school feeding

HATUTAN II Baseline McGovern Dole Food for Education

In this report, we present findings from the baseline assessment of the HATUTAN II (Hahán ne’ebé Atu fó Tulun ho Nutrisaun no Edukasaun or Food to Support Nutrition and Education) program. This program is a five year (2022 – 2027), US$26.5 million initiative that will work in partnership with the Government of Timor-Leste and development stakeholders to address two strategic objectives: improved literacy of school-aged children and increased use of health, nutrition, and dietary practices. The program will operate in 378 schools and communities within four of Timor-Leste’s most deprived municipalities, Ainaro, Ermera, Manatuto, and Oe-cusse, to support an estimated 171,232 target beneficiaries including school-aged children, teacher, school administrators, and community members. Key activities will include support for the government-run School Feeding Program (SFP) and trainings targeting teachers, school administrators, and community members.

The baseline assessment finds that grade 2 students’ literacy abilities are very weak and many students remain unable to read words. The average overall score on the literacy assessment was only 10.9% for intervention students, and only 18.2% of intervention students demonstrated the ability to read and understand the meaning of a grade-level passage. Scores were highest—though still low in absolute terms—for letter recognition, at 21.8% for intervention students. Furthermore, many grade 2 students have no literacy abilities, with 21.8% of intervention students scoring 0% overall on the literacy assessment.

We find moderate use of engaging teaching practices in most intervention municipalities, with relatively more frequent use of these practices in Ermera and less frequent use in Oe-cusse. However, across all municipalities, substantial potential remains to continue improving the use of engaging teaching practices, as well as reducing the use of traditional, unengaging teaching practices including copying from the board and repeating after the teacher. Furthermore, corporal punishment was still observed to be used by some teachers in intervention schools and is likely underreported in our data due to social desirability bias. Read More...

HATUTAN Endline Evaluation

In this report, we present findings from the endline evaluation of the HATUTAN (Hahán ne’ebé Atu fó Tulun ho Nutrisaun no Edukasaun or Food to Support Nutrition and Education) program. Running between 2018 and 2023, the program worked in partnership with the Government of Timor-Leste and development stakeholders to address two strategic objectives: improved literacy of school-aged children and increased use of health, nutrition, and dietary practices. The program operated in 443 schools and communities within four of Timor-Leste’s most deprived municipalities, Ainaro, Ermera, Liquica, and Manatuto, supporting an estimated 105,967 target beneficiaries including school-aged children, teacher, school administrators, and community members. Key activities included support for the government-run School Feeding Program (SFP) and trainings targeting teachers, school administrators, and community members. Read More...

McGovern-Dole Food Fore Education Program HATUTAN – Midline Evaluation

The HATUTAN program (Hahán ne’ebé Atu fó Tulun ho Nutrisaun no Edukasaun or Food to Support Nutrition and Education) is a five-year initiative to build a partnership between schools and communities in order to improve literacy, learning, healthy, and nutrition for children and adults in Timor-Leste. The program works in partnership with the Government of Timor-Leste and development stakeholders to address two strategic objectives: improved literacy of school-aged children and increased use of health, nutrition, and dietary practices. The HATUTAN program is funded by the U.S. government through the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture under the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. The program is implemented by a consortium led by CARE International with Mercy Corps and WaterAid. The lead Timorese government partner is the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of State Administration, and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

To achieve these objectives, the program supports, among a variety of activities, the Government of Timor-Leste’s school feeding program (SFP) to fully operate in all basic education and preschools throughout the school year. Key project activities include strengthening and supplementing the government-sponsored SFP and building school capacity through trainings for teachers and administrators and provision of resource materials. Additionally, the HATUTAN program seeks to support farmers to boost the production of local produce to increase yields and help create sustainable sources of nutritious food for local schools. In addition to activities related to literacy and SFPs, HATUTAN seeks to conduct trainings related to nutrition, health, and other topics, and to promote gender equality and the reduction of gender-based violence.

This report presents the midline evaluation of the HATUTAN program, which began in early 2019. It is important to note that restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have had a substantial impact on program activities and target outputs and outcomes. In March 2020, HATUTAN field activities were halted, field offices were temporarily closed, and staff began to work from home due to a State of Emergency issued by the Government of Timor-Leste. This State of Emergency remains in effect to date, with varying levels of restriction on school activities, movement, and group gatherings. As a result, the HATUTAN program is behind schedule in terms of some major deliverables due to COVID-19. Read More...

School Feeding Program Study Report

The Government of Timor-Leste’s school feeding program provides a meal or snack to all students in preschools and basic education (Grades 1-9) throughout the country. In full implementation, this represents providing mostly cooked meals to about one quarter of the population.1 The nationwide School Feeding Program was established by the Government of Timor-Leste (GOTL) in 2005 and has been through several phases of implementation. The Manual which has guided the program implementation since 2013 is in the process of being revised (end of 2019 to early 2020). To support the Timor-Leste government to review and improve the School Feeding Program (SFP), CARE International in Timor-Leste studied the program and commissioned this report with the objectives to review and assess how the program is being implemented as well as gather opinions and suggestions from various stakeholders on how to improve the program. Read More...

HATUTAN COST OF THE DIET STUDY

This report covers the analysis and findings of a Cost of the Diet (CotD) study conducted in the four operational municipalities of the HATUTAN program, namely Ainaro, Ermera, Liquica and Manatuto. The study was commissioned by Mercy Corps Timor-Leste with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The CotD study was presented to the National Institute of Health (INS) for approval prior to implementation.1 The study was designed to answer the following seven key questions:
1. What are the locally available and affordable foods found in each of the HATUTAN municipalities that could be used for nutritious school meals?
2. What is the cost of a nutritious school meal based on locally available foods?
3. What are the recommended foods to purchase, based on the current $0.25 and proposed $0.50 per child per day, to maximize nutrition outcomes?
4. What is the estimated cost of the non-food consumables – such as transportation, soap and firewood – that also need to be covered within the amount budgeted per student per a meal?
5. What is the nutritional value of a locally-sourced school meal?
6. How does the nutritional value of a locally-sourced school meal differ from the currently provided school meal?
7. How does a school meal for a child help close the nutrition gap at the household level? Read More...

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