FOOD FOR EDUCATION, SCHOOL REFORM AND FOOD SECURITY:

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FOOD FOR EDUCATION, SCHOOL REFORM AND FOOD
SECURITY

• Making the Connections

Beryl Levinger
Education Development Center and
Monterey
Institute of International Studies
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Coming Attractions Four Main Ideas

• The universalization of primary school is a
  prerequisite for food security
• Food for education boosts primary school
  participation and, hence, food security
• The effects of primary school education on food
  security are greatest wherever quality
  standards are met however, important effects
  are present even when educational quality is
  modest
• Efforts to improve primary education
  participation (demand) and efforts to improve
  primary education quality (supply) are highly
  interrelated and mutually reinforcing both can
  be influenced by FFE

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A Cycle of Mutual Reinforcement
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Food security
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Access Individuals have cash or in-kind
resources to obtain enough food to meet dietary
and nutritional requirements
Attitudes Knowledge Related to
Consumption Choices Includes Factors Related
to Diet, Nutrition, Value, Calculation
of Purchase Cost/ Unit
SCHOOLING
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Access Individuals have cash or in-kind
resources to obtain enough food to meet dietary
and nutritional requirements
Knowledge, Skills Attitudes Favorable to Wage
Sector Employment Enhanced Livelihood Through
Informal Sector Channels to buy food
SCHOOLING
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Access Individuals have cash or in-kind
resources to obtain enough food to meet dietary
and nutritional requirements
Attitudes Favorable to Child Spacing Includ
es Linkage Between Familys Decision to Have
Children Ability to Provide for Them
SCHOOLING
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Access Individuals have cash or in-kind
resources to obtain enough food to meet dietary
and nutritional requirements
Attitudes Knowledge Conducive to Breast
Feeding Growth Monitoring
SCHOOLING
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Schooling Influences Food Availability
SCHOOLING
Attitudes Skills Related to Food Production
Partnering/ Cooperating with Others to
Increase Food Production
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Schooling Influences Utilization (making proper
biological use of food)
Proper Sanitation Practices
Health Care Facility Use
Proper Use of Water
Community Action for Health Sanitation
Proper Breast Feeding Practice
Proper Food Handling Preparation
Treatment of Parasitic Disease
Proper Child Care
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Food for Education Influences Schooling SUPPLY
and DEMAND
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Persistent Education SUPPLY Challenges

• Rationing of places due to low school plant
  absorptive capacity
• Irrelevant or inappropriate curriculum
• Tuition or fees charged
• High teacher absenteeism
• Insufficient attention to meeting the special
  needs of girls or other special needs groups
• Schools are too far from childrens homes
• School calendar or schedule is inappropriate to
  local production or cultural norms
• Minimal linkages between school and community

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Food for Education Can Boost Supply
Use food to improve teacher attendance
Use food to help community improve facilities
Use food to pay teachers to attend training
Use food to promote community involvement
Use food to help community build closer
facilities
Use food to offset opportunity costs of school
attendance
Use food to help pay teacher aides
Use food to build girl-friendly infrastructure
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Persistent Education DEMAND Challenges
Parents or children feel that

• Costs of school attendance are too high
• Too little learning takes place
• Students are likely to fail
• Schooling is culturally inappropriate
• Nothing useful is taught in school
• School facility does not meet girls needs

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Food for Education Can Boost DEMAND
Use food to help offset costs of school
attendance
Use food to create opportunities for parental
involvement
Use food to improve childrens active learning
capacity (ALC)
Use food as a resource to enhance classroom
learning
Use food to build links between school and home
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10 Education Reform Building Blocks
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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   1 Change
• Provide school lunches or snacks to alleviate
  short-term hunger
• Provide snacks that address micronutrient
  deficiencies associated with cognitive function

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   2 Change
• Improve water and sanitation with food aid
  incentives
• Build facilities closer to students with food aid
  incentives

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   3 Change
• Lengthen the school day and provide snacks to
  maintain attention
• Lengthen the school year and provide food to
  offset opportunity costs of attendance,
  especially for girls

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   4 Change
• Offer food incentives for community members to
  provide teacher housing
• Provide food to supplement teacher salaries or as
  a bonus for high performance
• Provide food to parent aides

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   5 Change
• Involve community members in the organization and
  management of school lunch or snack programs
• Use community involvement in school feeding as an
  entry point for building a richer set of
  school-community links

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   6 Change
• Use food aid to help pay for training teachers to
  work with the new curriculum
• Use food preparation as an opportunity to develop
  skills in food handling, storage, nutrition,
  sanitation and consumption choices

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   7 Change
• Introduce snacks to reduce short-term cognitive
  deficits that will impede satisfactory progress
  with a more challenging curriculum
• Integrate food preparation activities with other
  elements of the curriculum including math,
  science, social studies and art

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   8 Change
• Use school feeding program to build awareness of
  what goes on at school
• Use school feeding program to create PTAs that
  eventually have the capacity to insist on
  accountability for results

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   9 Change
• Montetize a portion of donated commodities
• Use proceeds to invest in quality

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Food for Education and the 10 Education Reform
Building Blocks

•   10 Create
• Contract with local food producers to stimulate
  demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables
• Make connections to health sector through
  deworming and vitamin A supplementation
• Work with agricultural extensionists to develop
  school gardens

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Contextualizing 4 Scenarios

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Conclusion
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THE END