The evaluations were commissioned to generate findings on implementing gender-transformative school feeding programmes in emergency contexts and to generate lessons on implementing school feeding with complementary activities in collaboration with partners. The evaluations were intended for both accountability and learning and focused on assessing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability, coherence, and connectedness of the BBGE programme. Overarching evaluation questions considered the relevance of programme activities for girls, boys, and their parent given the unique context; the coherence of the programme with the governments' and implementing agencies' policies and strategies; the effect of the joint approach on programme efficiency and effectiveness; the programme's results for girls' health and education, and the extent to which the programme improved government and community ownership and capacity, among other questions.
The evaluations covered the following themes and activities: school feeding, gender, and partnerships.
Key evaluation findings included:
- The BBGE programme addressed relevant barriers to girls' education, but external factors such as COVID-19, the security context, natural disasters, limited school infrastructure, and lack of engagement of local actors hindered project implementation.
- The joint approach was effective, but brought additional challenges for coordination.
- School meals and cash grants were perceived to be the most effective activities for overcoming barriers to girls' education, but the timing of these activities is key for their effectiveness.
- The project overestimated its ability to support out-of-school girls to return to school. While remedial education activities were helpful, other barriers exist.
- There is a perceived reliance on external funding for resource intensive activities like school meals or cash grants, but there is evidence that sensitization activities to promote girls' education may continue without external support.
Key recommendations from the evaluation included:
- Improve the timeliness of cash grant and school meals provision.
- Better communicate trainings to communities and increase their length and frequency.
- Reduce the number of targeted schools to prioritize activity convergence.
- Improve coordination by clarifying the roles of agencies at different levels, streamlining funding flows, and strengthening coordination mechanisms.
- Establish a sustainability plan.
