i 
Contents 
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................................................................iii
Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................................................................................................................iv
School Feeding Programme Outcome Indicator Table ....................................................................................................................................... v
Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................................................................vi
Project Overview and Background ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Guiding principles ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Goal ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Objectives................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Objectives of the baseline Survey/Headcount ................................................................................................................................................... 1
Baseline/Headcount Design, Methodology and Approach ................................................................................................................................ 2
Questionnaire or checklist .................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Arrangements for pre-testing .............................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Fieldwork ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Description of quality controls/supervision in the field .................................................................................................................................. 2
Main Findings ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Enrolment ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Attendance Rate..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Retention Rate ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Drop-out Rate ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Gender Ratio .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Pass rate .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Condition of school facilities and records ......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Kitchen ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Food store ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Water source ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Latrine ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Condition of school records ............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
PTA .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
School gardens ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Fuel saving stoves ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Teaching staff ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Pupil -teacher ratio by County and School Year ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Classrooms ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Pupil-Classroom ratio by County and School Year .................................................................................................................................... 10
Constraints to the school feeding programme ................................................................................................................................................... 11
Recommendations and Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Recommendations ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Annexes ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Baseline/Headcount Tool/Questionnaire: .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Operational design documents and Baseline/Headcount TOR ...................................................................................................................... 1
ii
66.9% estimated attendance rate in 
WFP supported schools
At programme level, the pass rate is 
80.8% above the planned programme 
target of 75%.
7.04% Average annual rate of change 
in the number of girls and boys 
enrolled in WFP supported schools 
At programme level,
drop-out rate is 10.4%
with Rivercess County 
having the highest 
drop-out rate of 12.3%. 
Overall retention rate 
for the 2012-2013 
school year is 89.6%
iii
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
CC County Coordinator
CEO County Education Officer
DEO District Education Officer
DFP District Focal Person
FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
FFE Food for Education
GIS Global Information System
GPS Global Positioning System
GTHR Girl Take Home Ration
HGSF Home Grown School Feeding
HIV Human Immune Virus
LISGIS Liberian Institute of Statistics and Global Information Services
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MoA Ministry of Agriculture
MoE Ministry of Education
MoHSW Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
NGOs Non Governmental Organisations
ODK Open Data Kit
P4P Purchase for Progress
PTA Parents Teachers Association
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
VAM Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping
WFP World food Programme
iv
Acknowledgement 
.
v 
School Feeding Programme Outcome Indicator Table 
# Indicator Baseline Target # schools
Surveyed
95% Conf. Interval
Lower Interval Upper Interval
1. Enrolment: Average annual rate of change in number of girls and 
boys enrolled
7.04% 6% (+) 461 2.5% 11.6%
2. Estimated Attendance Rate: The ratio of students present in 
school on a given number of days during the year (determined by 
head counts) to the number of children enrolled.
66.9% 90% (+) 520 64.6% 69.4%
3 Retention Rate: The percentage of children who are not dropping 
out of school during the course of a school year
89.6% 90% (+) 387 88.4% 90.7%
4. Drop-out Rate: The ratio of children who did not complete the 
school year to the number of children enrolled in school that year
10.4% 10% (-) 387 9.3% 11.6%
5. Gender Ratio: The ratio of the number of female to male students 
enrolled in WFP-assisted schools.
0.89 1 (+) 598 0.87 0.92
6. Pass rate: The percentage of students who successfully complete the 
final examination at the end of an education
cycle
80.4% 75 (+) 412 78.1% 82.8%
7. Pupil-teacher ratio: the ratio of pupils –to – teachers 35 30 (-) 518 33 36
8. Pupil-classroom ratio: the ratio of pupils –to-classrooms 43 45 (-) 525 40 45
(+)/(-) ≈ Direction of required change
vi
Executive Summary 
The FFE program including its capacity development component responds to national priorities as defined in the Poverty 
Reduction Strategy II for the period 2012-2015 that highlights capacity development of Government as crucial to accompany the 
transition from recovery to development. This is aligned with WFP Strategic Objective 5 that positions WFP as an enabler of 
sustainable hunger solutions with anti-hunger policies and programs of action through dialogue and engagement with host 
governments. The goal of the capacity development is to support the Government during the transition towards strengthened 
national ownership, leadership and sustainable school feeding program. 
