FINAL

Girls Incentive Program

Review Report

Conducted In

Ramechhap, Makwanpur, Puthan, Salyan, and Doti District

World Food Program Kathmandu, Nepal

Submitted by

Irada Parajuli Gautam Dec 2004

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TABLE of CONTENTS

I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................ 4 II. ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... 5 III. LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... 6 IV.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................... 7 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 15

1.1 Nepal Background ............................................................................................ 15 1.2 Immediate Objectives ....................................................................................... 15 1.3 Objective of GIP Review .................................................................................. 16 1.4 Specific Objectives of GIP Review .................................................................. 16 1.5 Review Districts ................................................................................................ 16

2. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 17

2.1 Documents Review ........................................................................................... 17 2.2 Focus Group Discussion and Semi-Structured Interview ................................. 17 2.3 Observation ....................................................................................................... 18 2. 4 Quantitative Data Collection ............................................................................. 18 2. 5 Study Sample .................................................................................................... 18 2.6 Ethical Consideration ........................................................................................ 18 2.7 Constraints and Limitations of the study .......................................................... 19

3. FINDINGS ............................................................................................................... 20

3.1 ACHIEVEMENT ......................................................................................... 20 3.1.1 Trend of Enrolment ........................................................................................... 21 3.1.2 Consumption of Oil ........................................................................................... 23 3.1.3 Smoothness of the Program ……………………………………24 3.1.4 Criteria of Oil Distribution ................................................................................ 24 3.2 MANAGEMENT ISSUES ............................................................................. 25 3.2.1 Role of FMC ..................................................................................................... 25 3.2.2 Teachers Involvement……………………………………………………….25 3.2.3 Lack Monitoring and Real Integration………………………………………..26 3.2.4 Use of 4 Liters of Oil ........................................................................................ 26 3.2.5 Fee charging for school feeding program ......................................................... 27

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3.3 BARRIER OF GIRLS’ ENROLMENT AND NON FLEXIBILITY ......... 27 3.4 LOGISTIC ISSUES………………………………………………………….30 3.4.1 Various Sizes of Oil Pots………………………………………………………30 3.4.2 Timely Delivery………………………………………………………………..30 3.4.3 Storage System………………………………………………………………....30 3.4.4 GIP Cards………………………………………………………………………30 3. 5 CONSTRAINTS IN GIP………………………………………………. …...30 3.5.1 No Sufficient Quota……………………………………………………………31 3.5.2 Negative Effects ............................................................................................... 31 3.5.3 Involvement of Children ……………………………………………………….32 3.6 SOCIALMOBILIZATION…………………………………………………….32 3.6.1 Mothers’ Participation ...................................................................................... 32 3.6.2 Nutrition Value and Fortification ...................................................................... 32 3.6.3 Value of Girls’ Education ................................................................................. 33 3.6.4 Work Load………………………………………………………………………………34 3.6.5 Issues of 2 Eligible Daughters………………………………………………. ..34 3.6.6 Lack of Holistic Intervention and Campaigning………………………………34 3.7 ISSUES OF QUALITY……………………………………………………….35 3.8 GOVERNMENT FACILITIES ..................................................................... 35

4. ANALYSIS and CONCLUSION ........................................................................... 37 5. RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………………………….41 ANNEX 2: Name and Number of School Visited Under Review ............................... 49 ANNEX 3: List of Tables ................................................................................................ 51

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I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to World Food Country Program for supporting in undertaking this review of Girls Incentive Program. I want to mention especially Mr. William Affif, Program Manager, Mr.Leela Raj Upadhyay and Ms Pramila Ghimire, National Program Officers by giving critical comments while designing tools and finalizing the draft report. I am grateful to all colleagues of WFP Sub office team in Kathmandu, Nepalgunj and Dadeldhura for providing accompany and were supportive in various ways during review of GIP in Makwanpur, Ramechhap, Puthan, Salyan and Doti district. My especial thanks to Bhabana Pradhan, Tara Karki, Govinda Subedi, Rabindra Chanda, and Binod Joshi for their supportive role in the field and all drivers for safe driving. This review would not be possible without their support. Most importantly, my sincere gratitude to all the stakeholders who expressed their feelings openly about Girls Incentive Program and made it possible to produce this report by giving their valuable time and contributed their ideas. Special thanks go to the children, parents, school teachers, FMCs, DEO, FFE team and DOE at central level and others who involved in review process directly or indirectly in 5 districts and have contributed immensely to the field study. Thank you! Irada Parajuli Gautam Consultant, WFP

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II. ABBREVIATIONS CDC: Community Development Center DEO: District Education Office DOE: Department of Education DCWB: District Child Welfare Board EDP: Estimated Delivery Point EFA: Education for All FFE: Food for Education FMC: Food Management Committee FGD: Focus Group Discussion GIP: Girls Incentive Program GFEI: Global Food for Education Initiative HMG / N His Majesty’s Government of Nepal MOE: Ministry of Education NGO: Non-Government Organization INGO: International Non Government Organization RPs: Resource Persons SMC: School Management Committee UNICEF: United Nation Children Fund WFP: World Food Program WSB: Wheat Soya Blend

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III. LIST OF TABLES

1. Pattern of attendance and enrolment in 2004 of GIP schools as per district

2. Pattern of Enrolment from 2001 to 2003 in GIP Schools as per district

3. Enrolment of boys and girls from 2001 to 2004 of Total GIP Schools and Visit day Attendance

4. Enrolment of boys and girls as per year and grade Salyan (NON-GIP)

5. Pattern of Repetition from 2001 to 2003 in 4 GIP Districts

6. Pattern of Dalit Students from 2002 to 2004 in Non GIP districts

7. Pattern of Dalit Students from 2002 to 2004 in 4 GIP districts

8. Pattern of Drop Out from 2001 to 2003 in 4 GIP districts

9. Pattern of Transfer from Next school to GIP School from 2002 to 2004 in 4 GIP

districts

10. Promotion of boys and girls as per year and grade in GIP districts

11. Repetition, Drop out, Transfer and Promotion of Salyan District

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Girls Incentive Programme (GIP) started in public primary schools of Doti and Dadeldhura districts in 2000 as a pilot Programme under the WFP-Food for Education Programme (FFE) in the Far Western Region of Nepal. By 2002, the GIP was expanded to 9 additional districts covering about 102,700 girls. This special Programme was initiated for girls from grade 2 to 5 at primary schools under the FFE project (FFEP) and from grade 2 to 8 under the Global Food for Education Initiatives (GFEI) project, in order to promote primary education for girls and to reduce the existing imbalance of education between boys and girls. A monthly take home ration of 2 litre of vegetable oil is provided to the mothers of girls with a minimum monthly attendance of 80 percent in schools. To be eligible, schools should be opened at least for 15 days a month. The objective of this external review mission was to assess the main achievements of GIP and the existing management system in order to make recommendations to WFP and the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) for future improvements in the Programme as well as for the CP mid term evaluation planned for June 2005. This review mission took place from September to October 2004 in 5 districts: Makwanpur, Ramechap, Pyuthan, Doti and in one non-GIP district Salyan. All stakeholders expressed their positive perception of GIP and its impact. In all selected schools covered under this review, the Programme has been mentioned as an important element in attracting girls. It has especially been influential to poor families, dalits, and ethnic minority groups. The GIP has not been seriously affected by the conflict situations, and the Programme is smoothly running except in Ramechhap district. An annual 5% increase in the girls’ enrolment rate has been recorded since 2001. The GIP has also contributed to the increase in retention and attendance rates in the schools and a decrease in drop out rate. While the average promotion rate in GIP schools was 66%, the rate was only 48% in non-GIP district. Similarly, the average attendance of girls was 50% in non-GIP districts compared to more than 76% in schools covered by GIP (Table 3). Despite these positive results, some challenges and constraints were noted and should be considered in the future. Based on the findings of this review, the recommendations have been prioritized into different headings and have been categorized into immediate (six month to one year), medium (one to two years) and long term (two to five years) actions.

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Future Recommendations: 1. MANAGEMENT ISSUES:

1.1 Monitoring and Strengthening the Capacity of Food Management

Committees (FMCs) The roles and responsibilities of the FMC have not been fulfilled in line with the FFE activity objectives. There is a lack of awareness about roles and responsibilities and involvement among the FMC members, and the capacity (to keep records for instance) of other FMC members than teachers is questionable. During the review mission, it was also found that the commitment of District Education Officers (DEO) and Resource Persons (RPs) to monitor the selected schools is very weak. This trend is even worse now due to the present conflict situation, where DEO and their staff have been unable to visit schools as per expectation. Consequently, in order to make the monitoring more regular and consistent, WFP and FFE-P should jointly assess the possibility of alternative mechanisms for monitoring as well as measures to improve the FMCs’ management capacity of the activity at the school level. Recommendations:

It is urgent to effectively activate and mobilize the FMC members with good orientation on their roles and responsibilities. FMC training should be planned jointly by FFEP and WFP to strengthen the capacity of FMC to improve the reporting of school activities, record keeping, periodic assessment of progress and establishing regular feedback mechanism between School Management Committee (SMC)/FMC and the DEO (Immediate).

Similar type of training should be organized within the first quarter (April –June) of each new academic year. The quality of the FMC training material and the need for regular (on an annual basis) refresher sessions should be regularly assessed by WFP, FFEP and MOES, towards the end of each academic year. (Immediate).

The FMC training at the beginning of each academic year should include

adequate orientation on the importance of girls’ education, the fortification of food commodities, monitory and nutritional value of cooking oil, and the involvement of FMCs in the decision making process related to GIP (Immediate).

The WFP Country Programme (CP) evaluation mission, scheduled the first

quarter of 2006, should assess the possibilities of introducing alternative monitoring mechanism particularly under the present context of conflict situation (Medium).

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An impact evaluation survey both at the schools and at the household level needs to be conducted by WFP in order to review the impact of the GIP in a more systematic way. This evaluation should also review the appropriateness and adequacy of 2 litres of vegetable oil as an incentive under GIP and recommend other suitable alternatives, if any (Medium).

There should be joint school visits to the selected schools at least in every 3

months by WFP SO/Field Monitors and School Supervisor/Resource Person from DEO to monitor the attendance and to ensure that the enrolment figures reported are correct (Immediate).

The MOES and FFEP should strongly reinforce the DEO and the RPs for the

regular monitoring of the project. MOES and FFEP should visit to selected districts of GIP once a year and review the monitoring mechanism in the context of conflict clearly outlining the role of DEOs and RPs (Medium).

FMC should be reorganized by the DEO/FFE Unit, at the beginning of each

academic year, with an appropriate and practically operational size with maximum 9 members and at least 50% women (5 women out of 9 members). A contract needs to be signed between the FMC and the FFE Unit before the 15th July of each year. The format of the contract should be reviewed and agreed by both MOES/FFEP and WFP. (Immediate).

1.2 Operational Flexibility

Although government has promoted a free tuition policy, in reality, the parents are usually contributing in the name of admission fees, school building fees etc which is unaffordable for the poor households. It was also noticed that during the Dashain and Tihar festival time, schools observe long holidays. Likewise, the number of school days is very uncertain due to the current conflict situation. Therefore, even the girls attend the classes regularly, there is a high chance of them being deprived of GIP incentive, because of the current policy of minimum 15 school days to be eligible for the GIP entitlements. This policy can be considered as ambitious, particularly in the current conflict situation.

Recommendations:

WFP should re- emphasize to its counterparts the importance of not taking any kinds of fees from girls in GIP schools and a dialogue between MOE, FFE, and DEO should be initiated in order to stop this practice. Ultimately, MOES/DOE should write officially to DEOs to enforce it as a policy. (Immediate)

The policy of minimum 15 days of school should be revised by the WFP/MOES for

accommodating uncertainty of schools closures. To be more realistic, the oil

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incentives should be provided if the school is open and operational for at least 10 days (one third of a month) (Immediate).

