Author: Charlotte Broyd

The Ebola Epidemic and the Agricultural CrisisCharlotte Broyd Communications Officer Partnership for Child Development Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology

One of the numerous impacts of the Ebola Crisis in West Africa is the damage that it has caused to already fragile agricultural economies. Restrictions on public gatherings and the closure of international borders have forced numerous agricultural markets to shut up shop. The impact that this has had on smallholder farmer livelihoods has been catastrophic.

However in light of the welcome news that the Ebola epidemic is slowing down, the Partnership for Child Development’s Samrat Singh looks at what innovative steps governments and their development partners can take to enable these shattered agricultural markets to bounce back from the Ebola crisis. Samrat’s article, written in collaboration with long time Defra adviser Helen Roberts,  looks at how government-led programmes such as Home Grown School Feeding can provide stable markets for local smallholder farmers which can in turn support struggling agricultural economies.

Read the full article

 

Charlotte Broyd
Communications Officer
Partnership for Child Development
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Partnership for Child Development update

PCDPCD release Annual Report 2013 – 14

PCD recently published its Annual Report 2013 – 14 outlining its ongoing successes in supporting governments to build the enabling environment to advance inclusive, scaled and sustainable school health and nutrition programmes. These programmes are improving the development, education and well-being of school-aged children worldwide. The report also highlights work in supporting government-led Home Grown School Feeding interventions by strengthening the links between school feeding programmes and the local smallholder farmers who supply them.

 

PCD co-hosts 4th Asian School Health and Nutrition Training Course

From 8 – 16 December PCD co-hosted the 4th Asia School Health and Nutrition (SHN) training course which brought together 37 participants from government, academia and civil society representing 12 countries in the region. During the course, lectures were delivered by international experts on SHN topics including deworming, WASH, school feeding and the inclusion of children with disabilities. To enhance interaction, participants also visited three local schools to learn from the Thai experience and developed country specific SHN action plans.

 

Charlotte Broyd
Communications Officer
Partnership for Child Development
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Partnership for Child Development November 2014 Update

PCD Receives Grant for Global Health & Development

PCD  has been recently awarded by Grand Challenges Explorations an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a project focused on improving market information among stakeholders of Kenya’s school feeding programme. The programme is a government-led intervention which procures food used in school meals locally from smallholder farmers and has been described as a ‘win-win’ for both children and farmers alike; with well-fed children more likely to attend and stay in school and farmers more secured of a livelihood. Specifically, the project will develop a software platform using everyday items such as mobile phones, to improve the tendering process between the programme’s stakeholders, namely, the schools (buyers), traders (buyers and sellers) and farmer groups (sellers).

Click here to read more

School-Based Deworming: A Clear Role for the European Commission

School-based-deworming-image-of-policy-paper-edit Periodic drug treatment for children in schools – known as school-based deworming – represents a highly strategic approach to tackling soil-transmitted helminths (STH) and schistosomiasis. Integrated programmes that deliver deworming, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health education and other key interventions lead to even greater long-term impact.

A new paper called ‘School-Based Deworming’ (PDF download 2.8mb), from Imperial College London’s Partnership for Child Development argues that the European Commission (EC) is on the margins of the growing global movement against NTDs and with its financial resources, technical capacity and global network, the EC can and should be at the forefront of efforts to tackle the diseases, in particular schistosomiasis and STH. In order to rise to this task, the EC requires a clear policy direction, and must ensure that the control and elimination of schistosomiasis and STH are integrated into its education, nutrition and WASH strategies and programmes.