The main objectives of the baseline study were to:
 Identify the present status and condition of beneficiaries in the targeted 9 counties 
 Establish the benchmarks for key outcome indicators through which the impacts of the program implementation will be 
measured 
 Update beneficiary figures for a more realistic planning of distributions to schools 
 Generate GPS/GIS coordinates for targeted school and develop most recent school map 
Three methods of data collection were adopted during the baseline that include physical counting, physical observation and 
documentary review. The baseline survey team consisted of 9 County Coordinators , 6 District Focal Persons, 3 WFP main office 
staff, 3 LISGIS county staff, 5 VAM external enumerators, 5 WFP Sub office staff, 2 WFP Drivers, 3 MoE School Feeding Division 
staff, 1 MoE Driver and 2 MoE central M&E staff. The survey team was divided into two 1) core team and 2) support and 
coordination team. The core team included the M&E & VAM staff from WFP country office, LISGIS staff, external VAM 
enumerators, MOE central M&E and school division staff and WFP sub office staff. The support and coordination team included 
County Coordinators, District Focal Points and county/district guides. Field work was undertaken from 2nd March 2014 to 3rd April
2014 starting with Grand Bassa County and ending with Maryland County. 
During the baseline survey, it was observed that there was increased enrolment in Bomi, Gbarpolu, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, 
Grand kru, River Gee and Rivercess counties between school years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. The increase in enrolment was more 
vivid among boys than girls. Enrolment in Maryland and Sinoe counties declined in between school years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. 
Poor infrastructure for education, transfers/migration of parents, abrupt introduction of registration fees, cultural practices that 
give preference to traditional forms of education and early engagement in income generating activities by children especially the 
self supported children were key factors contributing to reduced enrolment. Overall attendance rate was 67% and by gender the 
rate was slightly higher among the girls (67.9%) than boys (67%). Low attendance was attributed to cultural practices that give 
preference to traditional forms of education (Sandi Society Schools) and inadequate accountability mechanisms at school level for 
tracking daily attendance of children. Daily roll calls are hardly done by teachers. Another factor affecting attendance especially in 
the lower grades was irregular feeding of children in supported schools (i.e. monthly feeding days were always below the monthly 
school days) 
Overall retention rate for the 2012-2013 school year was 89.6% and drop-out rate was 10.4%. This is an indication of increased 
ability of WFP target schools to keep children in school. The gender gap in enrolment was more in upper grades (grades 4, 5, 6) 
than lower grades. This implies that there were more boys than girls in the upper grades; an indication of possible disadvantage of 
girls in their access to school in the upper grades. At programme level, the pass rate was 80.8%. Grand Gedeh County had the least 
percentage (71.1%) of girls successfully completing the yearend examination in the highest grade. This is a signal that more boys 
than girls are successfully transitioning to grade 7 in Grand Gedeh County. There were generally few schools with good kitchen 
facilities (8.3%); good food stores (8.1%); good latrine facilities (11.8%); and good record keeping (9%). This emphasises the need to 
strengthen food management and records systems in schools and to provide health, hygiene and nutrition education. Only one 
third of schools surveyed were involved in school gardening activities. There is need to intensify promotion of school garden as 
this is a key conduit to transition from food aid to a home grown school feeding programme. 
Poor records and food management mechanisms at school level, poor tracking of daily attendance and drop-out, limited capacity 
(knowledge & skills) of communities and MoE decentralised levels to monitor and report on/account for school feeding activities,
inadequate trained teaching staff, high teacher-pupil ratio, combined grades due to inadequate teaching staff and classrooms, 
hidden fees that undermine the policy on compulsory education for all, cultural & traditional beliefs that give preference to the 
traditional forms of education (Sandi Society schools), limited financial commitment at central level towards education, and poor 
water and sanitation health at school level were the major programme bottlenecks observed during the survey. 
