what the mechanisms for coordination among partners and sectors will be. 7

8 ii. Funding arrangements for school feeding 2. A realistic figure on the annual cost of school feeding needs to be calculated based on the number of beneficiaries, food basket and duration of the school year, that would clearly include costs for food, as well as management, training and M&E and, at the same time, be in accordance with the realistic government s funding conditions. The methodology for costing the program should be discussed with partners and standardized. 3. The Ministry of Finance should consider changing the way PNCS s disbursements are made. Instead of disbursing money monthly, a trimestral or semestral option could be explored, to allow PNCS to plan its procurement according to the best conditions in the market. 4. PNCS could lead a discussion with the donors to secure a multi-year commitment for school feeding. An important leverage point would be if PNCS agrees to a series of milestones to increase the efficiency of its program, such as a revision of its business procedures and organigram, a national policy, and a costing exercise to determine its real operational needs. iii. The design of the school feeding program implemented by the government 5. It is important that PNCS develops the programme s standards and guidelines, with clear goals, objectives, targeting criteria based on proper targeting methodology, food baskets, as well as operational, planning, storage, M&E and quality control strategies for implementation at all levels. 6. PNCS should clearly identify the composition, caloric and nutritional content of all the food baskets provided in the schools by PNCS. Universities could provide technical support on this. It is also extremely important that PNCS develop adequate quality control standards that would include physicchemical and microbiological analysis. 7. Given the fact that the actual cost of the PNCS s programme has not been adequately calculated, a thorough cost analysis of the government's school feeding could be conducted to select the most appropriate type of intervention, including procedures for implementation, management and monitoring. 8. It is recommended that PNCS develop a results-based monitoring system that could collect outputs and outcomes data. The system should be harmonized among all partners implementing school feeding programs in the country. iv. Government institutional and implementation capacity 9. There is a need to strengthen PNCS overall business model and management procedures. In this sense, a management review could be done in order to design a specific capacity development plan with partners. Technical expertise at national and regional level is needed on the following areas: supply, quality control, logistics, financial management and auditing, as well as sensitization and participatory approach with the community. 10. In order to make PNCS more efficient and effective, steps must be taken towards the strengthening of its departamental structures, which can be assigned, over time, wider responsibilities in the operation 8

9 and M&E of the programme. It would be important to carry out a logistic review in order to clearly identify how much food PNCS handle, what their capacity is and whether they have that capacity. 11. The current monitoring and evaluation system of PNCS needs to be strengthened at national and regional levels. PNCS implementing partners, such as WFP, USAID and the WB need to harmonize their systems with that of the PNCS and could provide assistance to build PNCS capacity through technical and financial assistance. v. Links between local agricultural production and school feeding 12. The Ministry of Agriculture should be supported with technical expertise in consolidating the local purchase unit and in establishing an institutional model of local procurement, as well as a coordination structure among all the relevant sectors and partners. 13. In order to support the government in its objective to increase the amount of locally produced foods being used in the school feeding programme small purchase pilot schemes could be initiatied (much in the same manner as those already in motion) in different areas of the country. It is recommended that an assessment mission be put together with the objective of analyzing the possible options in depth, choosing one or two regions in the country for the pilot(s), assess the local production capacity and quality of products, and determine whether the products are nutritionally acceptable for children in schools. The assessment mission could be composed of, at a minimum, a local purchase expert, an agriculture expert, a nutritionist, and a school feeding expert. 