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Article
Publication date: 7 January 2019

Issah Iddrisu, Muhideen Sayibu, Shuliang Zhao, Abdul-Rahim Ahmed and Amran Said Suleiman

In an attempt to tackle the incidence of poverty and social exclusion in the Ghanaian society, a number of social protection programmes including the school feeding programme is…

Abstract

Purpose

In an attempt to tackle the incidence of poverty and social exclusion in the Ghanaian society, a number of social protection programmes including the school feeding programme is introduced. The programme is designed to cater for the extreme poor and as well encourage enrolment and attendance in the country. The purpose of this paper is to assess the intention or objective for which the programme is initiated and the realities on the ground. It looks at whether the current beneficiaries are the extreme poor described in the policy document.

Design/methodology/approach

The study explored the incidence of poverty in Ghana using the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS6) and the Ghana School Feeding Annual Operation Plan (GSFAOP) with the help of the school feeding policy document to draw on actual beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries. The differences between percentages of poverty (2012/2013) and feeding schools was computed using GLSS6 and GSFAOP. The study also conducted a number of open-ended interviews with some stakeholders to validate the nature of recruitment of beneficiary schools.

Findings

The study concluded that there is a mismatch of potential beneficiaries and current beneficiaries using the referred data sources. It was found out that majority of beneficiary schools are located within areas of lesser incidence of poverty. This could be attributed to political interference in view of testimonies from respondents and the computerisation of GLSS6 and GSFAOP. The study therefore proposed that the allocation of feeding schools should be done to reflect the percentage of poverty situation in each region. This could be achieved when the district education office takes control. It will help minimise the level of politicisation and as well improve efficiency.

Originality/value

The study therefore highlighted the relevance of the school feeding programme and the inverse relationship it has with political interference. It again demonstrates the need to restructure the operations of the programme to meet the objective for which it was established.

Details

International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2396-7404

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 January 2018

Issah Iddrisu

Maintaining the success of educational institutions largely depends on the teacher. It is the teacher whose main efforts and contribution help in achieving the goals in education…

Abstract

Purpose

Maintaining the success of educational institutions largely depends on the teacher. It is the teacher whose main efforts and contribution help in achieving the goals in education. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the programme delivery and how involving the active participation of the teacher will help enhance effective and efficient delivery of the school feeding programme at the school level.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of ten basic schools were purposefully selected for the study with the use of the case study method. Interviews and observations were made in all the selected schools using a semi-structured interview guide. It was also done for some selected stakeholders within the study area under the school feeding programme.

Findings

There is an indication that teachers as managers and administrators of the school system are not actively involved in the feeding programme leading to an ineffective and efficient delivery. The school children do not get the best from the programme. There is a need to put teachers in charge of operations at the school level. This will improve trust and cooperation between caterers, students and opinion leaders. The structure at the school level should be redesigned making caterers answerable to the teacher. Teachers as implementers in the case of the capitation grant will enhance efficiency leading to the achievement of the goal of the programme.

Originality/value

The study underlines the importance, efficiency and influence of the teacher within the school system, in the operations of the school feeding programme and in the Ghanaian society.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2022

Nduka Elda Okolo-Obasi and Joseph Ikechukwu Uduji

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of NHGSFP…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of NHGSFP on rural communities in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 2,400 households were sampled across the six geopolitical regions of Nigeria.

Findings

The results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that NHGSFP makes significant contributions to improving the health and educational status of rural school children, stimulates job creation and boosts rural economy.

Practical implications

This implies that a well-designed and integrated Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) can make significant contributions to improving food security at the household level, spurring job creation and boosting agricultural markets.

Social implications

This suggests the need for a purposeful engagement and support from all stakeholders to ensure the success of HGSFP.

Originality/value

This research adds to the literature on school feeding in low-income countries. It concludes that school feeding programmes have been shown to directly increase the educational and nutritional status of recipient children and indirectly impact the economic and social lives of themselves and their family.

Details

Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1026-4116

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 March 2014

Kei Otsuki

This paper aims to examine the implications of the efforts to promote a quality-oriented economy that incorporates a vision of environmental sustainability and equitable social…

942

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the implications of the efforts to promote a quality-oriented economy that incorporates a vision of environmental sustainability and equitable social development.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis builds on a case study of food procurement in Brazil, which intended to improve the quality of food used in public schools. The case study follows ways that the promotion of quality food has localised the procurement operation, connecting smallholders to citizen-consumers.