Based on key findings observed and bottlenecks noted the survey team recommends that the school feeding programme team 
advocates at national level for policies, principles and guidelines that promote the role of school feeding; Builds capacity of school 
authorities in records and food management through customised trainings at decentralised levels; Strengthens the capacity of MoE 
at central and decentralised levels to monitor and report on school feeding activities through customised technical trainings in 
monitoring and evaluation, data collection, processing, analysis and reporting; and provision of capital inputs; Forges strategic 
partners with other stakeholders (e.g. UNICEF, MoHSW, FAO, UNDP, MoA, NGOs etc.) to support the programme in the areas of 
health, hygiene, nutrition education, school gardens, fuel efficient stoves and programme monitoring; Traditional forms of 
education should be undertaken during periods when children are on holidays; Schools and education authorities at decentralized 
and central levels to continuously track enrolment figures to match them with available resources (teachers, classrooms, text books, 
benches, desks, latrine stances etc.). 
1
Project Overview and Background 
The FFE program including its capacity development 
component responds to national priorities as defined in the 
Poverty Reduction Strategy II for the period 2012-2015 that 
highlights capacity development of Government as crucial to 
accompany the transition from recovery to development. This 
is aligned with WFP Strategic Objective 5 that positions WFP 
as an enabler of sustainable hunger solutions with anti￾hunger policies and programs of action through dialogue and 
engagement with host governments. This positions WFP in a 
leadership role as provider of technical expertise to support 
nationally-owned anti-hunger initiatives, empowering nations 
to manage their own food assistance programs. 
This capacity development project takes into account the 
ongoing gradual handing over of the implementation of FFE 
to Liberia Government in a bid to gradually reduce reliance 
on external assistance and support the transition to a more 
nationally owned and sustainable school feeding program. 
Priority will be given to the mobilization of existing expertise. 
Existing staff capacity will be leveraged to the extent possible, 
and in instances where the needs are too great alternative 
solutions will be found with emphasis on skills and 
ownership transfer to national systems. 
Guiding principles 
The capacity development approach builds on ongoing efforts 
and best practices by: 
 Focusing on the stakeholders’ needs;
 fostering collaboration and partnership especially with 
UN agencies and between Ministries; 
 meeting basic government systems/equipment 
requirements for data collection, analysis, reporting, 
access; 
 building awareness of Government staff, communities 
for better ownership; 
 Facilitating the development of comprehensive, 
sustainable capacity building efforts that address 
infrastructure capacity needs, education and training, 
and building local institutional capacity. 
Goal
The goal of the capacity development is to support the 
Government during the transition towards strengthened 
national ownership, leadership and sustainable school feeding 
program. 
Objectives 
The capacity development has three main objectives, these 
include: 
 Developing the capacity of the MOE, particularly 
School Feeding, PTA, school gardens and environment 
and M&E units and other line Ministries (MOA, MOH) 
to adequately plan, budget, implement, monitor, 
evaluate and account for school feeding policies and 
program; 
 Improving coordination, harmonization and 
management capacity and quality of implementation of 
the school feeding program with strong linkages to 
local food production for home grown school feeding; 
and 
 Strengthening governance, transparency, 
accountability and knowledge. 
With the Ministry of Education, WFP provides primary school 
children with one daily fortified school meal. In 2013/14 
school year, WFP targeted 234,000 children in ten counties 
with high food insecurity, low education indicators and high 
stunting rates. WFP expects to phase out assistance in Nimba, 
where vulnerability indicators are relatively favourable, in 
2014 and to transfer responsibility for management of the 
school feeding programme to the Government. From 2014, the 
annual average beneficiary number is planned to decrease to 
127,000 school children in nine counties. The gradual hand￾over of WFP’s school feeding activities will be informed by a 
mid-term evaluation planned for 2015, and if necessary will 
be adjusted according to its recommendations. 
