Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data

‘Home-grown’ school feeding programmes are complex interventions with the potential to link the increased demand for school feeding goods and services to community-based stakeholders, including smallholder farmers and women’s groups. There is limited rigorous evidence, however, that this is the case...

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Main Authors: Gelli, Aulo, Masset, Edoardo, Folson, Gloria, Kusi, Anthony, Arhinful, Daniel K., Asante, Felix, Ayi, Irene, Bosompem, Kwabena M., Watkins, Kristie, Abdul-Rahman, Lutuf, Agble, Rosanna, Anase-Baden, Gertrude, Mumuni, Daniel, Aurino, Elisabetta, Fernandes, Meena, Drake, Lesley
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147576
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author Gelli, Aulo
Masset, Edoardo
Folson, Gloria
Kusi, Anthony
Arhinful, Daniel K.
Asante, Felix
Ayi, Irene
Bosompem, Kwabena M.
Watkins, Kristie
Abdul-Rahman, Lutuf
Agble, Rosanna
Anase-Baden, Gertrude
Mumuni, Daniel
Aurino, Elisabetta
Fernandes, Meena
Drake, Lesley
author_browse Abdul-Rahman, Lutuf
Agble, Rosanna
Anase-Baden, Gertrude
Arhinful, Daniel K.
Asante, Felix
Aurino, Elisabetta
Ayi, Irene
Bosompem, Kwabena M.
Drake, Lesley
Fernandes, Meena
Folson, Gloria
Gelli, Aulo
Kusi, Anthony
Masset, Edoardo
Mumuni, Daniel
Watkins, Kristie
author_facet Gelli, Aulo
Masset, Edoardo
Folson, Gloria
Kusi, Anthony
Arhinful, Daniel K.
Asante, Felix
Ayi, Irene
Bosompem, Kwabena M.
Watkins, Kristie
Abdul-Rahman, Lutuf
Agble, Rosanna
Anase-Baden, Gertrude
Mumuni, Daniel
Aurino, Elisabetta
Fernandes, Meena
Drake, Lesley
author_sort Gelli, Aulo
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description ‘Home-grown’ school feeding programmes are complex interventions with the potential to link the increased demand for school feeding goods and services to community-based stakeholders, including smallholder farmers and women’s groups. There is limited rigorous evidence, however, that this is the case in practice. This evaluation will examine explicitly, and from a holistic perspective, the simultaneous impact of a national school meals programme on micronutrient status, alongside outcomes in nutrition, education and agriculture domains. The 3-year study involves a cluster-randomised control trial designed around the scale-up of the national school feeding programme, including 116 primary schools in 58 districts in Ghana. The randomly assigned interventions are: 1) a school feeding programme group, including schools and communities where the standard government programme is implemented; 2) ‘home-grown’ school feeding, including schools and communities where the standard programme is implemented alongside an innovative pilot project aimed at enhancing nutrition and agriculture; and 3) a control group, including schools and households from communities where the intervention will be delayed by at least 3 years, preferably without informing schools and households. Primary outcomes include child health and nutritional status, school participation and learning, and smallholder farmer income. Intermediate outcomes along the agriculture and nutrition pathways will also be measured. The evaluation will follow a mixed-method approach, including child-, household-, school- and community-level surveys as well as focus group discussions with project stakeholders. The baseline survey was completed in August 2013 and the endline survey is planned for November 2015. The tests of balance show significant differences in the means of a number of outcome and control variables across the intervention groups. Important differences across groups include marketed surplus, livestock income, per capita food consumption and intake, school attendance, and anthropometric status in the 2–5 and 5–15 years age groups. In addition, approximately 19 % of children in the target age group received some form of free school meals at baseline. Designing and implementing the evaluation of complex interventions is in itself a complex undertaking, involving a multi-disciplinary research team working in close collaboration with programme- and policy-level stakeholders. Managing the complexity from an analytical and operational perspective is an important challenge. The analysis of the baseline data indicates that the random allocation process did not achieve statistically comparable treatment groups. Differences in outcomes and control variables across groups will be controlled for when estimating treatment effects. ISRCTN66918874 (registered on 5 March 2015).