14. Given the difficulties imposed by the requirements of the Law of Public Contracts, it is extremely important to create alternative strategies and mechanisms of commercialization aimed directly towards the local producers. In that sense, the local purchase unit and the CNCS could start the process of advocacy for the creation of legal and institutional frameworks to facilitate the access of rural enterprises and organizations to procurement by public institutions. vi. Partnerships and inter-sectorial coordination 15. Coordination between the PNCS and the different ministries, implementing partners and donors needs to be strengthened and formalized. The PNCS could work on strengthening the existent Conseil National de Cantines Scolaires to facilitate coordination not only between PNCS and the Ministry of Education, but also with other ministries involved with school feeding and children s health: Economy and Finance, Planning, Health, Agriculture, Social protection. It could also take the lead in the School Feeding Technical Working Group with partners, develop a workplan for the group and ensure monthly meetings to ensure proper coordination and harmonization. vii. Community involvement 16. It is recommended that PNCS develop guidelines that clearly define the roles of the School Canteen Management Committee, the parents and the community on the school feeding programme and that these guidelines are harmonized among PNCS and all implementing partners. Since the Committee's role is crucial for the proper execution of the programme in the schools and the good quality of food, it is recommended that steps be taken to ensure that all schools that receive school meals have a Committee implemented and active. 9

10 I. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY This document is the result of collaboration between the Government of Haiti, the World Food Programme and the Brazilian Government in support of the Haitian National School Feeding Program. It presents the results of a capacity assessment of the Programme National des Cantines Scolaires (PNCS) done in September-November of The study aims to assess the capacity of the PNCS to manage and implement a universal national school feeding program and to provide recommendations on how to strengthen the program s effectiveness and potential for sustainability. This analysis is done in the context of one of Haiti s most challenging years in recent history. Over the course of 2010, the country has had to respond to a devastating earthquake, a cholera epidemic and civil unrest. All of these events have highlighted the need for safety nets that can shield the most vulnerable from the impact of shocks. In this context, school feeding has emerged as a long term investment in human capital, and also one of the only safety nets in place which can quickly reach vulnerable households with much needed food and other supplies during recurrent shocks and disasters. A few days after the January 2010 earthquake, the national school feeding program was one of the first to respond with food distributions to the affected population. Most stakeholders recognize its important role in rebuilding the education sector which was particularly hard-hit by the earthquake. It also encouraged highly traumatized school-aged vulnerable children to access food while restoring access to education in shock affected areas. During the cholera epidemic, the school feeding network, with more than 20 national and international NGO s, has been used by the Ministry of Education to distribute preventative messages, water purification tablets, soap and other disinfecting material. Due to its crucial role, strengthening the Haitian school feeding program s effectiveness and sustainability is very important to the government and to the partners which currently support it. School feeding is not new in Haiti. The country has a long history of commitment to the program. School feeding started with the assistance of WFP in the 1980 s. In 1997 the government created the Programme National des Cantines Scolaires (PNCS) signaling the start of a transition towards government ownership. The transition towards sustainability was well under way until the period of 2001 to 2006 when political instability in the country forced the PNCS and many other national institutions to scale down its activities almost to the point of closing down. With the return of political stability since 2006, the PNCS has increased its operations and is in the process of strengthening its dual role of coordinator and implementer of school feeding in the country. This analysis is informed by the history of school feeding in the country in the sense that it recognizes past efforts to build a more sustainable program and aims to provide insights into what might be the next steps along the road to sustainability. The history of the program also evidences the challenges of achieving sustainability in the Haitian context. The commitment to school feeding is still present today. Currently, school feeding has been included in the National Plan for the Reconstruction of Haiti; in the Recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Education; in the Operational Plan of the Ministry of Education; and it has also been identified by the Ministry of Agriculture as a powerful engine of growth for the agriculture sector. The government has also allocated a significant portion of resources to school feeding over the last few years (USD 8 million yearly on average). 10