WFP provides a monthly take-home ration of rice and 
vegetable oil for an average of 4,800 girls in Gbarpolu, Grand 
Bassa, Grand Kru and River Cess, where primary-level gender 
disparities are highest. School feeding provides a platform for 
delivery of an essential package of complementary learning 
activities consisting of: i) classes on hygiene, water and HIV 
awareness, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and 
Social Welfare, the Ministry of Education and UNICEF; ii) 
school gardens foster agricultural knowledge and encourage 
dietary diversification, in partnership with the Ministry of 
Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the 
United Nations (FAO); and iii) environmental conservation 
and awareness, in partnership with the Ministry of 
Environment and the United Nations Development 
Programme (UNDP). 
To promote national ownership of a sustainable school 
feeding policy, WFP supports HGSF by leveraging the 
purchasing power of school feeding to buy locally produced 
rice through P4P to account for 55 percent of GTHR 
requirements in 2013 and the full WFP/EB.2/2012/8/5 9 
requirements by 2017. PTAs and communities provide cooks, 
fuel and condiments, and will manage school gardens. 
Objectives of the baseline Survey/Headcount 
The main objectives of the study were to:
 Identify the present status and condition of 
beneficiaries in the targeted 9 counties 
 Establish the benchmarks for key outcome indicators 
through which the impacts of the program 
implementation will be measured 
 Update beneficiary figures for a more realistic planning 
of distributions to schools 
 Generate GPS/GIS coordinates for target schools and 
develop most recent school map 
2
Baseline/Headcount Design, Methodology and Approach 
The following approach was used to undertake the 
Baseline/Headcount: 
 Complete enumeration of all the study units (i.e. 
schools) 
 Three methods of data collection were used including
physical count, physical observation and documentary 
review
 County Coordinators provided lists of all schools in 
their respective counties including information on: 
school name, location, session, whether the school is 
supported by WFP or not. Schools were clustered 
based on locations
 Enrolment figures from the DEO’s office, WFP 
distribution planning figures, figures from the actual 
physical count and figures in the school register were
used to triangulate headcount findings.
 The 1
st entry point into the county was the CEO’s 
office. The survey team explained the objective of the 
mission to the CEO and sought permission & support 
to undertake the baseline/headcount in each of the 
counties visited
 At least one guide per county was requested for to 
supplement the County Coordinator and District Focal 
Persons in assisting the survey team to locate the 
different schools in the districts
 Visits with Resident DEO’s office were undertaken to
seek permission to access districts and undertake 
baseline/headcount. 
 Positioning of survey teams by district was based on 
levels of concentration of schools
 A team of 2 enumerators was dispatched per school. 
No two enumerators from the same county were
dispatched to the same school. 
Each team had a core team member with no 
attachments to the county. This was intended to 
increase objectivity of findings
 The core survey team consisted of WFP staff (from the 
country office i.e. M&E Unit, VAM Unit, School 
Feeding Unit), MoE staff from the central ministry 
(M&E unit & School Feeding Division), External VAM 
enumerators and independent enumerators from 
LISGIS. 
 At school level, the survey team met with the school 
principal explained purpose of the mission and 
requested to access the school, school facilities and 
relevant documents
 Each grade within the school was visited and physical 
counting of children present undertaken. 
 The school roster and register/enrolment book was 
reviewed for information on enrolment.
 Physical observation of condition/state of school 
facilities i.e. kitchen, stores, water source, cooking 
utensils, latrine, eating space etc was done and facilities 
were graded accordingly based on set standards
 GPS coordinates of the school were taken to facilitate 
school mapping
 The survey team reviewed findings every close of day 
to validation them
 A debriefing meeting with county education 
authorities (i.e. CEO and DEO) was held to get 
endorsement/consensus on county findings. 
Questionnaire or checklist 
An electronic checklist was developed using the ODK tool kit 
and used to collect general information about the school, 
enrolment, attendance, retention, drop-out, pass rate, 
condition of school facilities, PTA, school gardens, fuel saving 
stoves , teaching staff and other support staff as well as 
qualitative information on factors affecting enrolment, drop￾out rate and attendance. 