2. LOGISTIC ISSUES 2.1 Storage System It was found that 99% of the schools under review didn’t have a separate store room available. Recommendation:

For schools targeted by FFE and GIP the availability of a minimum standard

storage facilities should be one of the preconditions for the continuation of the support to the schools. The contract between FMC and the DEO should ensure that the school meets this minimum standard. FMC should still be responsible for managing the storage and the oil distribution in schools (Immediate).

2.2 Timely Delivery The timely delivery of the oil was one of the major issues in many of the schools reviewed. Many schools are very far from the existing Distribution Centres (DCs). Due to transportation problems, oil was not delivered in DCs on the scheduled dates, especially in remote areas. Recommendations:

There should be a better communication from district FFE Unit about the food delivery dates at the DCs through whatever means possible so that parents and teachers could make proper arrangements/rescheduling. (Immediate).

The location of DCs should be reviewed once a year in the month of Nov/Dec by

the DEO, the district FFE Unit and the WFP sub office. The number of centres may have to be increased to reduce the long transport distances. (Medium).

2.3 Standard 2-Litres Container

It was found that the oil containers varied in sizes and that parents do not bring appropriate containers. It seems more appropriate to use two-litre containers in order to minimize the wastage of oil in handling as well as to reduce the extra burden of measuring the two litres oil during the distribution.

Recommendations:

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To make the oil distribution process smooth, WFP should provide vegetable-cooking oil in standard two-litre pot only. If not possible, provision of a two litres measuring mug in all GIP schools is strongly recommended for the convenience and accurate measurement (Immediate).

2.4 GIP Cards

During the time of the review, all visited schools did not have GIP cards. Recommendations:

To have a better control over the beneficiary of the oil, it is recommended that GIP cards should be provided to GIP schools by DEO / FFE Unit with the support of WFP SO before every new school year. It should be mandatory for the mothers to bring the card while collecting the oil. (Immediate)

3. TARGETING GIRLS AND SCHOOLS 3.1 Extending GIP One negative trend directly linked with the GIP is the fact that the primary schools are overloaded, while there is no extension of other basic facilities in the schools provided by the government (teachers, classrooms, toilets, etc). The parents usually preferred their daughters to remain in primary grades rather than moving to the lower secondary schools, which are not covered by the GIP. Currently, the primary sections in lower secondary and higher secondary schools are not covered by the GIP. This has a direct consequence of increasing pressure of girls in the pure primary schools. The operational contract has provisioned a fixed quota for GIP throughout the CP period (2002-2006) without taking into account the annual increase of girls’ enrolment which can be expected as a result of the positive impact of GIP. Consequently, current quota is not adequate to meet the need of increased enrolment. Both the GFEI and FFE districts are facing this problem and coping either by distributing reduced quantity of oil (1.7 litres) as in Pyuthan or by distributing only for 8 months (as against 10 months) as in Makwanpur district. Recommendations:

DEO and FFE-P are required to sensitize parents about the value and necessity of upgrading their girls to higher grades. (Immediate).

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Vegetable oil should be provided to all eligible daughters attending primary schools. The planned mid-term CP evaluation should review the existing FFE policy regarding the maximum number of girls eligible for the incentive from the same family. It should consider covering all girls from same family if they are eligible to get the cooking oil or increase the current number of 2 to 4 girls (Medium).

Instead of the current practice of random selection of schools, criteria should be

developed by WFP/FFEP and needs to be implemented by DEO/FFEP to systematically target food insecure areas/clusters with high concentration of socially disadvantaged population and higher gender gap in education. Schools within these areas should be prioritized for the GIP activity in order to maximize the impact of the Programme and to start immediate mapping of schools. Prioritisation has to be based on this mapping and the Ilaka level survey conducted by the WFP Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) unit (the report from the WFP VAM is expected by the end of this year 2005). (Medium).

Apart from the systematic targeting of schools within the districts, WFP should

review the need of expanding the GIP to other FFE districts in the mid and far western hill food insecure districts and where girls’ enrolment rate in primary schools are comparatively low. ( Immediate )

WFP, during the CP evaluation, should also review the need to implement only

GIP in district where the enrolment of girls is very low but the district is not classified as food insecure (Medium).

WFP need to take into account annual increment of 5 - 7 % while finalizing the

annual allocation plan for 2005/2006 and onwards (Immediate). Similarly, the planning figures in the new CP should also provision for the annual increase so that the issue of insufficient quota will not be raised in future (Medium).

The upcoming CP review mission and CP evaluation should review the possibility

of the extension of GIP also to the primary sections of the lower-secondary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the GIP districts. (Medium)

3.2 Demand Driven Approach The CP evaluation should develop strategies to make the FFE and GIP Programme more demand driven while targeting schools. Recommendations

Similarly, the possibility and need of extending GIP to lower secondary schools

in all GIP districts (including FFE districts) should also be explored by the CP evaluation (Long term).

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The criteria for eligible schools should also be reviewed by MOES, WFP, and

FFEP to look at the possibilities to include schools which are handed over to the community or where there are other activities supported by other agencies especially in quality education aspects. (Medium)

The global campaign of “Welcome to School” recently launched by the MOES is

much appreciated. For a successful implementation of the campaign, a much collaborated mechanism among stakeholders, to monitor which children are not coming to school and why, is required. A mapping system, like the one UNICEF1 has developed within their Decentralised Action for Children and Women (DACAW) plan can be taken as an example and should be conducted by DEO during the academic year 2005/2006. The result of this mapping should be used to design and organise campaigns within school catchments area for the targeting of non enrolled children by DEO and NGOs (Medium).

The CP evaluation team, with the support from the VAM unit, should look at the

possibility to cover both gender from marginalized groups particularly in areas where enrolment of children of these groups are extremely low (Medium ).

4. SOCIAL MOBILISATION 4.1 Awareness Raising It was found that the current level of social mobilization of the community and FMC is very weak. Parents and other members of the family of the schoolgirls were not pro-actively involved in the girls’ education activities in general and GIP activity in particular. Recommendations: Therefore it is recommended that the CP evaluation assess the possibilities for WFP to;

Develop a strategy of involving local active NGOs ( identified by WFP and DEO)

during one school year in order to raise awareness amongst parents, teachers and FMC members, for example by using the gathering on distribution days to address issues like: (Medium)

a) the role of GIP and the necessity of active involvement from both parents b) the importance of education in general and for girls in particular c) gender issues like roles and responsibilities within the family d) awareness on HIV/AIDS, e) Nutritional value of the food ration provided.

1 Also PLAN international has developed a mapping system, but with the objective to assess who are the most vulnerable women in the community.

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Regular orientation of parents (during the day of the oil collection) should be organized by the DEO in order to reinforce the use of vegetable oil only for cooking purpose and to emphasize the importance of mothers coming to collect GIP ration. Such orientation should also clarify policy against involving children in transporting oil from the distribution centres to schools and home (Immediate).

5. PARTNERSHIP AND NETWORKING 5.1 Strengthening Partnerships It was found that there are many organizational interventions aimed at improving the access of girls to education but usually schools are unable to provide quality education. The upcoming CP evaluation mission should assess the possibility of strengthening partnerships with the government, NGOs and other potential partners to address this quality aspect. Recommendations:

MOES should organize meetings at national level for EFA donors that are involved in girls’ education and specifically in the quality of education. At the same time, it is necessary to seek strong commitment from all donors and government to address the quality of education (child friendly teaching) and specific needs of girls such as reproductive health of girls, workload and its impact on the girls’ education. (Medium).

A common coordination forum with the representation from the all concerned UN

agencies should be established for advocacy purposes as well as for increasing efficiency of the activities being implemented especially in girls’ education (Medium).

WFP, along with other UN agencies, should advocate with the government and

main donors in order to ensure the minimum standard in the schools such as classroom facilities, number of teachers, training on teaching learning methods and physical facilities (Medium).

WFP should do a mapping of “who is doing what” to address the quality of

education at central and district level and do collaborative work with different agencies such as UNICEF, Plan International, Save the children Norway, GTZ, JICA and DOE. (Immediate)

MOES and its district/regional agencies (RD and DEO) should take the lead in

organizing regular sharing forums/meetings among concerned government authorities and I/NGOs at district level to foster understanding on practical issues related to girls’ education (Medium).

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CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Nepal Background Girls lag far behind the boys in Nepal. The strong prejudice in favor of sons in the country means that daughters are discriminated right from their birth or during pregnancy and do not have equal opportunities to participate in development activities aiming at their personal growth. Development in Nepal remains impossible unless girls achieve equal footing with boys in the development process. Gender–based inequalities in education, nutrition, healthcare and social mobility are still apparent. In Nepal, literacy rate of girls is just 39% compared to 61% for boys. Discrimination against girls and women in Nepal still affects almost every area of their lives. As indicated by their extremely low literacy rate, they are among the poorest and most excluded of Nepal's citizens. The World Food Program has been assisting the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) in the implementation of a Food for Education Program since 1996.With the formation of the WFP Nepal Country Program 2002 to 2006, the school feeding program has entered a new phase and has been renamed “ Food for Education” ( FFE ) to underline its educational objective. The Girls incentive program has initiated a special program for girls in grades 2 to 5 at primary schools under FFE project area and 2 to 8 grades in Global Food for Education Initiatives (GFEI) project area to address distinct gender differences in school enrolment. The long-term objective of this scheme is to promote primary education for girls with a view to reducing the existing imbalance between boys and girls.

1.2 Immediate Objectives

1. To increase girls’ enrolment 2. To increase attendance of girls at primary schools, 3. To reduce girls dropout in the districts.

Girls’ Incentive program has been included within the FFE program since 2000. The implementation of GIP began in 2000 as a pilot program within FFE activity in public primary schools of Doti and Dadeldhura district in the Far western region of Nepal. By 2002, The GIP program has been expanded to 9 additional districts covering about 100,000 girls. Under the program, a monthly take home ration of 2 liter of vegetable oil is provided to the parents of girls of 2 – 8 grades with a minimum monthly attendance of 80 percent and the schools have to run at least 15 days per month.

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1.3 Objective of GIP Review This external review was commissioned by the WFP for GIP project, from Sep 18 to Nov 15, 2004. The main objective of the review was to enhance and ensure proper use of the resources in line with its objectives, and to derive appropriate and prioritized recommendations for future program implementation.

1.4 Specific Objectives of GIP Review

Assess the achievement of GIP towards girls, children, families and communities and find out how well the program addresses the key issues on access to basic primary education for children.

Identify strengths and analyze the achievements against the plans of the activities as defined in the objective of the program

Analyze issues, problems and constraints faced in its implementation, and areas for improvement.

Assess efficiency in use of resources in delivering the programs and observe how far the communities take ownership for its implementation.

Make recommendations for future course of action to be undertaken for improvement of the GIP program in the schools.

1.5 Review Districts Five districts were visited under GIP review process and one district selected as a NON GIP district in order to compare the situation. Five to eight schools were selected as per the situation and time allocated for the districts.

Table 1: Districts and Number of Selected Schools

GIP Districts Number of School

Date of Field visit Including Travel Time

Makwanpur

7 Sep 18 to 23 2004

Ramechhap

6 Sep 25 to 1st Oct 2004

Puthan

8 Oct 2nd to 7th 2004

Salyan (Non GIP ) 5 Oct 8th to 11th 2004

Doti

5 Oct 12th to 16 2004

Total 31

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CHAPTER TWO

2. METHODOLOGY This review was primarily based on the qualitative methodology under which, a number of focus group discussions (FGDs) were used not just to extract the information but also to encourage participatory interaction, to make two ways learning possible. To some extent, quantitative data from different schools was also obtained to complement the analysis and expand the conclusion. The review process itself was a learning event for both group i.e. reviewer and stakeholders at the district and central levels. Qualitative, Quantitative and participatory techniques used in this review were as follows:

2.1 Documents Review By studying a number of documents, the consultant gained knowledge on GIPs activities, its objectives, the context in which they came into existent, and the constraints they are facing. The documents studied were:

• Unpublished Report, A Rapid appraisal of the GIP program in Doti and Dadeldhura, New Era, 2002.