11 However, despite past and recent efforts, and PNCS leadership, school feeding in Haiti is still almost entirely dependent on donor contributions and on implementing partners for its day-to-day operations. While donor support is expected to continue to be the main source of funding for the program for several years to come, there is a need continue supporting the government in the path towards sustainability that began several years ago by integrating the best practices and lessons learned from actors like WFP, the World Bank and Brazil at an international level. This assessment is done in the wider context of a growing partnership between the PNCS, WFP, Brazil, Canada and the World Bank. Since after the earthquake, the five partners have joined forces to support the national government in making a transition to sustainable school feeding program. Each partner is in the process of identifying its own comparative advantages with respect to the school feeding program in Haiti. Specifically, this assessment is done with the support of Brazil, which has found a niche in the areas of capacity development, policy support and local purchase for school feeding. In 2008, Brazil created a Trust Fund with the WFP to support WFP's efforts to expand and improve existing national school feeding programs in developing countries taking advantage of the successful Brazilian experience with school feeding. This study aims to assess the effectiveness and potential for sustainability of the existing national school feeding program and present recommendations on how to strengthen it further. It is expected to increase the knowledge base of the school feeding program in Haiti and to help the government make appropriate decisions in the near future. After a brief description of the methodology that was used, the report describes the four types of school feeding programs being implemented concurrently in Haiti and then assesses the capacity of the government to run its own school feeding program. The report ends with some key recommendations. 11

12 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY Analytical framework The overall analytical framework guiding this study is based on the findings of the World Bank/WFP publication entitled Rethinking School Feeding: Safety Nets, Child Development and the Education Sector, 2 which established that the main preconditions for sustainability are essentially five: 1) the policy framework, 2) the national capacity to manage and implement the program, 3) the financial capacity of the government; 4) sound design of the program; and 5) the link to local agricultural production. Another important piece of work guiding this study is the one done by the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE), which is the Brazilian national institution in charge of the school feeding. The FNDE has also developed a list of what they consider are the ten key elements for the implementation of a sustainable national school feeding programs (Balaban & Peixinho, date). The elements are: political will and commitment, sound diagnosis, clear guidelines and principles, a comprehensive implementation strategy, a legal framework, a culturally sensitive design and implementation, community participation and control, and sufficient training and permanent assessment and monitoring processes. These two analyses imply in their findings that the conditions for sustainability are the result of long term national processes and that countries may sometimes need help in achieving them. The World Bank/WFP book describes the transition to sustainability that has been found in many countries around the world. The transition is a process through which school feeding programs in countries go from relying mostly on donor resources and implementation support to being fully funded and managed by government institutions. This study aims to assess where Haiti is in that transition and then to shed light on possible strategies that may be used to move the country further along the path of sustainability. Methodology WFP s School Feeding Capacity Assessment Tool was used to evaluate the capacities of the government with respect to school feeding in a participatory way. The tool incorporates the preconditions for sustainability and the ten key elements described above and is based on the 8 Quality Standards for sustainable school feeding identified by WFP and highlighted in WFP s School Feeding Policy. The instrument reviews the current status of school feeding in the country, highlighting what has been achieved and what has not been achieved in terms of the quality areas for sustainability. The tool was adapted for the Haitian context and measures seven capacity areas which are: 1) whether there are strong government policies defining school feeding; 2) whether there is sufficient government funding for the program; 3) if the program is based on sound design; 4) strong national implementation capacity; 5) whether the program has links with local agricultural production; 6) if there are strong intersectorial linkages and partnerships; and 7) whether there is community involvement. The assessment was conducted according to the following steps: 2 Bundy, et al Rethinking School Feeding: Safety Nets, Child Development and the Education Sector. Directions in Development. World Bank. 12