Click here to read more

Charlotte Broyd
Communications Officer
Partnership for Child Development
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Partnership for Child Development Summer Update

National NTD Mapping Informs Ethiopia Deworming

G94% of 535 surveyed districts in Ethiopia are endemic for either schistosomiasis and/or soil-transmitted helminths (STH) – Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) which are commonly found in school-children. This was one finding of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute who supported by Imperial College London’s PCD and SCI recently mapped NTD prevalence alongside Water, Sanitation and Hygiene infrastructure using data collected from 125,000 school-aged children across 2,700 schools. To date, the mapping surveys have informed school-based deworming programmes against STH in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Amhara regions and integrated schistosomiasis and STH campaigns will commence in these and other regions later in the year. Eventually, these campaigns will extend to all areas where children are at risk. Click to read more

Home Grown School Feeding: Time for Donors to Deepen Engagement

PCD2A new policy paper, “Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF): Time for Donors to Deepen Engagement” from Imperial College London’s PCD finds that despite the widespread benefits of HGSF felt in low and middle income countries, donor support to the initiative is significantly lacking. The paper outlines that as substantial challenges remain in meeting the global development goals on hunger, education and poverty, focusing attention on HGSF and other such innovative approaches which link agriculture, health and education sectors is crucial. The HGSF initiative can be described as a “win-win” – ensuring that food for school meals is locally grown, so that smallholder farmers are given a fixed income, and at the same time well fed children are more likely to learn, attend school and develop into healthy adults. Click to read more   Charlotte Broyd Communications Officer Partnership for Child Development

Partnership for Child Development June Update

Innovative School Feeding Programme to Combat Extreme Poverty in Zanzibar

HGSF programme launched in ZanzibarOn 28 May the Government of Zanzibar launched a new innovative Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme in collaboration with Imperial College London’s PCD and programme donors Table for Two to feed over 5000 school children, whilst simultaneously supporting local smallholder farmers by sourcing their produce for the school meals.

“This programme is the first of its kind for Zanzibar and marks the Government’s awareness on the value of school meals for society as a whole” said PCD’s East Africa Senior Programme Manager, Iain Gardiner. He continued, “Not only will children be well fed in school but jobs will be created for farmers and other community members involved in the growing, processing and preparing of food for school meals.” Find out more

 

Nigeria’s Federal Ministries collaborate to extend HGSF

Nigeria high level meetingOn 19 May 2014, PCD, Imperial College London with support from the Vitol Foundation convened a special high-level convening of federal ministers, state governors and international experts in Abuja to discuss how more of Nigeria’s school children and farmers can benefit from Home Grown School Feeding programmes.

PCD’s Executive Director, Dr Lesley Drake said “The meeting is an excellent example of high level inter-ministerial collaboration at the federal and state level to design sustainable school feeding programmes which will improve the lives of children and smallholder farmers across the country.” Find out more

 

Promoting the Home Grown in Home Grown School Feeding

Promoting Home Grown in HGSFPCD, Imperial College London alongside Dutch development organisation, SNV are working with Kenya’s Ministries of Agriculture and Education to increase the access of coastal smallholder farmers to local markets supplying school meals in Kenya’s Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme.

In the target counties of Kilifi and Lamu, PCD together with SNV have launched the intervention to address challenges of farmer produce being sourced from large distances within Kenya and even outside of the country in neighbouring Tanzania. To ensure producers in the counties are secured of a reliable income and livelihood, so the “Home Grown” in HGSF is maximised, the project aims to achieve a more localised supply chain – to, in effect, boost the link between smallholder farmers, traders and recipient schools. Find out more

 

Addressing Micronutrient Deficiency in Ghanaian Children

MNPs training in Ghana60 stakeholders from Ghana’s School Feeding Programme (GSFP) programme from national, regional, district and school levels across three regions of the country were recently trained on the use of Micronutrient Powders (MNPs) to combat micronutrient deficiencies found in school-aged children in the intervention areas.