• Summary report of Food for Education Review Mission, November – December 2003.

• Brief leaflet on Food for Education, WFP.

• Food for Education program, at a glimpse, MOE, FFE Unit, 2004.

2.2 Focus Group Discussion and Semi-Structured Interview The Consultant (with support of WFP staff) visited the field and discussed with major stakeholders such as students, school teachers, girls’ parents, and SM/FMC members in 5 selected districts and interviewed them.(Please see in ANNEX I for discussion checklist): The review team gathered trustworthy data with different stakeholders, Interactive meetings with DEO, FFE at district level and DOE, UNICEF and Central Level on the purported benefits of the program and encouraged a more critical response. All findings had been triangulated as much as possible. During discussion students were asked to sing any song to create a relaxed environment but almost all the songs reflected girls’ status in society. The songs sang by girls mostly focused on discrimination and workload towards girls/women.

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2.3 Observation The review team had observed selected schools to assess girls’ enrolment, drop out and retention in school. Likewise the team observed the classroom to see the attendance of children, physical setting of the schools and availability of resources including materials, utensils and other supplies that WFP provided and how they were utilized. Observations were made and confirmed by dialogue with school teachers, children and parents and then discussion was held with Food Management Committee members and with one local NGO in Doti district

2. 4 Quantitative Data Collection

The quantitative data were collected from selected schools on children’s enrollment in schools, drop out, repetition and promotion in primary grades from 2001 to 2004 by gender, caste and ethnicity. (Please see in ANNEX for the detail format for Quantitative Data)

2. 5 Study Sample All four WFP supported program districts and one non-GIP district (Salyan) were visited for qualitative and quantitative data collection. A number of documents were reviewed and 90 focus group discussions were carried out represented by 31 schools, 5 DEO and 5 FFE units in the districts from the program area. As much as possible, priorities were given to remote schools rather than within the district headquarters for better representation. However, in Doti and Salyan this was not possible due to very time constraint. Schools were selected on the basis of FFE unit team and suggestions of DEOs.

Table 2: Categories and Individuals met

2.6 Ethical Consideration During FGD and individual interactive session, extreme care was taken to respect individual views, ethnic characteristics and gender differences. Individuals were clearly explained about the purpose and process of the review (FGD and interactive discussion) beforehand.

Category

Numbers

Total School visited 31 DEO / FFE team, RPs 45 Parents 125 School Children ( Girls and Boys ) 375 NGO ( Doti ) members 3 FMC / SMC 35 UNICEF / DOE at central level 3 Total stakeholders consulted 616

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2.7 Constraints and Limitations of the study Due to the short duration of the assignment and security situation, only a few schools were visited in the remote villages. Most of the students whom we met were from VDCs closer to the district headquarters and in case of Doti, we visited schools within the municipality. Therefore, certain biasness influenced by access to information and proximity of district headquarters is inevitable. As GIP has been implemented along with school feeding program, many dissatisfactions were expressed autonomously about it, which was difficult to control. Similarly, in NON GIP area only 5 schools (compared to 26 schools under GIP) were selected for review and thus the comparison may be less reliable. In Doti, most of the schools were closed just one day before the Dashain holidays. However on the way, the review team visited Shree Janta Primary School where more than 90 % of the students were from Doti district as the school was on the border of Dadeldhura district. In Makwanpur, we went to visit the school in Phaparbari area but the Maoist stopped us on the way and it was a pity that the 5 hours of difficult traveling was just wasted. In Salyan, the team returned one day earlier than planned because of the rumors of the 2 days bandh. In Ramechhap, there was bandh for the last two days of the review schedule, and the review team spent first two days in the field before discussion with the DEO team. The complete analysis of the lower secondary schools under review was simply not possible in Makwanpur and Ramechhap districts because the selected schools did not have similar grades 6, 7 and 8. Due to this reason analysis was done only up to grade 5. When we visited schools and requested the school authorities for quantitative data for GIP, the data was poorly recorded and it was a time consuming process to translate in standard format from their raw data. This restricted us to visit more schools. Similarly, in many schools the headsir / head miss were not around during school visits and other teachers didn’t know where the information are kept as they were not trained about how to update and record quantitative data.

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CHAPTER THREE 3. FINDINGS

3.1 Achievement The Girls Incentive Program (GIP) is quite successful and popular in attracting girls in all selected schools of the four districts. It is especially effective and a strong motivation for poor families, dalit, and ethnic groups for sending girls to school. Those parents who did not send their daughters to school in the past are now motivated to send them to schools. It is found that GIP has helped to increase girls’ access and retention in primary education and get good results as compared to the past. The girls who used to attend school only 10 to 12 days per month before the oil distribution program have now 80% attendance in school. The table given in the following page is the trend of enrolment. One of the NGOs in Doti that worked for dalit girls’ rights to education since 2000 has said that in the past, only girls from Brahmin and Chhetri families were sent to school whereas now most parents send their daughters to schools. All the teachers, parents and girls themselves realized the effectiveness of GIP to bring girls to school regularly due to 80% attendance policy. It has also been quite successful to bring to schools over age children (who have never been to schools before). In study districts, the review team observed that many girls of 9 to 14 years age group were in 2 to 5 grade. GIP not only reduces gender disparity in school enrolment but also increases regularity of girls in school and fulfilled day to day survival needs of family by getting cooking oil. Those brothers who didn’t get cooking oil in school can consume cooking oil at home from their sisters’ incentive and due to that reason many boys are satisfied from this incentive though they are not getting cooking oil. The parents and girls understood very clearly that if girls did not attend school regularly they would not get oil and thus, the parents sent their daughters regularly to schools. Almost all parents and girls mentioned that the purpose of giving oil was to motivate girls to schools and to increase regular attendance in schools. Mothers’ participation has observed in collecting oil and can be seen in other ways such as talking with other people and interacting among mothers on the way to and from school. It also helped to reduce mothers’ inhibition than before, increase their mobility and know the school environment, and thus increased their confidence to go to school.

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3.1.1 Trend of Enrolment The following graph shows the trend of enrolment of students in selected schools of GIP in 4 districts. The enrolment trend shows that both girls and boys enrolment have increased over the years. The trend shows that girls’ enrolment has sharply increased from 2001 to 2003. Enrolment increased by 48% to 54% for girls. This is mainly due to even 10 to 14 years old girls are coming to school after GIP intervention. When GIP was introduced in mid 2002, all those girls who had stopped going to schools enrolled again and leading to increased girls’ enrolment in 2003. After 2003, the enrolment trend is stable for girls and boys in 2004, it might be due to stable school going girls’ population or they might pass grade 5. For the boys who have crossed 9 years of age have passed grade 5 or have dropped out and migrated to India. Some boys might have internally displaced and boys are enrolled in private boarding schools too.

Trend of enrolment in GIP

2203

3120 3214

2405

2914 28962471

2517

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

2001 2002 2003 2004

Girls Boys

. Though girls fail in their classes, they continued in school rather than dropping out as was the trend in the past. Such changes were due to the attraction of oil. The oil incentive program has also lured girls from other schools especially from secondary schools and private boarding schools. The teachers claimed that drop out and afternoon absenteeism especially among dalit and poor families had decreased due to GIP.

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In Salyan, a few primary schools were not taking WSB due to overburden of school feeding program for school teacher. Some schools didn’t have WSB due to not arriving in distribution centers. There was a very low attendance in grade one due to this reason, the school teachers claimed. If there was no school feeding program, it mainly affects for grade one children. Table 3: Pattern of Attendance as per Enrolment in 2004

Grade

GIP schools NON GIP Schools Number of Enrolment

Attendance % Number of Enrolment

Attendance %

1 Boys 839 702 83.67 125 39 31.20Girls 858 616 71.79 162 99 61.49

2 Boys 569 440 77.32 125 61 48.8 Girls 668 473 70.80 162 59 36.41

3 Boys 504 382 75.79 60 29 48.33Girls 569 471 82.77 55 27 49.09

4 Boys 494 353 71.45 60 29 48.33Girls 601 444 73.87 57 31 54.38

5 Boys 490 382 77.95 42 27 64.28Girls 518 436 84.16 50 26 52.00

Total Boys 2896 2259 78.00 574 185 32.22Girls 3214 2440 75.91 324 242 74.69

Total

6110 4699 898 427

The table shows the pattern of attendance as per enrolment from grade 1 to 5 in 26 GIP schools of 4 districts in 2004.This table shows the rate of attendance in different grades based on the total number of enrolment in the same year. This attendance is based on the one-day observation during the field visit. The rate of attendance shows that the girls’ attendance is lower in grade 1 and 2 and higher in grade 3 to 5 compared to the boys in GIP schools. The pattern of attendance in Non GIP district is very low as compared to GIP for both genders. In Salyan, the overall enrolment of children in school is found very low in comparison with other districts. The teacher expressed that the reason of low enrolment is due to existing private boarding schools. Most of the boys are attending private boarding in district headquarter. In one of the schools, due to absence of school feeding program, the school was not open during the field visit, and it has seriously affected grade one children, decreasing their attendance significantly. Of the total enrolment figure, attendance in grade 1 was very poor. According to the teacher, girls who never came to school were mostly dalit. Those girls who came to school had 60% attendance in school. The teachers explained that about

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60% girls who passed in exam and remaining 40% girls who failed in exams were also Dalit. Due to Dalit Scholarship scheme, dalit children were coming to school but their attendance was very poor. Those dalit were mainly Kasai, Gandharba, Kami, Sarki, Damai and Badi and have very low family income. In GIP area, those families who enrolled their daughters to school but not sent regularly before the oil incentive program realized that they were sending their girls regularly to schools due to this incentive. It was also observed that the continuity of girls in school had increased more than in the past. Those girls who could not pass the final exam, still continued in the same grade unlike in the past when they immediately used to drop out once they failed the exam. Table 4: Promotion of boys and girls of GIP and NON GIP Schools

Grade

Doti Ramechhap

Makwanpur Puthan

Salyan

2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003

2002 2003 2002 2003

1 Boys 62 77 65 59 159 176 129 173 60 58 Girls 71 82 70 69 193 185 140 158 43 54 2 Boys 48 46 74 69 129 163 126 123 53 27 Girls 48 57 55 89 184 210 117 121 43 31 3 Boys 53 45 75 74 170 149 105 120 51 46 Girls 53 54 48 58 167 201 127 108 46 36 4 Boys 43 71 57 83 157 172 110 119 48 47 Girls 63 58 48 45 157 193 119 161 37 31 5 Boys 54 51 45 71 132

144 83

116 49 47

Girls 46 63 42 58 134 169 70 133 37 23 Total Boys

260 290 316 356 747 804 553 651 261 225

Girls 281 306 263 319 835 958 573 681 206 175 Total 541 596 579 675 1582 1762 1126 1332 467 400

Comparing girls’ enrolment in 2002 and 2003, the average promotion rate for GIP school is 66% and 48% for Non GIP. So the impact of GIP is obvious in girls’ performance in school compared to Non GIP.