13 1. Preparatory Phase: the team of two consultants performed a literature review of national and international government policies and strategies related to food, nutrition and health issues, nutrition and food security, school feeding programs, local agriculture and local procurement, as well as specific documents of PNCS. 2. Field research: Interviews with stakeholders and key players directly or indirectly involved with the school feeding in the country and with social actors involved with local purchases and local production. Participatory sessions were held with all department heads of the PNCS, in order to make a detailed analysis of the situation of each service, to know the staff and their roles and to assess the main challenges found in each service. Visits to two public schools, one in the Western Department and one in Port au Prince. A farmer s association in Kenskoff was also visited. Two consultants were hired to undertake this study together with the PNCS, thanks to Brazilian funding. One of them is an expert on the Brazilian school feeding program and was responsible for embedding the best practices and lessons learned from the Brazillian experience into the analysis and the recommendations. The cholera outbreak that started in October and the hurricane that hit the country in November prevented the team from doing all the site visits that were planned. Some scheduled interviews with government officials had to be cancelled. Thus, the report highlights areas where information was not available or not sufficient. The methodology and the participatory approach developed for this assessment are detailed in the Annex X (see Development of Assessment Methodology). II. SCHOOL FEEDING IN HAITI TODAY Under the leadership of the PNCS several stakeholders are currently providing support to school feeding in the country. Partners include World Food Programme, World Bank, Brazil, USAID and at least 25 national and international NGO s that support the implementation. This section presents a description of the four different school feeding programs in the country as an overview of the entire landscape of school feeding in Haiti. Later, the capacity assessment portion of this study will focus on the school feeding program implemented by the PNCS, which represents roughly 23% of the total school feeding caseload in the country. SCHOOL FEEDING IN HAITI TODAY At the moment, PNCS directly provides school feeding for 250,000 children with government resources and some 50,000 children with World Bank resources. Additionally, WFP is reaching almost 800,000 children and USAID is assisting another 50,000 children with school meals. In total, the government and partners are reaching 1.1 million children in Haiti, out of an estimated 2.2 million school children. The implementation of school feeding in Haiti varies by funding agency. There are essentially four independent operating models in the country, each with its own characteristics, advantages and trade-offs. As figure 1 illustrates, PNCS coordinates at a national level and operates its own program, while the World Bank, WFP and USAID have their own parallel operating mechanisms. 13

14 Figure 1. CURRENT SCHOOL FEEDING ARRANGEMENTS IN HAITI PNCS g d in u n F P C NS World Bank WFP USAID PIU/WB n tio ta n e m p le Im NGO s NGO s NGO Schools (250,000 child.) Schools (50,000 child) Schoo ls (800,000 child.) Schoo ls (50,000 child.) The PNCS programme is operated with funds from the national budget and the implementation modality is centralized. The responsibility for implementation, procurement, logistics and monitoring and evaluation lies with the PNCS at its headquarters in Port au Prince. When food is purchased, it is moved to PNCS warehouses in PaP and then distributed to the schools. The programmes supported by WFP, the World Bank and USAID rely on NGO s for implementation (about 25 national and international NGO s). The programme funded by World Bank is managed by a Project Implementation Unit in the Ministry of Education, under supervision of the PNCS. WFP and USAID s programmes are managed directly by the organizations. Thus, all programmes establish parallel administrative structures at the margins of the PNCS although in varying degrees. Although the World Bank s project is housed inside the government, disbursements are made directly from the World Bank to NGO s with very little involvement from PNCS. WFP s program is managed entirely outside of government structures. With different objectives, food baskets and targeting criteria, programs supported by partners lack harmonization. The PNCS and World Bank programmes use mainly local purchases (although purchases mainly include imported food). WFP and USAID rely on in-kind food aid and on international procurement. As a result, WFP s operation is cost efficient (22 cents per child per day) while the World Bank s model is in the high range of 14

