Description of project

The impact evaluation of the national school feeding programme in Cambodia is commissioned by the World Food Programme. The programme is designed to benefit more than half a million of children in Cambodia’s most vulnerable areas. Through the school feeding programme, children are provided an early daily meal, and girls and vulnerable children are provided the so-called take rations once a month – also known as conditional food transfers.

The purpose of the school feeding programme is to incentivize parents to enroll their children in primary education (conditional cash transfer programme). Once in school, it is believed that school feeding will boost children’s learning processes on the assumption that a daily meal will alleviate short-term hunger (social safety net) and hence the children’s ability to concentrate and learn (adapted standard tests for 1330 grade 6 students). Value of conditional transfers is measured at household level – more than 2000 included in survey.

The aim of this evaluation is to measure the impact school feeding has on children’s schooling, how it may affect or contribute to an improvement of school-age children’s nutritional status and the significance the conditional food transfers has on poor and vulnerable households.

The evaluation will apply up-to-date methodological tools and mixed-method approaches, combining large household survey, school survey with analysis of secondary data and participatory assessment techniques.

The impact evaluation will provide WFP with evidence of school feeding programme effectiveness and feed into forthcoming cooperate policy revision.

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