3.1.2 Consumption of Oil

Almost all parents and children expressed that the cooking oil is used for day-to-day household cooking such as vegetable, meat, bread, puri, haluwa and fried rice. About 5% of oil is used for religious purpose (earthen lamp), hair use, body massage and rest of the amount is used for cooking purpose. The parents explained that the taste was not felt

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good in the beginning but eventually everyone liked it. In addition, they mentioned that the oil provided from school was very helpful to reduce gastritis problems. Almost all the parents and children mentioned that it was better than ghee. It was found that the families who received 2 liters of oil for one daughter provided a real satisfaction and was a big relief to poor families who do not need to buy cooking oil as they could spend their saved money for other purposes. The teachers and parents admitted that the poorest of the poor families were sending girls to schools just to get oils rather than for their education. The average consumption of oil in remote village was found to be 2 liters per month for one household of poor family where 5 to 6 family members were living together. However, this consumption could go up to 3 to 4 liter if there were some festivals. So the cooking oil provided by the school is sufficient for poor families. But there were some exceptions where families put more oil for cooking vegetables and vary in ways of cooking. In Doti, one mother said that 2 liters is not sufficient for her family members and demanded more oil. This was also demanded as they were getting 3 liters of oil before and was not clear why it decreased from 3 liters to 2 liters. 3.1.3 Smoothness of the Program The program is smoothly running except in Ramechhap district. In other districts sometimes there are transportation problems. There was a problem in distributing oil in scheduled date and time by each distribution centre due to late or no arrival of oil as per the agreed date. Distribution center has no information about late delivery of oil and as a consequence has caused a lot of difficulty for remote schools where there is no access to vehicles. During the review period in Ramechhap district, cooking oil distribution and school feeding program had been stopped since the last 6 months. So parents and teachers expressed a lot of anger about this and asked for its justification. They were very sad for not getting such facilities for the girls. All the parents and teachers demanded strong punishment for those authorities who did discrepancy of cooking oil and terminated the oil incentive for sending girls to school regularly. They were also asking whether the oil which didn’t get for the last 6 months will be compensated later or not.

3.1.4 Criteria of Oil Distribution All the parents, teachers, children, FMCs who participated for the review understood very clearly that the girls attending school from 2 to 5 grade, and 2 to 8 grade in Makwanpur / Ramechhap respectively got cooking oil from school if they attended 80 % attendance in school. The criteria were positively received by everyone and were seen as the progress in regular attendance.

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It was found that about 75% parents came to school on oil distribution day and collected oil and the rest (25%) came on other days to collect the oil, and distribution would finished within 3 days. It was found that those families who had 3 to 4 eligible daughters for the incentive in the same school, the school would decide to give oil for smaller grade girls so that it will be continued for many years. In a few schools people said that if there are only Janajati and dalit children in school, then the program should be applied for both gender as the boys are also cut off from education among such lower caste group. The Boys Absent in School During the field trip with WFP team the reviewer asked about whether the children were involved in food for work project. WFP team ensured that they are not involved. It was quite surprising that when the review team reached one primary school in Patalhalna area of Puthan, about 10 to 15 (Aged 10 to 14 years) children especially boys with spades and sickles were going for road maintenance. These children were sent for road construction by their parents. The school attendance showed that many boys were absent on that day as they had gone to maintain and construct the narrow road in village.

3.2 MANAGEMENT ISSUES

3.2.1 Role of FMC The FMCs are neither involved in oil distribution nor transportation of oil from distribution center to school. FMCs do not play any significant roles in GIP program and are very passive through out the year. According to the local teachers the FMCs do not have time to come on oil distribution day in school, and they do not go to distribution centers either. It is found that parents’ contribution is much higher in terms of giving their time to carry cooking oil from distribution centers to schools and also from school to home, where there is no vehicle access. Out of 26 schools only 2 schools have some support from FMC members. Those FMC members who are involved in oil distribution were mainly managing the line of parents and monitoring parents of getting oil. 3.2.2 Teachers Involvement In all schools one teacher was always busy for food for education project. Teachers were overloaded due to oil distribution and school feeding program and less time was given for classroom teaching.

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It was found that in most of the school, classroom teaching was not possible during the oil distribution day after day snacks due to teachers’ involvement in oil distribution. In Shree Laxmi Primary school in Hatiya - 4 of Makwanpur district, the review team observed that 3 school teachers were directly involved in the oil distribution and school was closed after day snacks. Like wise in Shree Khadgeswori Primary school of Bangesal in Puthan, one of the school teachers said that the school program is hampered the whole days due to oil distribution program as all teachers were needed to see the attendance record of 2 to 5 grades. In most of the schools oil distribution started after day snacks and the afternoon sessions were off. Teachers expressed their reluctance to delegate the role of oil distribution to FMCs. They liked to distribute oil by themselves rather than delegate this role to FMCs. Most of the teachers mentioned that FMC members could not translate the record from attendance book to see whether girls reach 80 % attendance every month. In addition, teachers also mentioned the chances of tussle between parents and FMCs about inequal of oil distribution and emphasized teachers’ involvement in oil distribution for the neutrality to all parents.

3.2.3 Lack Monitoring and Real Integration During the review mission, it was also found that the commitment of District Education Officers (DEO) and Resource Persons (RPs) to monitor the selected schools is very weak. This trend is even worse now due to the present conflict situation, where DEO and their staff have been unable to visit schools as per expectation. Though FFE unit office is integrated with district education office (they were separate office before 1 year) there is no real integration in work. The Resource Persons (RP) never discussed about School Feeding Program and Girls’ Incentive Program. There is no joint signature in bank account in practice, which caused severe frustration in the district. According to the FFE in-charge; all management of School Feeding and Girls Incentive Program has been done by FFE unit staff and district education staffs are not involved in managing those programs.

3.2.4 Use of 4 Liters of Oil All schools were getting 4 liters oil, when FMC and school teachers were involved in oil management. Almost all school except a few has divided 4 liters of oil among school teachers as they claimed that food management committee was not involved in oil management. One school in Puthan district presented a huge debate on the use of the 4 liters of oil used by school teachers. So the head master of the school agreed to sell the 4 liters of oil and keep the money in school fund as per the views of management committee. However, other teachers were not happy as they were involved in recording attendance and distributing oil and insisted that they should get some oil as they did extra work.

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Likewise in two schools of Doti, which were selected for review, the provision of 4 liter oil was only used by the head miss and the head sir. They were involved in recording and distributing oil from their own home rather than from school. However, other teachers were not happy on it as they did teaching while head teachers were involved in oil management. In Ramechhap it was found that Balmandir school teacher and management committee members didn’t know about 4 liters of oil that is coming for school support. They were surprised to know about it. However, the headmaster clarified that there were a few stocks and some were replaced for leakage and distributed and therefore was not sufficient to distribute to the parents.

3.2.5 Fee charging for school feeding program In every school, there is a different charging system for school feeding program. Fees vary from 5 to 20 Rs per month, which is entirely the decision of school management committee. The fees are used to manage school feeding program. In Makwanpur, it is found that fee charged for school feeding program is quite high as compared to other district, which starts from 10 to 20 Rs. Fees are collected at the beginning of the year during admission rather than per month. This has become very difficult for those parents who have 3 to 4 children. In some schools girls have to pay double fee than boys (if boys pay 5 rupees then girls pay 10 Rs) because girls are getting oil. All schools sell ghee pot and oil pot to parents at 20 to 40 rupees per pot and use that money either for transporting oil or to pay the helper who cooks haluwa. The WSB bags are also sold at 5 rupees per bag. In all the schools they keep one helper to cook haluwa and do some work in school for which he/she is paid 500 to 1500 rupees per month.

3.3 BARRIER OF GIRLS’ ENROLMENT AND NON FLEXIBILITY In all schools under review districts except Doti and Salyan, admission fee was taken even for primary grades and taking admission fee is major barrier for rights to get basic education. It was found that in Doti, and Salyan there was no admission fee for primary grade. In these districts, even for the school feeding program, there was only nominal fees (Rs. 5). In Puthan, when girls were sick for one to two days they were not considered for full attendance, even if they came with application letters for sickness, where as in other 3 districts those things were considered. On an average 1 to 3 girls did not get oil per month, due to less than 80 % attendance due to illness. It was found that it affected more dalit girls than other caste ethnicity. However, these girls brought application when they become sick. It was also noticed that during the Dashain and Tihar festival time, schools observe long holidays. Likewise, the number of school days is very uncertain due to the current conflict situation. Therefore, even the girls attend the classes regularly, there is a high

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chance of them being deprived of GIP incentive, because of the current policy of minimum 15 school days to be eligible for the GIP entitlements. This policy can be considered as ambitious, particularly in the current conflict situation. Lack Flexibility During the focus group discussion of review process in Shree Khadageswori Primary School in Bagesal-6 in Puthan, it was found that requirement of birth registration certificate during admission was also a barrier for girls’ enrolment. During FG discussion with parents, one woman came with her daughter in school for her admission. The mother was from the dalit group and looked powerless due to her dress, hygiene, and gender/caste. She explained that she had come 3 times to admit her daughter in school. But the teacher did not admit her daughter for a number of reasons. For instance, the teachers sometimes said that the girl is under age and sometimes they asked for birth certificate. On that day also she returned with sadness. The reviewer observed and asked school teachers why could she not be admitted as she looked 6 years. The teachers were asked if they would be flexible for admission. The schoolteacher also realized the difficulty of getting the birth certificate for the poorest of poor families. At that time the VDCs were not functioning and the VDC secretary worked in DDC for the security reason rather than in the VDC. The village where the school was located was 4 to 5 hours drive from the district headquarters in a local bus. There were many practical issues, which had not been addressed by school and District Education Office (DEO). For instance, birth certificate is issued only when the parents (mother/father) have citizenship certificate. In poorest of the poor families the husbands usually migrate to India for work and mothers do not have citizenship certificate, and they have to pay 50 rupees to make birth certificate. In this situation the policy makers should think how policy could be made easier for the public rather than barriers.

Although government has promoted a free tuition policy, in reality, the parents are usually contributing in the name of admission fees, school building fees etc which is unaffordable for the poor households. In Makwapur district all selected schools (except one school) under review had taken the admission fee even for primary grades. The teachers explained that they had to take fee from students to manage the salary of teachers who were recruited by school management community. As there were no sufficient teachers as per students’ ratio, local teachers were recruited by the school itself. Although the government policy is free primary education this could not be practiced due to the fact the school has to manage the teachers’ salary on their own. The government was not responsible for paying local teachers. The children of the Shree Buddha Lower Secondary School in Makwanpur mentioned that the poorest of the poor girls and boys are still missing due to the admission fee requirement in the beginning. All primary children have to pay Rs 8 per month in order to

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manage school feeding program, oil transportation cost and helper salary. The children mentioned that at least primary education should be free. If school takes admission fee for the primary grade children the poorest of the poor can hardly get basic rights to education. The following is the admission fees taken by public school in Bal Mandir primary school of Puthan, and Shree Buddha lower secondary school of Makwanpur in primary and lower secondary grades.

Table 5: Admission fees of two schools in 2004

Grade Puthan

Makwanpur

One Rs.125

Not taken at grade one

Two Rs. 155

Rs. 70

Three Rs. 175

Rs. 150

Four Rs. 200

Rs. 170

Five Rs. 225

Rs. 200

Six Rs. 250

Seven Rs. 300

Eight Rs. 350

3.4 LOGISTIC ISSUES 3.4.1 Various Sizes of Oil Pots The oil pots were of different size such as 4 liters, 5 liters and sometimes 10 liters rather than having same size 2-liters pot. It was time-consuming process to measure the oil pots, when the pot sizes were not of two liters. It was made even more difficult when there was a lack of measuring mug in schools and when oil was not distributed from schools but from public shops or from home. Parents were not aware of which size pot would use on distribution day. They were not clear if they needed to bring extra pot while there was no 2 liters of oil pot. 3.4.2 Timely Delivery

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In all review districts, it was pointed out that the distribution centers are not equally accessible for many schools. Sometimes when parents reach to distribution center as per the monthly schedule; the oil and WSB flour were not available and they were not informed about it, nor the school teachers. This was a real problem for those schools where there is no access to transportation. In most of the cases, the oil would not arrive in scheduled time in distribution centers and school teacher and community people have to wait for long time. When oil could not be distributed in time due to transportation problems, the parents were suspicious if the school teacher used the oil. 3.4.3 Storage System In all schools under review there was no separate store system. 99% schools were without storeroom. The storage of oil and WSB in office room was very congested. Due to the storage problems in two schools of Doti district, they stored oil at home and were distributed from their home rather than from school. This practice was also found in Makwanpur, Shree Seti Ganesh Primary School in Sarki village of Palung area where storage of WSB and cooking oil was done in the house of head miss. However, some schools managed to distribute cooking oil on Friday afternoon, where storage system was good and there was less chance of oil being stolen. Once cooking oil arrives in school from distribution center; school teachers informs children to ask their mothers to come to school on the next day for oil collection. 3.4.4 GIP Cards In all schools, there were no GIP cards with the mothers and such cards are not used at present on oil distribution day. Schools distributed a form where most of the mothers put their thumb prints on it before collecting cooking oil from school. Most of the mothers still can’t write their name.