15 school feeding costs using recent benchmarks (66 cents per child per day). 3 Data is not available at the moment regarding the per capita cost of USAID s programme. The World Bank funded project also suffers from unstable disbursements, which has impacted its implementation throughout the school year. As of July, the project has only disbursed 1.18 million dollars of the 4 million that were budgeted for the school year. To compensate for this, NGO s have been distributing food to the children throughout the year out of their own stocks and funding and have yet to be reimbursed. Table 1. below summarizes the characteristics, advantages and trade-offs of the different programs. Technical sheets with operational characteristics of each of the programs can be found in Annex I. Table 1. School feeding modalities PNCS World Bank WFP USAID Beneficiaries 250,000 50, ,000 45,000 Funding National budget Education for All Various donors/food Food aid/us funding aid Implementation Centralized PNCS Outsourced WFP/NGO s NGO modality Procurement modality Cost Main issues Local procurement sometimes imported food 1 dollar/child/day estimate Strong government commitment and political will Weak capacity for coordination and implementation Unstable budget leads to unreliable implementation NGO s Local procurement sometimes imported food International procurement Food aid inkind 66 cents/child/day 22 cents/child/day Not available Local procurement may stimulate local production (when food not imported) NGO s capacity for procurement may be limited Least costeffective Strong implementation, logistics,procureme nt capacity Most cost effective Current procurement does not stimulate local markets Not available 3 For school meals the average per capita cost per year is $0.40, with a range between $0.20 and $0.60. For more information see: Bundy and Burbano et.al. Rethinking School Feeding: Social Safety Nets, Child Development and the Education Sector. World Bank

16 III. CAPACITY ASSESSMENT OF THE PROGRAMME NATIONAL DE CANTINES SCOLAIRES While there are at least four major implementation models for school feeding in the country as seen above, this section focuses only on the one managed by the PNCS. However, the best practices of the programs being implemented by other partners certainly need to be taken into consideration while thinking about a sustainability strategy for school feeding in Haiti. It concentrates on the strengths and weaknesses of the program in terms of enhancing or negatively affecting its potential for sustainability. The results of this assessment are expected to feed into a national school feeding sustainability strategy, led by the PNCS and supported by partners. As mentioned in the methodology section, this assessment is based on seven factors identified by WFP as being key to achieving sustainability, which are the following: i) whether there are strong government policies defining school feeding; ii) whether there is sufficient government funding for the program; iii) if the program is based on sound design; iv) strong national implementation capacity; v) whether the program has links with local agricultural production; vi) if there are strong intersectorial linkages and partnerships; and vii) whether there is community involvement. This section presents an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the national school feeding program divided by each of these seven areas. Each area includes an explanation of why the particular aspect is important to the sustainability of school feeding (in a box) and then an analysis of the situation in Haiti. i. School feeding in government policies and frameworks National planning for school feeding should ensure that the government has identified the most appropriate role for school feeding in its development agenda. The degree to which school feeding is articulated in national policy and budgeting frameworks varies from country to country, but a policy basis for the programme helps strengthen its potential for sustainability and the quality of implementation.they help institutionalize the programs, define the rationale and objectives of the program and may provide an environment in which resources may be more easily found by governments. School feeding has been recognized since 2007 as a key element in national policies. The National Strategy for Action for Education for All recognizes the improvement of health and nutritional level of primary school students and recommends the implementation of school feeding, de-worming, supplementation of vitamin A, training of kitchen staff on food hygiene, establishing close links to local agricultural production, and capacity development for the PNCS. School feeding is also mentioned in the National Plan on Food and Nutrition Security, in the National Plan for the Reconstruction of Haiti and the Recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Education. These last two documents recognize school canteens as an important strategy to ensure school attendance and to help the most vulnerable households recover after a crisis. The Recommendations of the Presidential Commission were recently translated into the operational plan of the Ministry of Education, in which school meals are identified as key elements for the retention of children at schools because it acts as a safety net and an instrument for nutrition improvement and better school achievement of the children. 16

