Focus on WFP school feeding programme five years on

For Bahridin Shernazarov, enjoying a hot meal at school is the highlight of his day. "The food is tasty and warm. I like it," the 10-year-old, who dreams of one day becoming a driver, told IRIN in Kiirk village, 60 km south of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. "I eat more food at school than I do at home," the third grader grinned shamelessly. A beneficiary of the World Food Programme's (WFP) school feeding programme, this is his only hot meal of the day - receiving only bread and tea at home. But Bahridin, a student at Khorasan District School No 15, is far from alone. Hundreds of thousands of children throughout this impoverished Central Asian state now benefit from the popular programme - set to mark its fifth academic year in Tajikistan on Tuesday. HISTORY Established in 1999, the WFP school feeding programme began with just 5,000 school children in 22 schools in Tajikistan's northern Soghd province. In 2000, the former Soviet republic was included among a list of 23 countries being supported by the US government's Global School Feeding Initiative through WFP, an effort to provide meals to millions of children in poor countries as part of their education. Since then the programme in Tajikistan has grown exponentially - reaching numbers even the UN food agency never anticipated. "This programme has proven so successful that this academic year we are reaching over 366,000 school age children nationwide," Ardag Meghdessian, outgoing WFP country director, told IRIN in Dushanbe. No longer content with 22 schools, some 1,707 schools in four regions of the country were now participating in the effort, he added.

Khorasan District School No 15 in southern Khatlon province

And while the programme was primarily geared towards rural primary school age children, seen to be the most vulnerable in taking care of themselves, exceptions were sometimes made depending on needs, including kindergarten and secondary school age children as well, Amrullo Mirzoev, a WFP programme assistant, told IRIN back in Kiirk Mazar. The UN food agency implements the programme through WFP field offices and local departments of the Tajik Ministry of Education. During the 2003-04 academic school year more than 15,000 mt of food (fortified wheat flour, vegetable oil, pulses for protein and iodised salt), costing almost US $8 million, was distributed. As part of the school feeding programme, children receive one cooked meal a day - with the exception of the Rasht Valley where, given the highly conservative nature of local residents, in order to encourage girls to go to school - or to encourage their parents to send them - take-home rations are provided for girls in secondary grades. IMPACT OF PROGRAMME But it is the programme's impact on the children and local communities that has proven most impressive. In addition to improving the nutritional status of the children - and their learning capacity - the direct correlation between the programme, enrollment and attendance cannot be discounted. Following a devastating five year civil war (1991-96) and the demise of the country's already weakened education infrastructure, attendance and enrolment suffered significantly. "Before the programme began three years ago [in Khorasan District] attendance was very low - only 67 percent. Now attendance is almost 100 percent," Gulchehra Usmonova, a WFP food aid monitor for the programme told IRIN in Kiirk Mazar. Moreover, the programme had lessened the chances of child labour, as well as increasing the disposable income of parents and so allowing them to spend more money on school supplies and clothing for their children, she added.

Gulchehra Usmonova, a WFP food aid monitor in Khatlon province, says attendance has improved signifcantly

WFP currently covers five districts in the Kurgan-Tupe area of southern Khatlon province, including Kiirk Mazar, comprising 172 institutions - including 157 schools and 15 kindergartens. A WFP 2001 baseline survey revealed a gradual increase in boys' and girls' enrolment over the period 1998-2001, while enrolment in schools with new school feeding programmes continued to rise - even in 2002. According to the UN food agency, the average annual increase in enrolment was almost 4 percent for boys and 2.92 percent for girls, while changes in the average number of teachers per school in the country appear to follow similar trends as reflected by the student enrolment figures. At schools which receive WFP school assistance, almost 100 percent of primary age students continue to the next grade - meaning there is no abandonment. "The school feeding programme retains them," Meghdessian said. Regarding attendance, baseline studies show that 94 percent continue. "The dropout rate is very low," he maintained, adding that 92 percent of girls registered in the schools continue attending during the academic year. Additionally, with teachers authorised and encouraged to eat alongside the children in school, teaching staff were also kept working, many of whom earned less than US $5 a month. PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS However, it is the integral role of local parent teacher associations (PTAs) which has proven the most meaningful. Testament to its popularity, the programme is implemented with the full cooperation and involvement of the PTAs, established in all four regions by WFP staff, as well as local authorities, who provide support in the preparation of bread.

