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Feb. 18, 2005 Nepal School Feeding Success Story Saori Kitajima, Japan Association for the United Nations World Food Programme

"I'm like a little teacher," Mana chuckles. The fourth grader is a respected teacher at home as she is the sole literate person in the family. It has taken a month for her 35-year old mother to learn how to write "B-I-S-H-N-U" - the first half of her name, Bishnu Maya. Nevertheless, Mana does not look irritated at all. "My mom keeps forgetting the letters. She has never been to school, so writing is not easy for her. Can you imagine how much she struggled to firmly hold a pen, for the first time in her life?" - Mana laughed. Mana's family owns a small patch of land. However, the maize and millet from their land is never sufficient, covering only 1-2 months of the family needs. To cover cash demands, Mana's parents work as casual laborers. They both earn 50 rupees by cracking stones, all day long. On a good day, they can earn 80 rupees by carrying baskets of sand and gravel in and out of the construction site, from dawn to dusk. Mana's elder sister works as a live-in maid and brings home all her earnings - 800 rupees or 11 dollars per month. So, when Mana told her mother that she would be able to receive vegetable oil every month by attending classes regularly, her mother was over the moon. WFP's Girls Incentive Programme (GIP) was introduced in Nuwakot District two years ago. Girls from class 2 to 8 are eligible for a monthly ration of 2 liters of vegetable oil if they attend more than 80 percent of school days every month. Equivalent to more than 200 Nepali rupees, 2 liters of vegetable oil provides a strong incentive for families in difficult economic condition to send their daughters to school. "When I first told my mom about the programme, she said, 'You are lying!' So I answered back, 'Then let me go to school every day and see!' So I did, and we are getting oil now," says Mana proudly. Since then, Mana's family diet has improved. They used to have only rice and dal (lentil soup) for daily meals, but the family can now afford a dish of talkari (spicy fried vegetables), as they do not have to purchase oil anymore. Also they can eat meat at least once a month. The money saved is also used for previously unaffordable items, such as notebooks and pens for Mana and her younger brother. Mana and her brother also enjoy a hot nutritious mid-day snack thanks to the WFP's school feeding programme. Prepared as a Nepali snack called haluwa, sweetened milled grain mix fortified with micro-nutrients is provided at her school every day. "I like haluwa, it's tasty. Before the haluwa programme, I used to feel hungry and go home in the afternoon. Now I stay till the end of the day, because I can concentrate better in class," says Mana. A positive social effect is also observed. Now that children of different castes enjoy meals together, a sense of equality is nurtured among children. Such opportunities are still limited in the caste-bound community. For children, who are the vehicles of future social changes, enjoying meals together with fellow friends leaves a positive mark in the course of their growth. Although she is only 11 years old, Mana has an enormous amount of work to perform. On a typical day, she wakes up at 5 a.m., go to fetch water, sweeps the floor, and feeds five goats and one buffalo. She also prepares breakfast instead of her mother, who leaves for stone cracking work at 7 am. After school, she hangs a basket bigger than her body on her forehead (see picture) and walks for an hour to collect buffalo grass and firewood. After coming back with a load of grass and firewood, she then starts cooking dinner. The night falls early at Mana's home, as no electricity is available. After dinner and homework, Mana goes to bed at 8 p.m. Mana used to skip classes due to her heavy workload at home. However, since the introduction of the school feeding programme, her mother has started encouraging Mana and her son to attend school regularly. Her mother also comes to school every month to pick up the oil, and learns about her children's performance at school by regularly meeting the teachers. Thanks to Mana, her mother now proudly signs off her name when she receives the oil ration. "I want to continue schooling until class 10. Then I'll get a job and help my family," says Mana, full of hope and determination. WFP Nepal started the Food for Education (FfE) initiative in 1996. Given poor educational achievements in Nepal where 20% of primary school age children have never been enrolled in school, the objective of the FfE is set to increase access to basic primary education for families in food-deficit districts. It also aims to improve the health and nutritional status of school children with a particular emphasis on girls. WFP provides food to schoolchildren in public primary and lower secondary schools in 21 food-deficit districts with high educational needs. The total number of planned beneficiaries is 550,000, including an estimated 100,000 mothers of girls who receive an additional incentive of 2 liters of vegetable oil under the GIP scheme. A recent review of the project showed a positive impact of the FfE activity with an overall increment in enrolment rates in supported schools. The GIP has proved its effectiveness in encouraging girls' enrolment and regular attendance, particularly in educationally disadvantaged communities. It has been also very successful in retaining girls in school beyond class 1, a point at which many girls drop out in order to assist their mothers with household works. After introduction of GIP, it was reported that the proportion of girls in total enrolment of class 2 increased by 15 percent on average. The review also pointed out that the GIP provides an opportunity for mothers to interact with teachers and other caretakers at the time the vegetable oil is handed directly to mothers. Higher afternoon class attendance was also noted in supported schools as another positive impact. Let's Talk!

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