Arrangements for pre-testing
Pre-testing was undertaken through mock exercises on the 
tool. A scenario of a typical school was developed and 
enumerators were asked to enter the information into the 
electronic data entry form on mobile devices. Information 
entered into the system was compared with information in 
the scenario to ensure participants fully understand how to 
use the electronic tool and to describe, interpret and measure 
key education indicators being tracked during the 
baseline/headcount. The scenario was used to assess the 
ability of enumerators to review school records such as school 
registers, stores records etc. 
Fieldwork 
The field team consisted of 9 County Coordinators from all 
the counties where WFP Liberia is undertaking the school 
feeding programme, 6 District Focal Persons, 3 WFP main 
office staff, 3 LISGIS county staff, 5 VAM external 
enumerators, 5 WFP Sub office staff, 2 WFP Drivers, 3 MoE 
School Feeding Division staff, 1 MoE Driver and 2 MoE 
central M&E staff. 
This team was divided into two 1) core team and 2) support 
and coordination team. The core team included the M&E & 
VAM staff from WFP country office, LISGIS staff, external 
VAM enumerators, MOE central M&E and school division 
staff and WFP sub office staff. The support and coordination 
team included County Coordinators, District Focal Points and 
county/district guides. Field work was undertaken from 2nd
March 2014 to 3rd April 2014 starting with Grand Bassa 
County and ending with Maryland County. 
Description of quality controls/supervision in the field 
Enumerators were dispatched in teams to ensure that 
enumerators within each team crosscheck/validate each 
other’s findings. Each team was composed of two 
enumerators. The electronic data collection tool was 
developed with validation mechanisms to minimize errors 
due to data entry. 
More details included in the terms of reference.....Annex 
3
Main Findings 
This section of the report presents main baseline findings on the enrolment, attendance, retention, drop-out, pass rate, condition of 
school facilities, PTA, school gardens, fuel saving stoves, teaching staff and other support staff and factors affecting enrolment, 
drop-out rate and attendance. 
Enrolment 
At the school level, this 
indicator describes the change 
in enrolment between the year 
of survey/data collection and 
the previous year. At 
programme level, the average 
of the percentage change 
across all assisted schools - a 
measure of the short-term 
trend in enrolment in the 
targeted school population –
provides an estimate of the 
effectiveness of school feeding 
in terms of attracting children 
to school. Important to note is 
that, the indicator does not 
allow distinguishing whether 
the children enrolled were previously not attending school or 
have transferred from another school (such as, for example, a 
non-assisted school). 
Note that a positive figure, even if lower than the previous year, still indicates an improved situation. On the other hand, a negative 
figure reflects a decline in enrolment. 
Results as presented in figure 1 above indicate an increase in enrolment in Bomi, Gbarpolu, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Grand kru, 
River Gee and Rivercess counties. The increase was witnessed more among the boys as compared to girls. Overall, there was a 
decline in enrolment in Maryland and Sinoe counties between the years 2013 and 2014. 
Grand Bassa (10.7%), Grand Gedeh (13.3% ), Grand Kru (9.9%) and River Gees (22.0%) are above the planned program target of 6% 
average annual increase in enrolment of boys and girls; Bomi (5.2%) county was close to the planned program target while 
Gbarpolu (1.6%), Maryland (-2.0%) and Sinoe (-3.9%) counties were way below the planned school feeding programme target. 
Qualitative data from key education stakeholders (students, teaching staff, non teaching staff, and county education authorities) 
interviewed stated poor infrastructure for education, transfers/migration of parents, abrupt introduction of registration fees, 
cultural practices that give preference to traditional forms of education and early engagement in income generating activities by 
children especially the self supported children as key factors contributing to reduced enrolment. Overall average annual change in 
enrolment for girls (5.9%) is still below the program target (6%). 
Attendance Rate 
The attendance rate is a measure of the extent 
to which WFP support helps to ensure that 
children not only enrol in school at the 
beginning of the school year but are actually 
present in class throughout the school year. 