3. 5 CONSTRAINTS IN GIP 3.5.1 No Sufficient Quota In all GIP districts under review mentioned that there is no sufficient quota as per the enrolment of girls and demand strongly of increasing quota as per enrolment. They said that at present 2 liters of oil has been managed as per the calculation of yearly quota system rather than on monthly basis because oil is supplied for 10 months but actual class running in school is not more than 9 months due to Bandh or different holidays. Sometimes there is stock of oil when schools are not opened for 15 days or when some girls could not get 80% attendance. In Puthan, the girls are not getting 2 liters oil as per the policy instead, they are getting 1 liter 700ml since August 2004. Before, parents got 2 liters of oil. The FFE unit staff said that the letter from their central office has compelled them to distribute as per the quota, allocated for the district i.e. for 8000 students only.

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The quota, which is distributed in Puthan, is not consistent in all schools. There is no rationale behind it. For example in Shree Khalanga Primary school there are 90 quotas out of 100 eligible girls, whereas in Shree Nepal Rastriya primary school at Patihalna there are only 40 quotas out of 61 girls. Likewise in Puthan district; it was found that 18 schools did not get oil in August 2004 as schools were not open for 15 days due to the negligence of school management. Parents and girls expressed number of queries in Puthan district during the review time. For instance, why did not they get 2 liters of oil? Although, it is standard policy of getting 2 liters oil for all 2 to 5 grade girls. Parents put pressure on schoolteachers and mistrust was created by communities towards teachers, as they doubted teachers’ sincerity for the oil. Due to such quota system teachers also faced difficulties in dividing cooking oil, which is 1 liter 700 ml for one girl instead of 2 liters of cooking oil.

3.5.2 Negative Effects In each district; one to two serious issues were found. The parents asked teachers to fail their daughters and retain them in the same grade. For instance, when there is no oil program in lower secondary schools the parents preferred their daughters to remain in the primary grade rather than go to the higher grade in lower secondary schools. Discussion with UNICEF in central level also highlighted similar case in Dadeldhura. Whereas in some schools the parents also put pressure on schools / staff to promote their daughters from grade one to higher grade with a motivation to get cooking oil. Under age children were also admitted in school due to the motivation of getting oil. Some parents put pressure on the teachers to admit their daughters in grade 2 without studying in grade one and told teachers that “the school is not your father’s property”. One negative trend directly linked with the GIP is the fact that the primary schools are overloaded. The parents usually preferred their daughters to remain in primary grades rather than moving to the lower secondary schools, which are not covered by the GIP. Currently, the primary sections in lower secondary and higher secondary schools are not covered by the GIP. This has a direct consequence of increasing pressure of girls in the pure primary schools. The parents did not send their daughters to the nearest school, which was 15 minutes distance from home rather sent their girls to the school (primary school) about half an hour to an hour walk due to the oil incentive program. The teachers explained that there is an increased pressure of students in primary grade of primary schools rather than primary grade of secondary and lower secondary schools. In addition, there was an increased pressure from parents to get oil even if girls are absent and could not complete 80 % attendance.

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3.5.3 Involvement of Children In certain schools children were made responsible for oil transportation while their parents were busy in fieldwork although the GIP expects the mothers to attend school for oil collection as well as for interaction with teachers and other parents. 3.6 SOCIAL MOBILIZATION Social mobilization about the nutritional value of oil incentive, gender issues, the role of GIP and importance of involvement of FMC and importance of girls’ education is very weak. Due to lack of social mobilization some girls are still missing and drop out. Some boys were not clear about why oil was only given to girls. Some of them mentioned that might be because girls do not get property and need encouragement for going to school by giving cooking oil.

3.6.1 Mothers’ Participation In almost all schools, mothers collected oil. It was different in one school of Makwanpur where all girls carried oil home after school. About 1 to 2 % of girls carried oil in other districts too when their mothers could not have time to go to school to collect oil during working season. Although mothers were expected to interact with teachers when they come to school for oil collection, there was no true interaction between mothers and teachers. Only about 5% mothers asked the teachers about their daughter’s education in school when they came for oil collection. During oil distribution day the mothers found the situation is not favorable for enquiring their daughters study with teachers, as there would be a crowd and a long queue for oil. The GIP program promotes the mothers’ participation and forgets the father’s participation. Is only mother responsible for the girl’s development? It is really surprising how development agencies still think that girls’ education is only the concern of mother and forget the father’s responsibility for the overall development of girls. Due to that situation some fathers expressed that “fathers are for son and mothers are for daughters” that’s why only mother should come for oil collection. Fathers are totally excluded in GIP and girls development activities which promoted stereotypes gender role.

3.6.2 Nutrition Value and Fortification It was found that all parents, teachers and children in all the districts did not know about fortification of Vitamin A and D in cooking oil distributed by school. They could not explain about the difference between market oil and oil available in school. However, they frequently mentioned that the cooking oil tasted better and help to reduce gastritis.

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3.6.3 Value of Girls’ Education When asked about continuation of girls’ education to lower secondary and secondary levels, almost all parents, teachers and girls said that most of the girls in district head quarters are likely to continue but they were not sure about the girls from rural villages especially dalit and poorest of the poor girls. Tracking Girls is Still Question In Makwanpur district, one of the lower secondary school could not track girls to continue in school. A girl from a poor family who first completed grade 5 from that school dropped out and went to Kathmandu to work as a domestic worker. In this scenario the school could not track those girls immediately to continue their school education though a number of incentives are available. Similarly in another lower secondary school a girl from dalit family passed grade 5 and dropped out whereas her brother of same grade continued in the next grade. No one tried to understand why she dropped out and how could she be brought back to school. Both these schools were lower secondary and were supported by oil distribution program. 3.6.4 Work Load Discussion with girls clearly revealed that household work would be a burden to their mothers if they do not share with them. It was found that girls usually shared the household work and reducing work burden of their mothers. The boys also realized that girls do more household work than boys. Parents especially mothers admitted that the sons were reluctant to do the household chores even if the parents ask them to do. Thus it is only the daughters who help their mothers to do all the household chores. Girls went to school for the first four hours and then came back home after day snacks especially if they had work at home. Even this way, the girls still managed to get 80% attendance in order to get the oil and helped their mothers to do the housework as well. During plantation and harvesting season, the girls often attend school only for the first hours and go home after getting permission from teachers for doing household chores and helping to look after younger siblings. This practice was common in all schools in order to get 80% attendance.

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3.6.5 Issues of 2 Eligible Daughters Schools were not clear whether 4 liters oil was given to one family regardless of a particular girl from 2 to 8 grades. Similarly it was not clear to school teachers if the eligible girls became sick and didn’t reach 80 % attendance, should the next eligible girl from same family be provided oil or not. 3.6.6 Lack Holistic Intervention on Girls’ Issues and School Campaigning : Despite the initiatives taken by GIP for getting girls’ rights for basic education, the girls from lower socio-economic strata are still missing for various reasons. There are 2 to5 % girls in each school catchment’s area where girls have never been to school. During the review it came to know that girls are not in school due to the following reasons.

• When they become sick, • During local festivals and hat bazaar (hat bazaar is once or twice a week

where local vegetables and products are sold in the market) • Look after younger siblings during working season (harvesting and

planting season) • Girls’ attendance is on rotation basis where 2 to 3 daughters come from

same home. • Economic poverty • Early marriage • Working for domestic purpose as a housemaid. • Most of the schools do not have toilet and even if it exists it is very dirty

with no water. Girls feel difficult to use the toilet especially during menstruation period and so just stay at home.

• The girls who have first menstruation do not attend in school for some days due to the culture of hiding girls in dark room as having menstruation is considered impure. This practice is common especially among Brahamin/Chhetri.

Lack Initiatives for Poorest of the Poor Girls The poorest and lower caste girls are still being deprived from basic education and they could not be attracted even by oil distribution program. In Palung- 4 of Makwanpur district there is Gopali village (which comes under lower status of Newar ethnicity) where, about 5 % girls do not go to school from that village. The Gopali village is very near from Shree Seti Ganesh, Sarki Village Primary School of Palung bazzar. However, no initiatives have been taken to encourage those lower caste girls to come in school. Like wise teachers said that about 2 to5 % girls are still not coming in school due to poverty in Deurali VDC of Ramechhap.

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The Issue of Girls’ Reproductive Health is Invisible in Primary School During the focus group discussions with parents in Puthan district, it was found that a girl of age 11years studying in grade 3 didn’t come to school on that day. Her parents explained that the reason for her daughter’s absence in school was due to her first menstruation. She had to hide for 25 days and should not see her father’s and brother’s face. She was from the Chhetri family (Khadka). The issue was discussed with her father and mother and they are asked whether such culture was good to be preserved. What effects (psychological, physical, social and academic) would it have on the girls who could not go outside for 25 days? She was already absent for first 7 days and she needed to wait for next 18 days to go to school. It would be a great loss for girls who would have been absent for 25 days regularly in school. During our discussion the father understood and promised to send his daughter to school by next Sunday. Although her mother also realized the problems for her daughter’s absence in school for 25 days, she still insisted preserving their culture to hide for 25 days. According to the government policy, the standard age group for primary school is 5 to 9 years. However, the reviewers observed that the girls of 11 to 14 years were studying in primary grade in all study districts.

3.7 ISSUES OF QUALITY It is found that due to GIP program the purely primary schools are overloaded, while there is no extension of other basic facilities in the schools provided by the government (teachers, classrooms, toilets, etc). There were no sufficient teachers in all schools as per the student ratio. Due to insufficient teachers all classes were not running at the same time. This was also one of the reasons for afternoon absenteeism and high repetition rate. In one of the primary schools in Kahlanga bazzar of Salyan district there were 10 teachers, whereas 3 teachers should be sufficient as per the student ratio. In Ramechhap district, one of the RPs mentioned that out of 19 students (where GIP and school feeding program was conducted), 18 students failed in grade 9 who came from lower secondary school. Hence, the quality of education in primary and lower secondary school can be imagined. In grade 1, more than 40 % students are repeating in the same grade. Likewise 98 % schools do not have toilet, which is very difficult for girls during menstruation.

3.8 Government Facilities The DOE authorities said that GIP is very effective to increase enrolment in school and realized that the government has good policies to address quality but lack in implementation. It has come to know that there are numbers of scholarship policies for poorest of the poor children if they come to school. The DOE at central and DEO at

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district level said that there are number of facilities available from the government side to access and quality education:

Dalit scholarship @ 250 Rs per year for all dalit children Girls scholarship @ 250 Rs per year for 50 % of girls in school Booster scholarship @ 500 Rs per year for those who had never been to

school and are now in schools. At least one female teacher in every primary school

Secondary Education Support program:

Dalit scholarship @ Rs 500 per student per year for 6 to 10 grade dalit students in school,

Full scholarship for 6 to 10 grade poor students @ Rs1700 per student per year Free ship scholarship @ Rs 700 per school for 6 to 10 grade students Girls hostel in 20 districts for 6 to 10 grade students

Like wise to address quality issues of education; the government has School Improvement Plan (SIP) in all 75 districts under EFA. SIP focuses on the following areas:

How to increase student achievement Discuss with stakeholders and identify the needs of school for better learning Classroom teaching / learning activities SIP appraisal committee to monitor school activities and support Teacher training which is need based and refresher training Block Grant Funding School Incentive Program Curriculum development

Actually the GIP and school-feeding program both give complementary support for the government schemes. The government facilities, though very nominal, target to the poor, dalit, and girls which attract them to school and help in the beginning of school. If children come in school, school-feeding program addresses the hunger of young children and reduces absenteeism of all primary children.