The training, carried out by Ghana’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the GSFP and PCD, Imperial College London taught participants how to correctly apply and store the MNPs. The sessions which followed a “training of trainer’s” approach will see participants organise step down trainings for caterers and cooks in their consecutive districts so lessons learnt are widely disseminated. Find out more


Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

PCD Supports Nigerian Government to Eradicate Worms in Children

To reduce child morbidity in Nigeria, the Partnership for Child Development​ (PCD), Imperial College London recently supported the Nigerian Government to map 7,500 children for worm infections across 150 selected schools in Osun State, Nigeria. The exercise was part of a government-led mapping carried out across six states in Nigeria which will be used to construct an effective treatment plan ensuring schoolchildren are dewormed for infections posing a threat to their health, nutrition and development.

“This exercise demonstrates the commitment from Nigeria’s Government to eradicating NTDs, which will be enabled by determining the prevalence of parasitic worm infections Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH) and Schistosomiasis”, said Nigeria’s National Coordinator for NTDs, Dr Obiageli Nebe.

Worm Impact on Children

Technical teams assess worm prevalence through microscopesCurrently, 00 million children around the world suffer from STHs or schistosomiasis and often fail to attend school on a regular basis, those who do attend school are unable to concentrate and learn due in large part to tired or sickness. Worm infections can cause anaemia ​and malnutrition​ which means that children don’t have the energy they would otherwise. School-based deworming is universally recognized as a safe, simple and cost-effective solution. At a cost of less than 50 US cents per child per year – the benefits of school-based deworming​ are both immediate and enduring. Regular treatment can reduce school absenteeism by 25%.

Mapping Training

Children being mapped for worms in Osun State

The exercise which ran from February 20 – March 8 was carried out across Nigerian states including Osun, Kebbi, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi States. The exercise was led by the Nigerian Government with support from the Children Investment Fund Foundation​, SightSavers, PCD and other development organisations. To enhance mapping effectiveness, a training of trainers workshop focused on building capacity of state technical officers and partners was held in Lagos prior to the mapping, here attendees were taught to capture data from the field using new tools including the use of android smart phones.

PCD have supported School Health and Nutrition activities in the state since 2011, assisting the government to implement its school feeding programme using local produce​ sourced from local smallholder farmers.

Charlotte Broyd
Communications Officer
Partnership for Child Development
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology

PCD Hold Meeting on School Feeding at House of Commons

4 girls school feeding 2

School feeding’s role in supporting agricultural development and educational achievement is to be the central topic of an address by H.E. Ogbeni Raul Argebesola, Govenor of Osun State, Nigeria, leading experts and British parliamentarians at a special event in the UK’s House of Commons on Wednesday 22nd January.

The Governor has been invited by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agriculture and Food for Development and the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) Imperial College London, to speak at a meeting attended by development experts focusing on the evolution and improvement of government-led Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programmes in low and middle income countries which feed school children using food grown locally by smallholder farmers.

Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

The Global School Health and Nutrition Resource Relaunched

The global school health and nutrition resource schoolsandhealth.org, administered by Partnership for Child Development (PCD), was recently re-launched to further the reach of high quality School Health and Nutrition (SHN) documents, resources and news to the SHN community.

“Improving the way news and information on the health, nutrition and education of school-age children around the world is disseminated remains as vital as ever. The new website allows quality assured, academically reviewed SHN resources, data and information to be distinguished from the multitude of information now available online; ensuring the SHN community has easy access to what they are looking for.” said PCD’s Executive Director, Lesley Drake.

schoolsandhealth.org was developed in 1998 in collaboration between: World Bank, World Food Programme, World Health Organization, UNICEF, PCD and other partners in response to a demand for a global online portal making SHN resources easily accessible to SHN interest groups, and in particular to policy makers and practitioners. The re-launched website continues to adhere to this demand; through its new and improved sections the website’s user friendliness, navigation and accessibility from internet searches is further ensured.