Imenaz Baronova and other PTA members offer their suggestions on how to improve the school feeding programme

"This not only allows them [the parents] to get involved in the management of the food programme, but also the actual management of the schools," Meghdessian explained. "Parents are interested in having their children in a healthy learning environment and this programme provides just that," Usmonova added. As WFP provides only dry foods on the basis of calories, proteins and lipids, the PTAs, in conjunction with local authorities, complement the programme by providing vegetables and condiments [which WFP doesn't give], including firewood for cooking for those schools lacking electricity. "It's like discovering democracy at the grass roots levels," Meghdessian observed, noting, when the school master now ever found himself needing anything, he turned to the PTAs for help. "This has been another significant benefit of the programme." Imenaz Baronova, a PTA member at Kiirk Mazar couldn't agree more. "This programme means a lot to me. It means my children can study on a full stomach," the mother-of-four aged six to 11 - all of whom attend - explained. Largely dependent on the remittances her labour migrant husband sends home from Russia, she described each day as a constant struggle to survive. "I give my children bread, milk and sugar in the morning - that is all I can afford." And though most PTA members praised the programme, some offered their suggestions on how to improve it. "I would like to see more variety in the meals - including meat, rice, butter and dry milk," Iekhumor Abdurahimova, a mother of six told IRIN. As the wife of the village doctor, she maintained that drinking water at the school had also been a source of concern. With the programme targeting children aged six to 11, she felt that considering older children as beneficiaries would also be helpful. "Otherwise many of them land up working in the field helping their parents," the 37-year-old claimed. SCHOOL CONDITIONS But Khorasan District School No 15 - although simple - is one of the better schools in the impoverished farming area. In addition to having actual classrooms it is being earmarked for refurbishment by the Japanese government, while other students are forced to attend classes in makeshift storage containers.

Musulmongul Sulaimonov, the 34-year-old director of school No 50 in Jawani hopes for his school to be rebuilt

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nearly 20 percent of the country's schools were destroyed in the civil war, while about 80 percent of the remaining schools are still in need of major repair, lacking heating, drinking water, adequate sewage systems and electricity. School enrolment remains poor, dropout rates are increasing, and there are acute shortages of textbooks and a need for 13,000 additional teachers. That reality can be seen just 8 km down the road at School No 50 in Jawani, where some 79 primary age children and four teachers, working in shifts, hold classes in a former train wagon divided into two separate rooms. "It's very difficult to operate like this - three or four students to a desk," Musulmongul Sulaimonov, the 34-year-old director of the government school told IRIN. Hot in the summer and cold in the winter, he dreams of the day when the makeshift school is replaced with a proper one. It is precisely just such dreams that WFP is open to facilitating. If the local PTAs and local authorities provide the necessary equipment and building materials, WFP is ready to provide food for work. "We have rehabilitated over 200 schools this way," Meghdessian noted. According to the WFP official, plans to continue the school feeding programme to the end of the school year 2005 were now in place, but they were currently in the process of coming up with new proposals for new programmes. "Now we are in the process of preparing proposals for post mid-2005," he said. CHALLENGE AHEAD But such proposals will require money. Tajikistan is the poorest of the former Soviet republics, with over 83 percent of the population living below the national poverty line. A full 17 percent of the country's 6.5 population is considered destitute. Food insecurity - particularly in rural areas - remains fragile.

The programme has proven immensely popular with children and parents alike

Although the mountainous landlocked state has long enjoyed a strong donor response given events in neighbouring Afghanistan and a devastating drought inside the country, questions remain as to how long that interest can be maintained. "As more and more funding is made towards the situation in Iraq, we are seeing less and less attention," Meghdessian cautioned, describing this as "a major challenge". Recently Washington revised its Global School Feeding Initiative support. "Unfortunately, they have decided that Tajikistan is no longer a priority country and they will no longer be providing us with food," he said. "This is particularly sad, given the popularity of the programme. But we hope that other donors will step in so that we can continue the school feeding programme beyond 2005." Still another challenge will be establishing a solid exit strategy for the UN food agency once the capacity of the local authorities and PTAs to take over the programme is firmly in place. "Our main challenge now is for an exit strategy within a feasible future of five to seven years," Meghdessian revealed, assuming conditions within the country would have improved to allow the government - together with local authorities and PTAs -to assume complete responsibility for the programme.