Transitioning Towards a Nationally Owned School Feeding and Health Programme in São Tomé and Príncipe

This operation has been modified as per budget revision 3 (see below) 

After 30 years of implementing a school feeding programme in the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, WFP is preparing to transition its school feeding programme to the Government. This follows the establishment of a National School Feeding and Health Programme with WFP’s advocacy and support in 2010, and the National Assembly’s approval of a school feeding and health policy in February 2011.

A decentralised evaluation of WFP’s ongoing school feeding activities and an internal evaluation of the Government’s capacities have highlighted that significant progress is still needed in three main areas: (i) funding, (ii) implementation and monitoring, and (iii) accountability, in order to ensure a successful transfer of responsibilities to the Government.

This development project will focus on supporting the development of the Government’s capacity to successfully manage a national school feeding programme while phasing the transfer of responsibilities for providing a daily hot meal to 43,200 school children from WFP’s school feeding programme.

The timeline for the transition has been established in consultation with the Government, with an annual review of activities and milestones to expedite timely adjustments and remedial actions as needed.

The project is aligned to the country’s new United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2012-2016) and WFP Strategic Objectives 4 – Reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition, and 5 – Strengthen the capacities of countries to reduce hunger through hand-over strategies and local purchase. The project will contribute to achievement of Millennium Development Goals 2 - Achieve universal primary education, and 3 - Promote gender equality and empower women.

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This BR 3 to DEV 200295 proposes a twelve month extension in time of the project from January 2017 to December 2017.