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CHAPTER FOUR 4. ANALYSIS and CONCLUSION The GIP has been implemented along with School Feeding Program under Food for Education Program. There is a high demand of GIP by all stakeholders. It is observed that girls’ enrolment is higher than boys. Along with enrolment the girls’ retention and regularity in schools has highly increased compared to the past. GIP is an effective means of providing basic rights of education to the girls as well as great support for poor families as they don’t need to buy cooking oil and the money could be saved for other purposes. This has attracted a large number of parents especially from the poorest and low caste groups to send their girls to school. There are some families (who are not very poor) who deny that they are not sending girls in school just to get oil rather to ensure the continuation for their daughter’s education. Although parents do not like to admit that they are sending girls to school for getting oil, it has a positive implication on both the school’s activities, as well as in the attitude of parents towards the education of daughters. The school feeding program is very helpful in reducing afternoon absenteeism and GIP is quite attractive for increasing enrolment and regular attendance. Both activities are running under Food for Education (FFE) in same schools. In Non GIP schools, the overall school enrolment and attendance is very poor as compared to GIP schools. Though students are attracted by a number of scholarships for dalit and poorest of the poor children, they do not come regularly to school. Scholarship, which they are getting from school, is only enough for school uniform and rest of the stationary cost has to be managed by the students themselves. In GIP schools, poorest of the poor family do not need to buy two liters of oil and spend the money they have saved for other household purposes where as in NON GIP areas it is much more difficult for the poor parents as they do not get the same facilities. It is found that in Non GIP schools, girls are sent to schools on rotation basis. For instance, if there are two to three daughters they go to school turn by turn, so that they can help their mothers to do the household chores. It is because if the girls stay at home and look after younger siblings and do household activities, their parents can go for labor work for the whole day, from which they can earn 100 to 200 Rs. per day. This is one of the major reasons why girls’ overall enrolment and attendance is poor compared to GIP schools. In Non GIP schools, the teachers’ student ratio is found to be satisfactory possibly because these schools under review are nearer to the district headquarters. In Salyan district there are 10 teachers instead of 3 teachers as per student ratio in one of the school in district headquarters. In district headquarters and their adjoining villages it is

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easy to find teachers due to the proximity, but beyond the district headquarters it is hard to get required teachers as per the students. This is much worse at present due to security situation. Despite the positive results of GIP there are some challenges that need to be addressed in future. Due to the oil incentive program certain primary schools are overcrowded while there is no extension of other facilities by government such as number of teachers, classroom extension and other physical facilities. In grade one more than 40% of children are repeaters and lots of under aged children come with their sisters and brothers to school. In all schools under review there is no separate store system. 99% schools are without storeroom. In all GIP districts under review, there is no sufficient quota as per the enrolment of girls and demand of increasing quota as per enrolment. Social mobilization is very weak. The roles and responsibilities of Food Management Committee (FMC) have not been fulfilled to the extent anticipated in the project document. FMC do not play any significant roles in GIP program and are very passive through out the year. This is perhaps due to the lack of orientation, sensitization and existence of a large number of members in FMCs. Teachers are reluctant to delegate the role of oil distribution to FMCs as they feel proud to distribute oil and do not believe that FMCs can be involved in oil distribution which decreased the teachers’ time in teaching and learning activities. According to the teachers, the FMCs has no time to come to school nor can they translate the record from the attendance. There is a lack of transparency between school teachers and FMCs about four liters of oil that provided to the FMC for their extra work. Due to the conflict situation at present, the commitment of DEO and RPs to monitor school is very weak and worse as they are unable to visit school as per the expectation. The GIP program only promotes mothers’ participation and ignoring the father’s participation in the program activities. It is really surprising to know that how development agencies still consider that girls’ education is only the concern of mothers. Similarly, there are some schools where more than 90 % children (boys and girls) are from poor Janajati and dalit background, but only girls benefit and boys are ignored from the program. Most schools do not make an attempt to analyze why children are irregular, why they drop out, which children are irregular and how they can be tracked immediately to school. In Makwanpur district, it has been found that few girls’, who are very good in education, succeed in grade 5 but do not continue in grade 6. They drop out from school even though there is GIP in lower secondary school. Such problems are not monitored by any agencies. The GIP also fails to analyze why girls do not continue even when they do well in schools (they were not failed), and there is a GIP and other facilities in school for the poorest of the poor girls. Other aspects such as sexual harassments against girls (on the

39

way and within school) are very common in other districts. This was one of the major causes of drop out or irregular in schools and that might apply in FFE program area. (From my experience with adolescence children, the girls and children group in Surkhet and Tanahu identified that school was one of the unsafe spaces for them. The girls also dropped out due to harassment which is not mentioned in this project) Similarly, the cultural practice of hiding girls during first menstruation has been found to be one of the strong reasons for girls’ irregularity in schools. The girls also hesitated to go to schools during every four days of a month due to discomfort they face without proper toilet or hygienic condition. Hindu cultural norms provide restrictions to the girls for regular attainment of the schools during menstruation. Despite regular attendance of girls in GIP schools, they still help their mothers in the household chores. They are more responsible for sharing household chores and looking after younger siblings during heavy agricultural seasons. This results in girls being irregular in schools during this period and even if they go to schools it was only for the first half of school periods so as to reach the 80% attendance. The motivation is more for getting oil by achieving 80% attendance than for educational activities. Some schools do not accept applications even when girls become sick and can not attend school. As a consequence, they will not get cooking oil if their attendance in class is less than 80%. In this scenario the poorest of the poor family suffer more as they dependent on household consumption from 2 to 4 liters of oil per month. Due to 80 % attendance policy the parents put pressure on the teachers to make the policy flexible especially at the time of sickness. Likewise, even the girls attend the classes regularly and have 80 % attendance, sometimes girls are being deprived of GIP incentive due to the number of school days is not reaching 15 days because of long Deshain Tihar holidays and current conflict situation. In addition, the requirement of admission fees even for primary grades (the government have free education policy for primary education), fees taken in the beginning of year ( Makwanpur district) for school feeding program rather than taking fee in monthly basis and requirement of birth certificate during admission were major barriers in getting girls to the schools. Especially parents from low socio-economic status rarely have ready cash for paying such admission fees. Similarly it is hard for mothers to obtain birth certificate in absence of their citizenship certificate. When there is no oil program in lower secondary schools the parents preferred their daughters to remain in the primary grade rather than going to the higher grade in lower secondary schools. UNICEF staff in central level has also highlighted similar case in Dadeldhura and that should not have happened. Some parents also put pressure on teachers to promote their daughters from grade one to higher grade with a motivation to get cooking oil.

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When comparing the student pressure in purely primary schools; the quality aspect is undermined such as no regular classroom teaching by teachers due to insufficient teachers as per student ratio. Consequently, two classrooms will have to be managed by one teacher or one class is left without teaching/learning. In addition, there are lacks of adequate physical facilities, and classrooms are very congested. There is an absence of child friendly teaching and learning activities rather, disciplining students by showing a stick is very common in all the observed schools. The GIP provides benefit for those girls who can come to school. But there are 2 to5 % girls in each school catchment’s area where girls have never been to school. The GIP does not consider this problem and do not seek ways to bring these girls to school. Despite the initiatives taken by GIP for getting girls’ rights for basic education, the girls from lower socio-economic strata are still missing for various reasons mentioned above. DEO or school can request any NGOs at local level, and seek active participation and mobilizations of parents when they come for oil collection. These initiations have never been considered and there has been no true interaction between mothers and teachers in school. Utilization of mother’s time and discussion on developmental issues (such as HIV/ AIDS, gender issues, reproductive health and safer motherhood) in monthly basis at least one session per month could be an added value for parents and organization. The oil supplying pots are varied and parents do not bring appropriate pots. It is found out that 2 liters of oil pot is more appropriate to parents and teachers to minimize the wastage of oil as well as to reduce the extra burden of measuring 2 liter oil, which hinders disturb classroom teaching time. Regarding oil distribution; few schools are distributing cooking oil from their home due to the problems of storage in school hindering institutional relationship with parents. The government has a number of scholarship schemes for the poorest of the poor children including dalit and girls scholarship, but there is lack of strong monitoring system and delay in timely released of budget from central to district and from district to schools. This has hindered the effectiveness of the scholarship program. For example the budget of 2004 academic year has not been released till November 2004, which means that more than half the academic course has already finished. Although the policy is clear, GIP implementation practices vary in different districts. A take home ration of 4 liters of oil provided to FMCs to compensate for the additional workload of record keeping and reporting of participating schools are used mostly by school teachers and in some schools only by head teachers because FMCs are not involved in oil management. In some schools neither FMCs nor schoolteachers know that 4 liter oil has been provided to school for the above purpose. Perhaps this is the one of the reasons why school teachers are not willing to involve FMCs in oil distribution.

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CHAPTER FIVE

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of this review, the recommendations have been prioritized into different headings and have been categorized into immediate (six month to one year), medium (one to two years) and long term (two to five years) actions. Below is the list of future recommendations for taking action Future Recommendations: 5.1 MANAGEMENT ISSUES:

5.1.1 Monitoring and Strengthening the Capacity of Food Management

Committees (FMCs) Recommendations:

It is urgent to effectively activate and mobilize the FMC members with good orientation on their roles and responsibilities. FMC training should be planned jointly by FFEP and WFP to strengthen the capacity of FMC to improve the reporting of school activities, record keeping, periodic assessment of progress and establishing regular feedback mechanism between School Management Committee (SMC)/FMC and the DEO (Immediate).

Similar type of training should be organized within the first quarter (April –June) of each new academic year. The quality of the FMC training material and the need for regular (on an annual basis) refresher sessions should be regularly assessed by WFP, FFEP and MOES, towards the end of each academic year. (Immediate).

The FMC training at the beginning of each academic year should include

adequate orientation on the importance of girls’ education, the fortification of food commodities, monitory and nutritional value of cooking oil, and the involvement of FMCs in the decision making process related to GIP (Immediate).

The WFP Country Programme (CP) evaluation mission, scheduled the first

quarter of 2006, should assess the possibilities of introducing alternative monitoring mechanism particularly under the present context of conflict situation (Medium).

An impact evaluation survey both at the schools and at the household level needs

to be conducted by WFP in order to review the impact of the GIP in a more

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systematic way. This evaluation should also review the appropriateness and adequacy of 2 litres of vegetable oil as an incentive under GIP and recommend other suitable alternatives, if any (Medium).

There should be joint school visits to the selected schools at least in every 3

months by WFP SO/Field Monitors and School Supervisor/Resource Person from DEO to monitor the attendance and to ensure that the enrolment figures reported are correct (Immediate).

The MOES and FFEP should strongly reinforce the DEO and the RPs for the

regular monitoring of the project. MOES and FFEP should visit to selected districts of GIP once a year and review the monitoring mechanism in the context of conflict clearly outlining the role of DEOs and RPs (Medium).

FMC should be reorganized by the DEO/FFE Unit, at the beginning of each

academic year, with an appropriate and practically operational size with maximum 9 members and at least 50% women (5 women out of 9 members). A contract needs to be signed between the FMC and the FFE Unit before the 15th July of each year. The format of the contract should be reviewed and agreed by both MOES/FFEP and WFP. (Immediate).

5.1.2 Operational Flexibility Recommendations:

WFP should re- emphasize to its counterparts the importance of not taking any kinds of fees from girls in GIP schools and a dialogue between MOE, FFE, and DEO should be initiated in order to stop this practice. Ultimately, MOES/DOE should write officially to DEOs to enforce it as a policy. (Immediate)

The policy of minimum 15 days of school should be revised by the WFP/MOES for

accommodating uncertainty of schools closures. To be more realistic, the oil incentives should be provided if the school is open and operational for at least 10 days (one third of a month) (Immediate).

5.2 LOGISTIC ISSUES 5.2.1 Storage System Recommendation:

For schools targeted by FFE and GIP the availability of a minimum standard

storage facilities should be one of the preconditions for the continuation of the support to the schools. The contract between FMC and the DEO should ensure

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that the school meets this minimum standard. FMC should still be responsible for managing the storage and the oil distribution in schools (Immediate).