17 Finally, the National Nutrition Policy draft is currently under discussion with all the partners for comments and will be finalized in This policy recommends the delivery of adequate and sufficient food in preschools and primary schools and the prevention of infectious and parasitic diseases. Although official documents at national and sectoral levels mention school feeding, the government has yet to issue a specific school school feeding policy and strengthen its legal framework for the program. This is the single most important threat to the sustainability and stability of the program and to an efficient implementation. The absence of a specific national policy on school feeding has affected the implementation and sustainability of the program by, for example, propagating several different models of school feeding in the country, each with its own objectives, targeting criteria and nutritional requirements. Due to this, PNCS has very little capacity or authority to set standards for the program, create consensus over the program or galvanize support for its own operation. It has also hampered the ability of the PNCS to coordinate a more harmonized approach to the program in the country. ii. Government funding arrangements for school feeding Stable funding is a prerequisite for sustainability. Typically, governments plan and budget for their priorities on an annual basis based on a national planning process. The degree to which school feeding is included in this planning and budgeting process will determine whether the programme gets resources from the national budget and whether it benefits from general budget support allocations. In countries were implementation is supported by external partners, multi year funding commitments may help in guaranteeing the stability of the program and a well planned transition to government financing. The Haitian government has allocated funding for school feeding since the creation of PNCS in A current budget of 265 millions Gourdes (US$ 5,875 Million) comes from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, signaling government commitment and political will to the program and setting it apart from many other developing countries which have yet to budget for school feeding operations. However, despite this impressive effort there are three major concerns in terms of the financial sustainability of the program. The first is that school feeding financing is not stable or institutionalized in the budgeting and planning process. School feeding is not included in the budget of the Ministry of Education. It is instead financed directly by the Ministry of Economy and Finance through a subvention, which varies year to year and is vulnerable to sudden changes in priorities. The second issue is that disbursements are made to the PNCS on a monthly basis and are always subject to fluctuations (the amounts that the PNCS gets are not necessarily the same from month to month and not always equivalent to the actual needs of the program). The system of monthly disbursements does not allow the PNCS to plan its procurement schedule properly, forcing it to buy food at times when the prices of the commodities may be higher. In addition, frequent disbursement delays and shortfalls cause food supply disruption. Due to these problems, PNCS is not able to reach the 250,000 children regularly. Strategies to cope with the frequent shortfalls include reducing the size of the ration, reducing the number of schools reached every month, discontinuing distributions and relying on inkind donor contributions. The third concern is that eventhough the government finances part of the program, school feeding in Haiti is still heavily dependant on donor contributions, which are often not multi-year commitments and therefore vulnerable to changes in donor priorities. The current major donors to school feeding are detailed below in Table 5. 17

18 Implementing entity/ funding agency Table 5. Beneficiary numbers by partner ( ) Estimated number of beneficiaries PNCS 250,000 5,875 WFP 800, World Bank 50,000 4 USAID 45,000 3 Total 1,145,000 43,875 Estimated budgetary contribution (USD million) iii. The design of the school feeding program implemented by the government School feeding programmes should be designed based on a correct assessment of the situation in a particular country. In general, school feeding has the following elements in terms of its design: defined objectives, clear targeting criteria, sound food basket corresponding to the objectives and the nutritional requirements of the population, and cost-effective modalities. Due to the absence of a national policy on school feeding, the objectives of Haiti s school feeding program have not been clearly defined or formalized. Informally the objectives of the program are related to increasing access to education and providing a safety net to vulnerable families but they have not been explicitly mentioned anywhere. The school feeding program in Haiti is targeted. PNCS first prioritizes the public schools (20% of all the schools in the country), then the religious ones. Some private schools are also covered. However, the targeting criteria of PNCS are not clear. There is a lack of explicit geographical targeting criteria and a proper targeting methodology. PNCS has seven or more different types of food baskets. One is considered the basic food basket, comprised of cereal, beans and oil. The others are comprised of the main food basket with an extra ingredient, usually a locally produced item (milk, orange juice, cereal bar, banana flour, egg). The availability of these extras depends on funding as well as the availability and production capacity of the local producers. Although the inclusion of several locally produced foods is an important positive characteristic of the