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Successes and Challenges of Implementing USDA McGovern-Dole-funded Food-for-Education Programmes in the Asia/Pacific Region (August 2019)

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Bangladesh
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WFP
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A Review of Key Findings from WFP Programme Evaluations in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Nepal during 2013-2018

Introduction

This exercise was commissioned by WFP’s Regional Bureau Bangkok (RBB) in response to two requests:

i) one from WFP’s Regional Evaluation Committee (REvCO) for RBB to provide learning opportunities for Country Offices implementing McGovern-Dole monitoring and evaluation (M&E) requirements, and ii) one of the recommendations of the McGovern-Dole Endline Evaluation of WFP’s Food for Education (FFE) programme in Cambodia (2013-2016). The recommendation was to undertake a meta-analysis of the successes and weaknesses of the USDA McGovernDole Programme approach to school feeding across the Asia/Pacific region. After discussions among Programme and M&E staff at RBB and with the four Country Offices who were implementing McGovern-Dole funded FFE programmes in the region at the time of this exercise (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Nepal), it was concluded that a summary of the key learnings from previously conducted McGovern-Dole evaluations would be most beneficial for school feeding activities in the Asia/Pacific region.

Objectives and Questions

The main objective of this exercise is to learn from the evaluations conducted in McGovern-Dole programme countries in the Asia/Pacific region. By reviewing evaluation findings using a common analytical framework, RBB is aiming to provide Country Offices with insights on the strengths and weaknesses of the McGovern-Dole approach to school feeding and highlight regional learning.

The aim of this exercise is to answer the following questions:

  1. Have McGovern-Dole funded school feeding programmes achieved their objectives to improve literacy, and increase the use of health and dietary practices during the time period 2013-2018?

  2. Have McGovern-Dole funded school feeding programmes in the Asia/Pacific region enabled governments to successfully transition to nationallly-owned school feeding programmes during the time period 2013-2018?

  3. What are the factors that positively or negatively influenced the ability of the programmes to reach their objectives?

The findings of this exercise have the primary purpose of providing a basis for discussions among the M&E and programme teams of the relevant Country Offices and RBB on how their programmes can be strengthened.
There is also potential for the findings to contribute to the WFP Regional School Feeding Strategy.