 

Selected New Website Features

 

 

Documents and Resource Centre:

The revitalised Documents and Resource Centre holds over an impressive 670 resources – twice as many relevant SHN relevant resources as previously displayed. These range in topic from: examples of good programming practice and policy, case studies, technical reviews, toolkits and guidelines, reports, surveys, advocacy tools and international declarations. Within the centre details including description, topic, title and author are outlined for each document allowing information to be easily viewed prior to download. Searches can also be categorized by SHN theme, language and year.
• Visit the Documents and Resource Centre

Updated Website Pages:

The website provides revamped pages for relevant school health topic areas including: helminth infections, nutrition, HIV, water, hygiene and sanitation, acute respiratory infections and malaria. Reflecting  SHN expansion, the site now encompasses an inclusive education section.

News & Events Section:

Global and country specific school health news continues to be displayed in a new appealing format through the website’s news and events section holding almost 200 diverse SHN news articles which can be easily viewed collectively as well as in detail individually.
• Visit the News and Events Section

Visit schoolsandhealth.org to view all other features and the revitalised layout.

 

Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

Partnership for Child Development October update

1st Francophone SHN Course Opens in Senegal

Organised by the Partnership for Child Development, Institute of Health and Development (ISED) and the University of Dakar the first Francophone School Health and Nutrition (SHN) was opened in Senegal on Monday. The course will host government representatives from 13 African Francophone countries, who for 10 days will focus on supporting effective SHN intervention delivery.

Opening the ceremony, Professor Anta Tal Dia, Director of ISED addressed participants, “The consensus is unanimous, it is essential to ensure good school health and nutrition if we want to see high educational achievement.”

Read more about the Course.

 

School meals can do more than just feed children

Each year on 16 October World Food Day aims to increase understanding of problems and solutions in the drive to end hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Over the years the day has taken on various themes which have focused on investing in agriculture and recently focus has been drawn on health and education too.

One solution which countries have put in place to combat hunger and poverty is to provide free school meals to their schoolchildren. Through school feeding programmes countries see results – results in terms of happier, healthier and better educated kids. The evidence base shows that school feeding increases pupil enrolment, improves retention and that educational outcomes improve as children are able to concentrate better and ultimately enter adult life better equipped.

Increasingly countries are beginning to realise that school feeding can do more than just benefit school children. By procuring their food locally school feeding programmes can support marginalised smallholder farmers by providing them with a constant stable market to sell to; increasing profits for smallholder farmers whilst at the same time providing fresh and nutritious local food to school meals.

Read more in the article School meals can do more than just feed children

Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

Partnership for Child Development September update

Applications open for the 3rd Asia SHN Training Course

 

Following the success of the 2nd School Health & Nutrition (SHN) Training Course for government, United Nations and civil society staff in the Asian region earlier this year, PCD are delighted to announce that applications are now open for the 3rd Asia SHN Training Course.

Held at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, and jointly hosted by the Thai Ministries of Education and Health between 2 -10 December 2013, the course will cover a broad range of topics in the field of SHN and will focus on the key issue of malnutrition; looking at the double burden of stunting and wasting, and under-nutrition among children as well as the growing issue of child obesity in Asia.

Read more on the 3rd Asia SHN Training Course

PCD supports Kenyan Ministries of Education and Health to carry out national training for school meals programme

 

In order to strengthen the implementation of Kenya’s Home Grown School Meals (HGSM) programme, PCD recently supported Kenya’s ministries of education and health to deliver national training to school feeding implementers across 70 counties and sub-counties in Kenya.

The initial phase of training was carried out among a total of 345 heads and directors from education, health and agriculture county departments, to enhance the role of Kenya’s decentralized regions in the programme and to increase the involvement of the programme’s supply chain beneficiaries. The second phase of training, carried out in July and August saw over 3,400 participants targeted from 1717 schools, provided the opportunity for teachers from beneficiary schools to share experiences and challenges in school feeding delivery.

Find out more

Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

Partnership for Child Development August update

Dubai documentary

 

In May 2012, Partnership for Child Development (PCD) were filmed by Dubai documentary makers on their role in Ghana’s Home Grown School Feeding programme (GSFP).