Overall attendance rate was 67% and between 
genders, with slightly higher rates among the 
girls (67.9%) as compared to boys (67%). Bomi 
County (overall-58.5%, Boys- 60.1%, Girls￾56.7%) had the lowest attendance mainly 
attributed to cultural practices that give 
preference to traditional forms of education 
(Sandi Society Schools) and inadequate 
accountability mechanisms at school level for 
tracking daily attendance of children. Schools 
hardly track daily attendance. Children come late to school (normally by 9:00am) and leave early by 11:00am. 
5.2
1.6
10.7
13.3
9.9
-2.0
22.0
1.8
-3.9
7.0
6.0
-10.0
-5.0
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
Figure 1: Average annual rate of change in number of girls and boys enrolled-2013-2014
Boys
Girls
Both
Target (6%)
58.5
74.6
60.2
68.9 72.6
67.5
76.3
63.3
70.6 67.0
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
100.0
Figure 2: Estimated Attendance Rate by County and Gender, 2014
Boys
Girls
Both
Target
4
Retention Rate 
This indicator at the school level 
describes the retention of pupils in 
school during the course of the year, 
i.e. the percentage of children who are 
not dropping out of school during the 
course of a school year. At programme 
level, the average of the retention rate 
across all assisted schools provides an 
estimate of the ability of school feeding 
to keep children in school. 
Overall retention rate for the 2012-2013 
school year was 89.6% in WFP 
supported schools. 
Drop-out Rate 
The Dropout Rate measures the success of the 
school in retaining its student population during a 
normal school year. Dropouts are those children 
who enrolled at the beginning of the year but 
stopped coming to school before the school year 
was completed, and thus did not take end-of-year 
assessments where these exist). The Dropout Rate 
is thus the ratio of children who did not complete 
the school year to the number of children enrolled 
in school that year. Figure 4 indicates more drop 
outs among the girls as compared to boys 
especially in Bomi, Grand Bassa and Sinoe 
Counties. Across WFP supported counties drop-out 
rate was 10.4% with Rivercess County having the 
highest drop-out rate of 12.3%. 
Gender Ratio 
The gender ratio indicates how many girls are enrolled in school compared to boys; a measure of whether girls and boys have 
equal opportunities to access school. 
The lower the ratio, the higher is the gender gap in enrolment. Ideally, the gender ratio should be 1, indicating an equal number of 
girls and boys enrolled. A gender ratio with a value greater than 1 indicates that there are more girls than boys enrolled. This may 
signal a possible disadvantage for boys in their access to schools and should be investigated. Figure 5 below shows that there is 
more gender gap in enrolment among the upper grades (grades 4, 5, 6) especially in River Gee (0.63), Grand Kru (0.73), Sinoe (0.75) 
and Rivercess (0.76). 
90.8
91.4
88.7
89.8
91.4
89.1
90.0
87.7
88.5
89.6
82.0
84.0
86.0
88.0
90.0
92.0
94.0
Figure 3: Retention Rates by County and Gender, 2012-2013
Boys
Girls
Both
Target
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
Bomi
Gbarpolu
Grand Bassa
Grand Gedeh
Grand Kru
Maryland
River Gee
Rivercess
Sinoe
Total
Figure 5: Gender Ratio by County and School levels
Pre-Primary
Primary (Grades 1-6)
Upper Primary (Grades 4-6)
All grades
Target
9.2
8.6
11.3
10.2
8.6
10.9
10.0
12.3
11.5
10.4
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
Figure 4: Drop-out Rates by County and Gender, 2012-2013
Boys
Girls
Both
Target
5
Pass rate 
At the school level, the pass rate compares 
the number of children who successfully 
complete the yearend examination in the 
highest grade in a given year to the total 
enrolment in the school in that year. 
At programme level, the average of the 
pass rates across all assisted schools 
provides an estimate of the effectiveness 
of school feeding in ensuring that children 
successfully complete an education cycle 
(typically, primary education cycle) and 
are thus qualified to continue their 
education at the next higher level, which 
can be taken as an indirect measure of the 
eventual progress in basic education. 
