Assessing the impact of a school canteen program in primary schools in rural Senegal. In this PEP project, a team of researchers in Senegal set out to assess the impact of an experimental school canteen program on the performance of pupils in rural primary schools. 120 schools were selected in rural areas where the program had not yet been implemented. Half of these schools were assigned to receive the program (treatment group) and the other half, not (control group). This randomized controlled trial enabled the researchers to observe the actual effect of their feeding program on the students’ scores, on the schools’ rates of (grade) repetition and drop outs, as well as on other external, potentially unintended effects. The evidence produced by the team showed significant positive impact of the program on several aspects of schools’ and students’ performance, not to mention on the students’ nutrition. After they presented these findings to an audience of key national policy makers and stakeholders - especially from the Ministry of Education - as well as from some of the country’s development partners, the government decided to not only pursue but even scale-up the program, and double the number of school canteens to be implemented over the next three years. Moreover, the government decided to take further advantage of the researchers’ new skills in the use of scientific methods and techniques for impact evaluation, to have them assist the Department of Agriculture in improving policies implemented in the context of the new “REVA” (agriculture revitalization) plan. In the end, both initiatives have been linked, as the results from the initial PEP project have led the authorities to consider that, in addition to improving school performance and child nutrition, the school canteen program may also be used to boost local agricultural production. With canteen products purchased directly from local farmers, the welfare of the latter shall also be improved. More impact stories if you click the link below : pep-net.org/about/pep-impact-stories/
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 20:31:31 +0000
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