Final Evaluation of the ''Improving Food Security Through Crop Production Intensification and School Feeding Program" in The Gambia

The overall objective of the EUR 7.6 million EU-Millennium Development Goals (MDG) initiative ''Improving Food Security through Crop Production Intensification and School Feeding Programme'' was to ''accelerate progress towards meeting MDG1c (reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger) in The Gambia''. The purpose/specific objectives were: (i) Increase household food security and income of participating farmers, (ii) Enhancing nutritional status of targeted school children (pre-primary and primary schools). By increasing household food security and enhancing nutritional status of children, the programme was intended to contribute to achieving MDG 1c by 2015/2016. The programme comprised two components:(i) Agricultural Production and Marketing, and (ii) School Feeding Programme. Targeted regions of implementation were selected based on levels of poverty, malnutrition and food insecurity above Gambia's national averages. The combination of the two components was aimed to set the grounds towards attaining MDG 1c by improved crop production and availability and by establishing a country wide safety net for poorer families, thus improving household food security. The team contracted by Expertise Advisors & DAI was tasked with carrying out the final evaluation of the Programme, with the overall objective to provide the relevant external co-operation services of the European Union, the partner government and, when appropriate, the wider public with: an overall independent assessment of the past performance of the intervention 'Improving food security through crop production intensification and school feeding program' in The Gambia, paying particularly attention to the results of the programme against its objectives; key lessons and recommendations in order to improve current and future action. The evaluation appraised the performance of the programme with a view to integrating lessons learnt and recommendations into future projects, including those in food security and nutrition as well as inclusive growth and job creation. The evaluation principally assessed the programme using the standard 5 DAC evaluation criteria, namely: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact, as well as two EU-specific additional criteria: the EU added value of the programme, both regarding its design and implementation; the coherence of the programme itself, with the EU strategy in the Republic of The Gambia and with other donors.