Findings

The efforts to promote quality food procurement worked to shape reflexive governance in a decentralised political environment and create an institutional device based on cooperative civic participation and state engagement. However, this process highlighted socioeconomic inequality within the country due to uneven local capacities to connect good-quality services to the citizens' everyday places. The study identifies the following paths to tackle this unevenness: improvement of place-based infrastructure; promotion of trans-local cooperation; and building on the existing informal institutional arrangements.

Originality/value

The focus on quality and sustainability in general has been blind to the inequality in local capacities to define and promote the quality-oriented economy in the first place. Recognising inequality through a case study, the paper outlines specific ways for the author to link quality to trans-local equality.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 41 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2012

C.A. Agbon, O.O. Onabanjo and E.C. Okeke

The Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSHP) in Nigeria provides primary school pupils across the country with one meal daily. The purpose of this paper is to…

250

Abstract

Purpose

The Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSHP) in Nigeria provides primary school pupils across the country with one meal daily. The purpose of this paper is to standardize the HGSHP meals in Osun State and determine the energy, protein and mineral contribution to the school children's daily nutrient intake.

Design/methodology/approach

All the HGSHP meals served school children were studied. Questionnaire, standardization of recipe and chemical analysis were employed to evaluate the HGSHP meals and to suggest improvement.

Findings

All the meals were cooked. Dishes composed of a mixture of a legume (cowpea) commonly called beans, a cereal (maize or rice) or tuber (yam) taken with a soup or stew and fish or egg. The bean meals were high in protein and carbohydrate. All the dishes had very low zinc content and did not meet 30 per cent of the school children's daily zinc requirements.

Originality/value

This paper may be the first to evaluate the nutritional contribution of school meals in Nigeria.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 42 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1972

Joel Montague, Margot Higgins and Saul Helfenbein

The operational, economic, and cultural obstacles to pre‐school nutrition programs outlined in the first half of this paper have arisen largely because few nationwide programs

Abstract

The operational, economic, and cultural obstacles to pre‐school nutrition programs outlined in the first half of this paper have arisen largely because few nationwide programs have as yet gone beyond the thinking of a nutrition program as being more than the mere distribution of food. Reaching the pre‐school child is often perceived only as a logistic exercise in delivery and distribution, and the success of the program is thus judged solely on the basis of the speed, economy and efficiency of distributive systems. Under those circumstances, available resources are not used to their fullest potential and program effectiveness, in terms of demonstrable nutritional benefits to the recipient and institution building, continues to be disappointing when weighed against the cost and effort involved. The per capita cost of reaching the pre‐school child, given the difficulty of distribution via an inadequate number of scattered and ill‐attended centers, will probably continue to be exorbitant in most places as long as pre‐school feeding programs are regarded as exactly comparable with school feeding in all respects except the age of the beneficiary.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 72 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1994

Derek Mozley

Three events of significance to this country took place in 1899 – the British Food Journal was launched, Australia retained the Ashes, and the Boer War hostilities commenced. If…

1001

Abstract

Three events of significance to this country took place in 1899 – the British Food Journal was launched, Australia retained the Ashes, and the Boer War hostilities commenced. If challenged on the order of their importance, cricketers and Empire‐builders may be excused their preference. However, looking at it purely from the standpoint of pro bono publico, the dispassionate observer must surely opt for the birth of a certain publication as being ultimately the most beneficial of the three.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 96 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Panmela Soares, Suellen Secchi Martinelli, Leonardo Melgarejo, Suzi Barletto Cavalli and Mari Carmen Davó-Blanes

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the use of food products from family farms on school menus of the school feeding program (SFP) of a municipality in Southern…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the use of food products from family farms on school menus of the school feeding program (SFP) of a municipality in Southern Brazil.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative content analysis was carried out of 16 key informant interviews involved in the SFP, or in agriculture production related to SFP planning, development and supply. The resulting categories were used to construct a quantitative analysis protocol for school menus for three years both prior to and after (n=130 days) procurement of the SFP with food from family farms. The studied variables were the presence (yes/no) of vegetables, fruits, legumes and concentrated foods. Monthly frequency and contrast of proportions were calculated for each variable during the years studied.