The documentary series, entitled Sanad, began airing during Ramadan last month, with the GSFP featured in episode one. The series featured projects funded by philanthropic organisation Dubai Cares, which included Home Grown School Feeding programmes supported by PCD and its partners in both Ghana and Ethiopia.

In episode one, PCD’s West Africa Regional Director, Daniel Mumuni, outlined PCD’s role in the programme alongside the aims of HGSF programmes; to support child health, nutrition and education, at the same time as promoting local livelihoods.

M&E Guidance for School Health Programmes

 

As part of ongoing efforts to provide internationally-agreed guidance on how to monitor and evaluate school health programmes, the Focused Resources of Effective School Health (FRESH) partners havedeveloped Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Guidance for School Health Programmes.

Partnership for Child Development,  alongside numerous individuals and organisations, have input support, advice, and insight into this publication over the past five years. With its set of recommended indicators, this FRESH M&E Guidance intends to help programmes in low and middle-income countries ensure their implementation is more standardised and evidence-based.

Further information on the M&E Guidance

 

Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

Partnership for Child Development July update

WFP, World Bank & PCD launch first of its kind report in US

Approximately 169 developing and developed countries invest in school feeding programmes worldwide, an investment which equates to approximately US$ 75 billion, and which for the most part comes from government budgets.

This was just one key finding from the recently published report, State of School Feeding Worldwide, which provides for the first time a global picture and analysis of school feeding programmes, and which was officially launched in the US yesterday, by WFP, World Bank and Partnership for Child Development (PCD).

Speaking on the report’s significance lead author Carmen Burbano said, “The report provides the first ever map of school feeding showing that most countries around the world, whether in high, low or middle income countries are implementing school feeding as a social safety net in times of crisis”.

Find out more.

9th African School Health and Nutrition (SHN) Course

Partnership for Child Development (PCD) recently co-organised the 9th African School Health and Nutrition (SHN) Course, where over 50 attendees inclusive of representatives from ministries of health, education, agriculture, gender and social development across 12 African countries were hosted by the Ghanaian Government to focus on best practice in SHN programme interventions.

Comprehensive SHN programmes address challenges negatively impacting on child health, such interventions include HIV/AIDS prevention, malaria and parasitic worm treatment, control and prevention, and nutritional deficiencies such as iron-deficient anaemia and short-term hunger through school feeding. Throughout the course these intervention areas were focused on through a range of presentations, break-out sessions, expertly facilitated lectures and field visits.

Useful course links

Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

Partnership for Child Development June update

The philanthropic organisation, Dubai Cares recently announced the launch of its three-year integrated Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) pilot programme in Ethiopia, which is being implemented in 30 schools over three years to address the school health and nutrition (SHN) needs of approximately 30,700 primary school age children.

An Integrated Programme

The pilot is being carried out through a partnership formed by Partnership for Child Development (PCD), Imperial College London, Ethiopia Health and Nutrition Research Institute, World Food Programme, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, and SNV-Netherlands. Through this collaboration, various aspects are contributed to the programme; in addition to in-school meals prepared from locally sourced commodities, components of Deworming treatment and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) in schools have also been included.

Iain Gardiner, East Africa Regional Coordinator for PCD, said, “The Dubai Cares funded HGSF programme is a leading example of how different stakeholders can effectively pool their expertise to make a real impact on the health, education and wealth of children and farming communities in Ethiopia”.

Read more about the HGSF programme on the Schools and Health website.

Government of Ghana host 9th African SHN Course

This month the Government of Ghana are hosting the 9th African School Health and Nutrition (SHN) Course where representatives from ministries of health, education, gender and social development, SHN experts, civil society and academics from 13 African countries will gather for ten days to focus on best practice in SHN interventions.

The course, which runs from June 10 – 20 is co-organised by Partnership for Child Development, West African Centre for International Parasite Control (WACIPAC) of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, and Eastern and Southern Africa Centre of International Parasitic Control (ESACIPAC).

