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The evaluation was undertaken in 2019, at the time when the Government of Eswatini had issued a revised education and training sector policy (2018) that has a strong emphasis on school feeding. This policy seeks to introduce school feeding in all public primary and secondary schools in Eswatini. The evaluation timing also coincided with WFP Eswatini Country Office’s development of the five-year Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2020-2024, that has school feeding as one of its strategic focus areas.

The purpose of the evaluation was to: (i) assess and report on the performance and results of the NSFP as well as WFP technical support to the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS and partners; (ii) determine the reasons why results were achieved or otherwise, in order to draw lessons and derive good practices for future design and implementation of the programme.

The evaluation was jointly managed by the WFP Eswatini Country Office and the Ministry of Education and Training and conducted by independent consultants, with fieldwork taking place in May 2019.

Key recommendations from this evaluation include: (i) Develop and institutionalize monitoring and evaluation of the NSFP within the MoET; (ii) Strengthen management and the institutional coordination of the NSFP at all levels; (iii) Enhance the nutritional value of meals through greater diversity of the food basket; (iv) Strengthen the efficiency of the NSFP by introducing measures for minimising costs and maximising potential benefits. This hinges on exploring the potential of Home-Grown School Feeding Model in improving efficiencies in procurement through possible commodity and logistics cost savings; (v) Develop and implement a capacity building strategy for the NSFP for all stakeholders involved in planning, management and implementation of the programme and (vi) Strengthen the capacity of the MoET and cooperating partners in order to effectively implement gender mainstreaming and targeted actions in the NSFP.