program, the composition of PNCS food baskets does not seem to have followed any nutritional guidelines nor is there a calculation available of their nutritional contribution in terms of caloric and nutritional content. It has also been difficult to determine the criteria of how these different food baskets are distributed to the schools (who gets what and why). It seems that the schools receive them when there is food available and when the extra is not available or when the funding runs out, the schools no longer receive them. The food provided by PNCS or its partners is not fortified, which is an important nutritional consideration. Lastly, the actual and standardized cost of PNCS s programme has not been adequately calculated, since PNCS has only made an estimate, which is not sufficient for planning purposes. The actual per capita cost of the program implemented by PNCS is difficult to calculate given unstable implementation. Based on a recent estimate program costs around 1 U$ dollar/ per child/ per day, almost four times as costly as WFP s programe (22 U$ cents/ per child/ per day). One of the reasons is because PNCS procures all food nationally, often at higher prices, whereas WFP procures internationally, at lower prices. Other factors that add up to the costs are the transportation of food to the regions and the fact that PNCS cannot plan its purchases when the prices of the food are the lowest in the local market. There has been 18

19 no rigorous analysis to date on the costs of the program and the various cost drivers along the supply chain. iv. Government institutional and implementation capacity When analyzing government implementation capacity, the following are the main important factors: i) whether there is an institution in charge of school feeding; ii) the staff capacity of the institution; iii) the insfrastructure and physical assets; iv) the capacity to control the quality of the food; v) the capacity to procure, store and move the food from one place to another in a cost effective and efficient way; iv) the capacity to monitor the implementation of the program. Unlike many other developing countries, Haiti has a national institution in charge of school feeding, which is already a signal of strong government capacity for the program. Currently, PNCS has two main offices and a staff numbering 150, who are mainly based in Port-au-Prince (108 people) and Cap Haitien (30 people). The remaining 12 food aid monitors work at the departments of South, South-East, North-West and Artibonite (see staffing details in Annex 6). PNCS has four large warehouses or silos with good storage capacity (each silo has 750 metric ton capacity) in Port-au-Prince, which are properly maintained and cleaned, but some of them need repair. In the regions, PNCS has three warehouses: a large deposit in Cap Haitien in the Northern department and two medium size warehouses in the North-West (one in Jean Rabel and the other in Bombardopolis). In addition, the programme has two mobile kitchens (a gift of the Dominican Republic), each equipped with three stoves, two pots steamers, three air conditioners, two gas cylinders of 100lbs and a water tank, which allows PNCS to deliver direct hot meals to some schools. Despite these impressive achievements, the PNCS is still not properly institutionalized within the structures of the Ministry of Education. As a result, it does not have the autonomy to oversee and coordinate all school feeding efforts in the country, including making certain crucial operational decisions and coordinating with partners. In terms of staffing, PNCS has a strong operational component (people that work in the warehouses, in transport and delivery) but does not have enough technical experts on management, nutrition, monitoring and evaluation and planning. The program lacks clear guidelines and procedures for planning, storage, nutritional standards and school level operational requirements. The institution is heavily centralized, with weak operational capacities in the regions. The office in Port au Prince is responsible for implementing the programme in all its stages including overseeing the food baskets, procuring and distributing the food across the country and doing the monitoring and evaluation. This highly centralized structure of PNCS compromises the coordination, implementation and monitoring of the programme at all levels. It may also be an important factor in increasing the per capita cost of the operation. A lot of the infrastructure, logistics and operational capacities, such as buildings, warehouses, vehicles, computer equipment, materials and documents were destroyed in the earthquake that hit the country in January Since then, PNCS lacks logistical, administrative capacity, as well as infrastructure. Also, there are insufficient resources to: strengthen the information processing system at the regional level; to provide computer equipment to field staff; to train and improve technical staff capacities; to purchase appropriate vehicles, fuel and computers for the regions, and office space for field staff. There is insufficient information on the procurement process followed by PNCS or whether it has procurement standards and procedures in place. No information is available at the moment in terms of 19