Dr. Irene Ayi, Head of WACIPAC and the WACIPAC’s Department of Parasitology said, “The SHN Short Course has over the years grown from strength to strength, providing an opportunity for ideas and experience exchange among policy and programme managers involved in school health and school feeding interventions from the various countries in attendance. Such interventions have been shown to improve the health and academic performance of school-age children”.

Continue reading

Gambia Workshop Convenes West African Experts

Government officials from ministries of agriculture, education and health representing 12 West African countries are to meet in the Gambia this week for a workshop focused on strengthening school feeding programmes linked to local agricultural production.

Workshop Director and Director of Basic and Secondary Education in the Gambia, Mrs Amicoleh Mbaye said, “Having the various personalities from 12 different countries come together is a clear manifestation of government commitment to school feeding programme ownership using the multi-sectoral approach”.

Continue reading

 

Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

Partnership for Child Development update

Events


Bill Gates talks school feeding with Ghanaian farmers, teachers and caterers

During his first ever visit to Ghana, Bill Gates joined the Partnership for Child Development to talk with smallholder farmers, teachers and caterers to better understand the issues and opportunities presented by Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programmes. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been supporting the development of government-led, HGSF programmes since 2009. These nationally owned programmes enable schools to procure the ingredients for their school meals from local smallholder farmers. The benefits of programmes, such as Ghana’s School Feeding Programme (GSFP), are felt by the school child and farmer alike with school children getting free nutritious hot meals whilst the farmer gets access to a regular market, providing a win-win for both education and economic development.

Find out more.

 

Dubai Cares visits Ghana

PCD recently accompanied a Dubai Cares team visit to Ghana who carried out a number of field visits to monitor and evaluate aspects of the GSFP they are supporting through PCD. This support is focused on improving the nutritional quality of food in school meals and consists of three key components: community sensitization, providing advice to farmers and a deworming programme.

 

The second annual School Health and Nutrition (SHN) course in Southeast Asia

The second annual SHN course was held in Laos between 13–20 February 2013. Hosted by the Laos Ministries of Health and Education and supported by PCD, the Japan Consortium for Global School Health Research and Mahidol University, the course trained 40 participants drawn from governments, development partners and SHN organisations from 11 Asian countries in the region.

Download course information and presentations.

Programme Implementation

 

Botswana Case Study Report launch

Botswana’s National School Feeding Programme: A Case Study and Transition Report was officially launched by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development at a meeting in February. This was attended by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and PCD. Participants also agreed to a launch of the HGSF programme on 19 April 2013.

Download Botswana’s National School Feeding Programme: A Case Study.

 

Dental health and hygiene programme, Osun State, Nigeria

A total of 90 school health promoters and 966 teachers from 322 schools were trained as part of a pilot programme to improve the hygiene, dental health and nutrition practices of 90,000 children in Osun State. The programme is being implemented by the Osun State Government, in partnership with PCD and UNILEVER.

 

Nigeria’s NTD master plan launch

PCD helped to support the launch of a new five year implementation plan for the control and elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Nigeria. The plan, which targets 10 NTDs, has an approved budget of US$307 m and will treat over 60 million people annually over the next five years.

Publications

 

Worms wisdom and wealth published

“Worms, wisdom, and wealth: Why deworming can make economic sense.” A joint article by PCD, World Bank and the University of Washington was published in Trends in Parasitology. The article examines the effects of deworming on child development, health and economic returns.

 

Are school food programmes in low-income settings sustainable? accepted for publication

A PCD paper, “Are school food programmes in low-income settings sustainable? Insights on the costs of school feeding compared to investments in primary education”, was recently accepted for publication by the Food and Nutrition Bulletin. The paper analyses the costs of school feeding and the cost relative to education expenditure and other measures of economic growth using data from high, low and middle countries.

 

Miss Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
School of Public Health