Findings

The interviewees recognized that the proximity between food production and the school increased the variety of fresh, natural and organic foods in school menus. The direct supply of the SFP with foods from local family farms resulted in a significant increase (p<0.05) in the frequency of vegetables, fruits and legumes in school menus as well as a progressive reduction in concentrated foods.

Originality/value

The design of food and agriculture policy increases the availability of healthy foods in school menus and has beneficial results for promoting healthy meals in schools.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 119 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2017

Irene Torres and Venka Simovska

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate concerning community participation in school-based health education and health promotion, with regard to food and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate concerning community participation in school-based health education and health promotion, with regard to food and nutrition.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on empirical data generated over the course of one year of fieldwork in three rural communities and schools in Ecuador, the study examines community participation related to the implementation of the school feeding programme (SFP) in rural schools in Ecuador. The conceptual framework for the study is shaped by the concepts of student and community participation within the health promoting school (HPS) paradigm.

Findings

The findings help identify and portray different forms of community participation, ranging from a total absence of meaningful participation, though very limited, to consequential participation determined as community influence on the SFP practices to meet the community needs, priorities and systems of meanings.

Research limitations/implications

The study shows that the meaningful participation of the parents and community members in small rural schools in a low- to middle-income country such as Ecuador can be linked to an empowered stance towards the SFP so that it is better tuned to local conditions, priorities and systems of meaning. School leadership, geographical characteristics and internal community organization seem to influence how participation is valued and enacted. Challenges remain in the interpretations of community participation, including counter- and non-participation of members.

Originality/value

The study contributes to an understanding of policy implementation and the implications of a HPS approach to health education and health promotion in small rural schools.

Details

Health Education, vol. 117 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 27 October 2020

Leão Maldonado, Silvia Pereira de Castro Casa Nova, Luiz Miguel Renda dos Santos and Marcia Maria dos Santos Bortolocci Espejo

At one end, family farming is seen as important for incentivizing local ­development. At another end, the Brazilian National School Feeding Program (PNAE) is a social assistance…

Abstract

At one end, family farming is seen as important for incentivizing local ­development. At another end, the Brazilian National School Feeding Program (PNAE) is a social assistance policy that provides food and nutrition for students enrolled in public schools. In 2015, the program fed 41.5 million students across the country. In 2009, these two worlds – family farming and school feeding – were connected through a public policy implemented by law. This law defines that 30% of the financial resources for the acquisition of school feeding, transferred by the federal government to states and municipalities, must be spent on items produced by family farming. However, even considering the legal requirement and many of the changes it has brought, many municipalities still do not meet this minimum requirement. In 2015, more than half of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, about 54%, did not reach the 30% minimum; that is, over 3,000 municipalities failed to meet that legal threshold. This context raises some questions: Why is the law not effective? What are the social structures that hinder the implementation of this public policy as it was conceived? One of the theoretical frameworks that could sustain such questioning is Structuration Theory (ST; Giddens, 2003). It brings the concept of structure duality, stating that there is no prevalence between social structure and human action, but rather a reciprocity. In this theory, the structure can be distinguished into three dimensions (signification, domination, and legitimation) and the interaction of these dimensions can lead to either transformation or continuity. Using the lenses of ST, our aim is to identify, analyze, and understand the reverberations of this public policy on social practices and how these reverberations could explain this state of things. For this, we conducted a preliminary field research, based on interviews with key agents involved in the school feeding program in a municipality in the Midwest of Brazil. The preliminary results revealed that the change induced by the law reflected on those agents, altering social practices. New procedures were adopted that transformed social practices pertaining to the dimension of signification. Nevertheless, challenges related to logistics (transport and storage), trust, training, and bureaucracy are still hindering the effectiveness of the intended public policy. As a limitation, we were not under conditions to grasp the changes while they occurred because our point of attention is the scenario after the enforcement of the relevant Law. Beyond that, our study uses ST to deal with the resistance of social structures to change even in a scenario of mandatory law enforcement.

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