The evaluation focused on assessing the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the SFP. Overarching evaluation questions focused on how well the programme aligned with national priorities, its effectiveness in addressing malnutrition and food insecurity, its efficiency in resource use, and its long-term sustainability and impact on education and nutrition outcomes. The evaluation covered the following activities:
a) provision of hot and nutritious school meals;
b) capacity strengthening of government and stakeholders;
c) piloting transformative school feeding models, including green energy and local food production; and
d) support for the handover of school feeding activities to the Government of Armenia.
Key evaluation findings included:
- The SFP effectively aligned with national priorities and improved the nutrition and education of schoolchildren, particularly in vulnerable and rural areas.
- Innovative models, such as wholegrain production and green energy, showed potential for long-term sustainability but require significant initial investment.
- The programme promoted gender equality and inclusiveness but needs to address gaps for children with special needs.
- The programme was able to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, transitioning to Take-Home Rations and maintaining support for children, thus acting as a buffer to shocks, alleviating the impacts on food security and poverty of the affected populations.
- Despite cost efficiency and financial savings for families, the sustainability of the handed-over programme remains challenged by securing consistent funding and partial reliance on external support.
- The SFP’s transformative components contributed to broader community development, including local agricultural value chains and income generation.
Key recommendations from the evaluation included:
- Enhance resilience to external shocks through the advancement of adaptive management and flexibility in implementation frameworks to enable a more robust SFP during crises and scaling up the transformative SF model which promotes circular economy.
- Ensure the institutionalization of monitoring and evaluation of SFP handed over to the Government by developing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation strategy and promoting an inclusive SFP that ensures equal access to school feeding for all children.
- Secure sustainable long-term funding by integrating school feeding into the government’s budgetary framework and revising the Sustainable School Feeding Strategy.
- Engage and empower local communities by establishing a community mechanism to promote ownership.
- Strengthen interagency collaboration to enhance coordination among stakeholders and ensure the programme's sustainability and scalability.