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spelling CGSpace1475762025-12-08T10:29:22Z Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data Gelli, Aulo Masset, Edoardo Folson, Gloria Kusi, Anthony Arhinful, Daniel K. Asante, Felix Ayi, Irene Bosompem, Kwabena M. Watkins, Kristie Abdul-Rahman, Lutuf Agble, Rosanna Anase-Baden, Gertrude Mumuni, Daniel Aurino, Elisabetta Fernandes, Meena Drake, Lesley education school feeding agriculture nutrition impact assessment ‘Home-grown’ school feeding programmes are complex interventions with the potential to link the increased demand for school feeding goods and services to community-based stakeholders, including smallholder farmers and women’s groups. There is limited rigorous evidence, however, that this is the case in practice. This evaluation will examine explicitly, and from a holistic perspective, the simultaneous impact of a national school meals programme on micronutrient status, alongside outcomes in nutrition, education and agriculture domains. The 3-year study involves a cluster-randomised control trial designed around the scale-up of the national school feeding programme, including 116 primary schools in 58 districts in Ghana. The randomly assigned interventions are: 1) a school feeding programme group, including schools and communities where the standard government programme is implemented; 2) ‘home-grown’ school feeding, including schools and communities where the standard programme is implemented alongside an innovative pilot project aimed at enhancing nutrition and agriculture; and 3) a control group, including schools and households from communities where the intervention will be delayed by at least 3 years, preferably without informing schools and households. Primary outcomes include child health and nutritional status, school participation and learning, and smallholder farmer income. Intermediate outcomes along the agriculture and nutrition pathways will also be measured. The evaluation will follow a mixed-method approach, including child-, household-, school- and community-level surveys as well as focus group discussions with project stakeholders. The baseline survey was completed in August 2013 and the endline survey is planned for November 2015. The tests of balance show significant differences in the means of a number of outcome and control variables across the intervention groups. Important differences across groups include marketed surplus, livestock income, per capita food consumption and intake, school attendance, and anthropometric status in the 2–5 and 5–15 years age groups. In addition, approximately 19 % of children in the target age group received some form of free school meals at baseline. Designing and implementing the evaluation of complex interventions is in itself a complex undertaking, involving a multi-disciplinary research team working in close collaboration with programme- and policy-level stakeholders. Managing the complexity from an analytical and operational perspective is an important challenge. The analysis of the baseline data indicates that the random allocation process did not achieve statistically comparable treatment groups. Differences in outcomes and control variables across groups will be controlled for when estimating treatment effects. ISRCTN66918874 (registered on 5 March 2015). 2016-02-05 2024-06-21T09:23:03Z 2024-06-21T09:23:03Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147576 en Open Access Springer Gelli, Aulo; Masset, Edoardo; Folson, Gloria; Kusi, Anthony; Arhinful, Daniel K.; Asante, Felix; Ayi, Irene; Bosompem, Kwabena M.; Watkins, Kristie; Abdul-Rahman, Lutuf; Agble, Rosanna; Anase-Baden, Gertrude; Mumuni, Daniel; Aurino, Elisabetta; Fernandes, Meena; and Drake, Lesley. 2016. Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data. Trials (2016) 17:37. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-015-1116-0
spellingShingle education
school feeding
agriculture
nutrition
impact assessment
Gelli, Aulo
Masset, Edoardo
Folson, Gloria
Kusi, Anthony
Arhinful, Daniel K.
Asante, Felix
Ayi, Irene
Bosompem, Kwabena M.
Watkins, Kristie
Abdul-Rahman, Lutuf
Agble, Rosanna
Anase-Baden, Gertrude
Mumuni, Daniel
Aurino, Elisabetta
Fernandes, Meena
Drake, Lesley
Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data
title Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data
title_full Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data
title_fullStr Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data
title_short Evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition, education, agriculture and other social outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, randomised design and baseline data
title_sort evaluation of alternative school feeding models on nutrition education agriculture and other social outcomes in ghana rationale randomised design and baseline data
topic education
school feeding
agriculture
nutrition
impact assessment
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147576
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