5.2.2 Timely Delivery Recommendations:

There should be a better communication from district FFE Unit about the food delivery dates at the DCs through whatever means possible so that parents and teachers could make proper arrangements/rescheduling. (Immediate).

The location of DCs should be reviewed once a year in the month of Nov/Dec by

the DEO, the district FFE Unit and the WFP sub office. The number of centres may have to be increased to reduce the long transport distances. (Medium).

5.2.3 Standard 2-Litres Container

Recommendations:

To make the oil distribution process smooth, WFP should provide vegetable-cooking oil in standard two-litre pot only. If not possible, provision of a two litres measuring mug in all GIP schools is strongly recommended for the convenience and accurate measurement (Immediate).

5.2.4 GIP Cards

Recommendations:

To have a better control over the beneficiary of the oil, it is recommended that GIP cards should be provided to GIP schools by DEO / FFE Unit with the support of WFP SO before every new school year. It should be mandatory for the mothers to bring the card while collecting the oil. (Immediate)

5.3 TARGETING GIRLS AND SCHOOLS 5.3.1 Extending GIP Recommendations:

DEO and FFE-P are required to sensitize parents about the value and necessity of upgrading their girls to higher grades. (Immediate).

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Vegetable oil should be provided to all eligible daughters attending primary schools. The planned mid-term CP evaluation should review the existing FFE policy regarding the maximum number of girls eligible for the incentive from the same family. It should consider covering all girls from same family if they are eligible to get the cooking oil or increase the current number of 2 to 4 girls (Medium).

Instead of the current practice of random selection of schools, criteria should be

developed by WFP/FFEP and needs to be implemented by DEO/FFEP to systematically target food insecure areas/clusters with high concentration of socially disadvantaged population and higher gender gap in education. Schools within these areas should be prioritized for the GIP activity in order to maximize the impact of the Programme and to start immediate mapping of schools. Prioritisation has to be based on this mapping and the Ilaka level survey conducted by the WFP Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) unit (the report from the WFP VAM is expected by the end of this year 2005). (Medium).

Apart from the systematic targeting of schools within the districts, WFP should

review the need of expanding the GIP to other FFE districts in the mid and far western hill food insecure districts and where girls’ enrolment rate in primary schools are comparatively low. ( Immediate )

WFP, during the CP evaluation, should also review the need to implement only

GIP in district where the enrolment of girls is very low but the district is not classified as food insecure (Medium).

WFP need to take into account annual increment of 5 - 7 % while finalizing the

annual allocation plan for 2005/2006 and onwards (Immediate). Similarly, the planning figures in the new CP should also provision for the annual increase so that the issue of insufficient quota will not be raised in future (Medium).

The upcoming CP review mission and CP evaluation should review the possibility

of the extension of GIP also to the primary sections of the lower-secondary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the GIP districts. (Medium)

5.3.2 Demand Driven Approach Recommendations

Similarly, the possibility and need of extending GIP to lower secondary schools

in all GIP districts (including FFE districts) should also be explored by the CP evaluation (Long term).

The criteria for eligible schools should also be reviewed by MOES, WFP, and

FFEP to look at the possibilities to include schools which are handed over to the

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community or where there are other activities supported by other agencies especially in quality education aspects. (Medium)

The global campaign of “Welcome to School” recently launched by the MOES is

much appreciated. For a successful implementation of the campaign, a much collaborated mechanism among stakeholders, to monitor which children are not coming to school and why, is required. A mapping system, like the one UNICEF2 has developed within their Decentralised Action for Children and Women (DACAW) plan can be taken as an example and should be conducted by DEO during the academic year 2005/2006. The result of this mapping should be used to design and organise campaigns within school catchments area for the targeting of non enrolled children by DEO and NGOs (Medium).

The CP evaluation team, with the support from the VAM unit, should look at the

possibility to cover both gender from marginalized groups particularly in areas where enrolment of children of these groups are extremely low (Medium ).

5.4 SOCIAL MOBILISATION 5.4.1 Awareness Raising Recommendations: Therefore it is recommended that the CP evaluation assess the possibilities for WFP to;

Develop a strategy of involving local active NGOs ( identified by WFP and DEO)

during one school year in order to raise awareness amongst parents, teachers and FMC members, for example by using the gathering on distribution days to address issues like: (Medium)

a) the role of GIP and the necessity of active involvement from both parents b) the importance of education in general and for girls in particular c) gender issues like roles and responsibilities within the family d) awareness on HIV/AIDS, e) nutritional value of the food ration provided.

Regular orientation of parents (during the day of the oil collection) should be

organized by the DEO in order to reinforce the use of vegetable oil only for cooking purpose and to emphasize the importance of mothers coming to collect GIP ration. Such orientation should also clarify policy against involving children in transporting oil from the distribution centres to schools and home (Immediate).

2 Also PLAN international has developed a mapping system, but with the objective to assess who are the most vulnerable women in the community.

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5.5 PARTNERSHIP AND NETWORKING 5.5.1 Strengthening Partnerships Recommendations:

MOES should organize meetings at national level for EFA donors that are involved in girls’ education and specifically in the quality of education. At the same time, it is necessary to seek strong commitment from all donors and government to address the quality of education (child friendly teaching) and specific needs of girls such as reproductive health of girls, workload and its impact on the girls’ education. (Medium).

A common coordination forum with the representation from the all concerned UN

agencies should be established for advocacy purposes as well as for increasing efficiency of the activities being implemented especially in girls’ education (Medium).

WFP, along with other UN agencies, should advocate with the government and

main donors in order to ensure the minimum standard in the schools such as classroom facilities, number of teachers, training on teaching learning methods and physical facilities (Medium).

WFP should do a mapping of “who is doing what” to address the quality of

education at central and district level and do collaborative work with different agencies such as UNICEF, Plan International, Save the children Norway and DOE. (Immediate)

MOES and its district/regional agencies (RD and DEO) should take the lead in

organizing regular sharing forums/meetings among concerned government authorities and I/NGOs at district level to foster understanding on practical issues related to girls’ education (Medium).

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ANNEX 1: Checklist for GIP Review Program District education officer and focal person to girls’ education or GIP program, District WFP team, Community members, Food Mgmt Committee:

1. What other incentive program do you have in your district / schools excluding GIP?

2. How the incentive program distributed?

3. Has the incentive program helped to increase girls’ enrolment and retention of girl students till the primary education cycle ends? (Quantitative Data for verification)

4. How far the usefulness of Vegetable oil incentive program and how smoothly

the program is going?

5. What roles are playing for GIP by food management committee, families and community people under FFE?

6. How effective do you find this program in relation to participation and

retention of girls students?

7. What are the general reasons of increasing or decreasing girls’ enrolment, drop out, retention and afternoon absenteeism?

8. What sort of issues emerged within the program and what constraint / barriers

/ problems do you face in managing the oil incentive program?

9. What solutions have been applied to address those problems?

10. How far monitoring has been done? Who has been involved in monitoring process?

11. How is the afternoon absenteeism?

12. Why monitoring could not be effective? How it can be improved?

13. What measure could be taken to make this program more effective in future?

14. What further steps should be taken?

15. What are other suggestions could you give concerning incentive program?

16. How could we give continuity to enrolment and retention of girls’ students in

primary school in future if there is no oil incentive?

17. Is it appropriate to provide oil incentive, If yes

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18. Considering grade wise gender gap and disadvantaged population what is the

appropriate grade to start and end the incentive program? Schools Head Teacher and Teacher: In addition to above questions;

When did the feeding program and girls’ incentive program start in this school?

How it has been distributed? What are the criteria?

Are there any difficulties associated with GIP, if so what are the difficulties? What do you think about present criteria of distribution? (80% attendance or 15 days school)?

Has the incentive program helped to increase girls’ enrolment and retention of

girls students till the primary education cycle ends? How is the afternoon absenteeism?

What support you get from VDC, FMC, Parents, and community members?

What roles are playing by different stakeholders?

Have you observed any positive changes in this school due to GIP program?

Parents:

1. What incentive program do you know in your village school? 2. How you understand vegetable oil distribution incentive, what does it mean for

you? How you feel this program? What do you use the oil for?

3. What value you see from this program to girls? Does it inspired to send girls in school? Did you enroll your girl because of GIP?

4. Are there parents who still do not send girls in school?

5. Have you or your girl child received any incentive program from school?

6. How the incentive program distributed? Are all girls of 6 to 10 years going to

school?

7. How do you think you benefit from GIP?

8. Was it priority of your girls to send school before GIP? 9. How is the afternoon absenteeism?

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10. Have you interacted with teacher to find out the performance of your children?

11. What kind of difficulties / barriers / problems do you face in getting the food incentive program?

12. Did you receive GIP cards?

13. What solutions have been applied to address those problems?

14. What measure could be taken to make this program more effective in future?

15. What further steps should be taken give concerning incentive program?

Benefited Girls and Boys from GIP:

1. What you like most in school? Are you enjoying? What you hate most in school? 2. Do you know about GIP program in school? Why this GIP in your school?

3. Do you get oil? How much? How frequently? Do you know about Vit A

fortification in Veg. oil? How Veg oil use at home? 4. Is it helpful for girls to come in school? Are there any girls of 6 to 10 years who

left out from school? How do you think you benefit from GIP?

5. Was it priority of your girls to send school before GIP?

6. Who collects oil at schools? Yourself? What is your status at home after you began school? Is it equally treated as your brother? Any changes in your role, workload, time for homework?

7. What you like and dislike of GIP program? 8. How far resource has been utilized properly?

9. Who gets oil in your school to find if they know the criteria?

10. How regularly you come to school? How long you stay?

11. What are other suggestions could you give concerning incentive program?

ANNEX 2: Name and Number of School Visited Under Review Following table shows the numbers of school visited during review:

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District School Name Makwanpur

1. Shree Bhawana Primary school, Harnamadi VDC -7 2. Shree Laxmi Primary school, Hatiya -4 Laxmipur 3. Shree Prativa lower secondary school, Padampokhari,Sigreni 4. Shree Buddha lower secondary school, Padampokhari, Hattigaunda,

Panchtalle 5. ShreeSaraswoti lower secondary school, Palung -4, Angare 6. Shree Ghat Devi Primary school, Plaung –9, Phedigaun 7. Shree Seti Ganesh Lower secondary school

Ramechhap

1. Shree Kalika Devi Lower secondary, Deurali – 9 ward 2. Shree Bhangeri Lower secondary, Ramechhap -4 3. Shree Nagkanya primary school, Gadwari, Ramechhap, Manthali -5 4. Shree Devitar primary school, Phulasi- 1 5. Shree Ranajyoti primary school, Manthali Machedandi -2 6. Shree Bal Mandir primary school, Ramechhap

Salyan 1. Shree primary school Dhanbang VDC Mulpani -2 2. Shree Balshichha Mandir Primary School 3. Shree Shichhamandir Primary School, Sejuwaltakura -2, Duldhura,

Pokhara 4. Shree Dwarika primary school khalaga -9, 5. Shree Chandeswori primary school, Luhan, Tribeni - 7

Puthan 1. Shree Swarswoti Primary School Dharampani – 2 2. Shree Khalanga Primary School – 2 3. Shree Balmandir Primary School, Bijayanagar -1 4. Shree Sishu Kalyan Nepal Rastriya Primary School Takurachaur 5. Shree Araniko Primary school, Dakhadi, Harikhola -2 6. Shree Nepal Rastriya Primary school, Patalhalna, Maranthana 7. Shree Baljyoti, Primary School 8. Shree Khadgeswori Primary School, Bangesal – 6 Darbhanga

Doti 1. Shree Sarada Primary School, Silgadhi 2. Shree Balmandir Primary School, Silgadhi 3. Shree Mahendra Primary school, Baghthata-5 4. Shree Swarswoti Primary school, Deepayalghadhi 5. Shree Janata Primary school

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ANNEX 3: List of Tables Table 1. Pattern of Attendance and Enrolment in 2004 of GIP Schools

Grade

Ramechhap Pyuthan Doti Makwanpur No. Enrolled Attendance % No. Enrolled Attendance % Enrolled Attendance % Enrolled Attenda

nce %

1 Boys 123 105 85.36 339 280 82.59 134 61 45.52 256 243 98.78 Girls 111 75 66.57 293 244 83.28 152 70 46.05 302 227 75.16 2 Boys 82 55 67.1 194 159 81.96 75 37 49.33 218 189 86.7 Girls 117 70 59.83 212 193 91.04 86 30 34.88 253

216 85.37

3 Boys 75 52 69.33 171 143 83.62 60 31 51.67 198 156 78.79 Girls 97 80 82.47 157 142 90.44 72 47 65.27 243 202 83.12 4 Boys 82 51 62.20 165 132 80 67 44 65.67 180 126 70 Girls 75 54 72.00 176 154 87.5 107 62 57.94 243 174 71.60 5 Boys 94 66 70.21 158 127 80.38 72 53 73.61 166 136 81.92 Girls 63 52 82.54 173 158 91.32 86 55 63.95 196 171 87.24 6 Boys 74 57 77.03 115 95 82.61 Girls 66 44 66.67 180 151 83.89 7 Boys

51 33 64.70 101 79 78.21

Girls

59 38 64.41 137 103 75.18

8 Boys

43 30 69.77 64 52 81.25

Girls 18 12 66.67 79 63 79.75 Total

Boys

624 449 71.95 1027 841 81.89 408 226 55.39 1285 1089 84.75

Girls 606 425 70.13 1011 891 88.13 503 264 52.48 1633 1307 80.04 Total

1230 874 71.06 2,038 1732 84.98 911 490 63.78 2918 2396 82.11

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Table 2: Pattern of Enrolment from 2001 to 2003 in GIP Schools

Grade

Ramechhap ( 6 schools ) Pyuthan ( 8 schools )

Doti ( 5 schools ) Makwanpur ( 7 schools )

2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003 1 Boys 97 155 144 250 226 279 146 126 135 237 223 247 Girls 79 146 136 267 239 240 143 117 118 270 224 280 2 Boys 49 76 85 201 187 200 72 66 63 162 145 220 Girls 51 82 112 188 157 204 80 88 91 180 184 289 3 Boys 47 88 88 152 159 164 63 77 55 140 141 169 Girls 40 76 108 164 146 145 71 73 66 144 153 239 4 Boys 47 89 99 159 159 196 65 62 99 167 155 222 Girls 30 60 60 167 198 179 61 104 90 117 149 239 5 Boys 41 63 78 121 129

152 56 50 54

133 141

165

Girls 35 48 64 139 135 178 27 33 85 81 89 197 6 Boys 34 71 71 37 46 103 Girls 24 48 54 27 56 135 7 Boys

21 51 41 31 11 90

Girls

5 33 42 44 9 82

8 Boys

x x 33 33 13 54

Girls x x 18 44 20 48 Total Boys

336 593 639 883 860 991 402 381 406 940 875 1270

Girls 264 493 594 925 875 946 382 415 450 907 884 1509 Total 600 1086 1233 1808 1735 1937 784 796 856 1847 1759 2779

53

Table 3: Enrolment of boys and girls as per year and grade of Total GIP Schools (4 districts) and Visit day Attendance Grade 2001 ( 2058 ) 2002 ( 2059

) 2003 ( 2060) 2004 ( 2061) Attendance

on visit day

1 class

Boys 730 730 805 839 702

Girls 759 726 774 858 616

2 class

Boys 484 474 568 569 440 Girls 499 511 696 668 473

3 class

Boys 402 465 476 504 382

Girls 348 418 558 569 471

4 class

Boys 438 465 616 494 353

Girls 315 511 568 601 444

5 class

Boys 351 383 449 490 382 Girls 282 305 524 518 436

Total Boys 2405 2517 2914 2896 2259 Girls 2203 2471 3120 3214 2440

Total 4608 4988 6034 6110 4699

54

Table 4: Enrolment of boys and girls as per year and grade Salyan (NON GIP) Grade 2001 2002 2003 2004 Student

attendance on visit day

1 class

Boys 170 137

140 125 39

Girls 143 127 161 162 99

2 class

Boys 74 83 77 125 61 Girls 83 70 74 162 59

3 class

Boys 99 81 57 60 29

Girls 60 68 58 55 27

4 class

Boys 66 59 60 60 29

Girls 66 68 63 57 31

5 class

Boys 67 58 64 42 27 Girls 53 53 43 50 26

Total

Boys

476 418 398 574 185

Girls

405 386 399 324 242

Total 881 804 797 898 427

55

Table 5: Pattern of Repetition from 2001 to 2003 in 4 GIP Districts

Grade

Ramechhap ( 6 schools ) Pyuthan ( 8 schools ) Doti ( 5 schools ) Makwanpur ( 7 schools ) 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003

1 Boys 58 73 60 75 93 79 60 46 40 36 44 33 Girls 32 54 33 86 98 84 56 35 41 37 48 39 2 Boys 23 12 14 61 54 59 17 17 14 16 30 41 Girls 8 16 14 64

60 62 31 25 30 16 32

59

3 Boys 5 9 11 35 36 47 18 6 8 17 14 18 Girls 3 6 9 22 25 35 24 9 12 14 27 28 4 Boys 11 20 15 47 44 47 12 8 12 9 33 24 Girls 3 16 15 38 47 64 18 17 15 12 20 29 5 Boys 7 7 8 13 17 38 6 4 2 5 20 8 Girls 5 9 5 8 21 37 2 3 14 5 10 11 Total Boys

104 121 108 231 244 270 113 81 76 83 141 124

Girls 57 95 76 218 251 282 131 89 112 84 137 166 Total 161 216 184 449 495 552 244 170 188 167 278 290

56

Table 6.Pattern of Dalit Students from 2002 to 2004 in Non GIP districts

Grade

Salyan Districts ( 5 schools ) 2002 2003 2004

1 Boys 23 32 21 Girls 27 35 27 2 Boys 10 10 22 Girls 11 16 10 3 Boys 16 11 8 Girls 12 6 6 4 Boys 4 11 3 Girls 7 11 5 5 Boys 11 8 5 Girls 2 6 4 Total Boys

64 72 59

Girls 59 74 52 Total 123 146 111

57

Table 7: Pattern of Dalit Students from 2002 to 2004 in 4 GIP districts

Grade

Ramechhap ( 6 schools ) Pyuthan ( 8 schools )

Doti ( 5 schools ) Makwanpur ( 7 schools )

2002 2003 2004 2002 2003 2004

2002 2003 2004 2002 2003 2004

1 Boys 15 22 14 63 62 67 32 45 51 38 39 33 Girls 13 21 6 58 68 78 32 23 42 32 37 29 2 Boys 4 7 5 38 42 46 20 17 22 26 27 28 Girls 1 11 11 28 44 48 19 29 28 24 25 30 3 Boys 5 3 6 36 36 38 20 16 18 17 25 23 Girls

2 2 5 18 23 26 11 10 16 29 25 23

4 Boys 6 3 1 34 25 23 20 30 12 21 22 26 Girls 0 4 5 25 17 26 30 14 27 11 24 23 5 Boys 2 7 2 22 21 27 8 11 20 12 14 13 Girls 2 1 0 18 27 21 6 18 6 17 24 11 Total Boys

32 42 28 193 186 201 100 119 123 124 127 123

Girls 18 51 27 147 179 199 98 94 119 113 135 116 Total 50 93 55 340 365 400 198 213 242 237 262 239

58

Table 8. Pattern of Drop Out from 2001 to 2003 in 4 GIP districts

Grade

Ramechhap ( 6 schools ) Pyuthan ( 8 schools ) Doti ( 5 schools ) Makwanpur ( 7 schools ) 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003

1 Boys 9 13 3 31 29 33 5 9 19 25 2 14 Girls 5 12 4 25 29 16 11 1 18 27 3 6 2 Boys 5 5 2 11 8 12 5 4 3 3 2 13 Girls 2 2 1 10 7 8 7

4 7 4 4 11

3 Boys 0 2 2 11 14 6 4 2 9 1 4 8 Girls 2 1 1 10 3 1 1 3 4 6 2 4 4 Boys 0 2 3 7 7 7 7 3 3 0 3 9 Girls 0 2 1 6 5 7 0 1 11 0 5 7 5 Boys 2 1 1 2 4 7 1 3 2 1 4 14 Girls 0 1 1 3 5 8 0 2 1 0 7 13 Total Boys

16 23 11 62 62 65 22 21 36 30 15 48

Girls 9 18 8 54 48 40 19 11 41 37 21 41 Total 25 41 19 116 110 105 41 32 77 67 36 89

59

Table 9: Pattern of Transfer from Next school to GIP School from 2002 to 2004 in 4 GIP districts

Grade

Ramechhap ( 6 schools ) Pyuthan ( 8 schools ) Doti ( 5 schools )

Makwanpur ( 7 schools )

2002 2003 2004 2002 2003 2004 2002 2003 2004

2002 2003 2004

1 Boys 10 9 3 65 73 50 40 42 9 15 3 1 Girls 10 22 3 47 76 56 37 35 7 14 3 2 2 Boys 5 6 3 10 9 7 11 2 4 3 19 8 Girls 10 14 4 3 19 14 15 12 5 5 21 15 3 Boys 5 7 6 8 11 9 19 4 3 5 15 16 Girls 3 9 5 9 10 7 18 5 6 6 31 17 4 Boys 11 9 6 22 22 20 15 9 3 3 19 18 Girls 7 9 7 16 15 27 23 19 21 2 17 17 5 Boys 5 3 2 5 5 10 15 2 1 7 10 9 Girls 1 10 5 7 12 16 12 5 1 9 27 10 Total Boys

36 34 20 110 120 96 100 59 20 33 66 52

Girls 31 64 24 82 132 120 105 76 50 36 99 61 Total 67 98 44 192 252 216 205 135 70 69 165 113

Note: In grade one all the numbers of transfer are new admission and only transfer is applied from 2 to 5 grades.

60

Table 10: Promotion of boys and girls as per year and grade in GIP districts

Grade

Doti Ramechap Makwanpur Puthan 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003

2002 2003

1 Boys 62 77 65 59 159 176 129 173 Girls 71 82 70 69 193 185 140 158 2 Boys 48 46 74 69 129 163 126 123 Girls 48 57 55 89 184 210 117 121 3 Boys 53 45 75 74 170 149 105 120 Girls 53 54 48 58 167 201 127 108 4 Boys 43 71 57 83 157 172 110 119 Girls 63 58 48 45 157 193 119 161 5 Boys 54 51 45 71 132

144 83

116

Girls 46 63 42 58 134 169 70 133 Total Boys

260 290 316 356 747 804 553 651

Girls 281 306 263 319 835 958 573 681 Total 541 596 579 675 1582 1762 1126 1332

61

Table 11: Repetition, Drop out, Transfer and Promotion of NON GIP (Salyan) District

Grade

Repetition

Drop out Transfer from next school Promotion

2002 2003 2004

2002 2003 2004 2002 2003 2004 2002 2003

1 Boys 76 64 60 36 16 0 61 38 35 60 58 Girls 69 62 88 19 16 0 48 52 21 43 54 2 Boys 15 27 24 13 8 0 9 3 4 53 27 Girls 17 29 16 8 7 0 5 8 3 43 31 3 Boys 24 19 12 12 3 0 5 1 5 51 46 Girls 9 21 18 14 8 0 11 6 3 46 36 4 Boys 17 14 16 7 2 0 4 7 1 48 47 Girls 12 20 11 8 8 1 10 8 0 37 31 5 Boys 8 11 7 10 7 0 7 9 0 49 47 Girls 12 12 3 6 3 1 4 3 7 37 23 Total Boys

140 135 119 78 36 0 86 58 45 261 225

Girls 119 144 136 65 42 1 78 77 34 206 175 Total 259 279 255 143 78 1 164 135 79 467 400

62