Figure 6 indicates that more boys than girls successfully complete the yearend examination in the highest grade. Grand Gedeh 
County has the least percentage (71.1%) of girls successfully completing the yearend examination in the highest grade. At 
programme level, the pass rate is 80.8% above the planned programme target of 75%. 
Condition of school facilities and records 
Kitchen 
A school kitchen was considered to be in good condition 
if it was clean, orderly, had a serving table, was enclosed, 
had a fuel saving stove, and was leak free and spacious. 
An acceptable school kitchen was reasonably clean, 
orderly, hygienic, and small but permits the good
cooking and serving of meals, functional but still needs 
improvement to meet required standard. A school 
kitchen was considered in poor condition if it was dirty, 
disorderly, and too small to allow the good cooking and 
serving of food. Only 8.3% of the schools had good 
kitchen facilities, 53.6% had acceptable kitchens and 
40.6% had poor kitchen facilities. Rivercess (56.9%) 
followed by Sinoe (51.4%) had the highest percentage of 
schools with poor kitchen facilities. 
77.1
85.7 84.0
76.5
81.0 78.1 79.7 81.8 82.7 80.8
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
Figure 6: Pass rate by County and Gender, 2012-2013
Boys
Girls
Both
Target
36.7
19.6
40.2
30.3
43.6 38.2
26.8
56.9 51.4
38.1
53.1
71.7
56.2
54.0
51.3 55.1
61.0
39.2
32.4 53.6
10.2 8.7 3.7
15.8
5.1 6.7 12.2
3.9
16.2 8.3
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Figure 7: Condition of school kitchen by County
Good
Acceptable
Poor
6
Food store 
A store was considered in good condition if it was clean, within school premise, spacious, well ventilated, had a concrete floor with 
pallets, dry, secured, stacking done without contact with walls and if there were no rodents and pests. An acceptable store was 
reasonably clean, somewhat ventilated with a temperature suitable for commodities, damp, secured enough to prevent basic 
intrusion and with some form of pallets on which to place the food. A store was considered in poor condition if it was dirty, not 
well ventilated, wet, not secured and if there were rodents/pests. 8.1% of the schools had good food stores, 60.7% had acceptable 
stores and 31.2% had poor food stores. Rivercess County had the highest percentage (47.1%) of schools with poor food stores while 
Sinoe County had the highest percentage (24.3%) of schools with good food stores. 
Water source 
A water source was considered good if it was within the school premise, fenced, hand pump was functional (for borehole), had a 
clean surrounding, water was clear, regularly chlorinated (for shallow wells), water was neither salty nor smelly and water flow 
was sufficient for the daily school needs. A water source was considered acceptable if it was functional but falls short of required 
standards as mentioned above. A water source was considered poor if its surrounding was dirty, far from school premise (30 
minutes or more walking distance), the water was not clear, smelly and the water flow was insufficient for the daily school needs. 
7
Latrine 
A good latrine was clean inside and surrounding, 
not smelly, with hand washing facility, separate 
stances for girls, boys and staff, lockable and at least 
30 metres away from the kitchen. A latrine was 
considered acceptable if it was reasonably clean, 
allowed minimum privacy, within reasonable 
distance from the kitchen. Latrine condition was 
considered poor if there was no latrine facility and 
there was evidence of open defecation (OD), 
available latrine was dirty, smelly, not private and 
shared by all (i.e. students, staff and community).
At programme level, 11.8% of the schools had good latrines, 54.6% had 
acceptable latrines and 33.6% had poor/no latrines. Rivercess (64.7%), Sinoe 
(51.4%) and Bomi (46.9%) had the highest percentage of schools with poor 
latrine facilities. 
8
Condition of school records 
Condition of records was considered good if they were easily available, complete and accurate, legible and if they were kept in an 
orderly and sustainable way. Condition of records was considered acceptable if records were available and reasonably organised, 
legible, accurate but still fell below required standard. Condition of records was considered poor if they were not readily available, 
inaccurate, incomplete, damaged/torn and not legible. At programme level, only 9% of the schools kept good records and 91% of 
the schools need to improve their record keeping systems. 
PTA 
A Parents Teachers’ Association (PTA) was 
considered functional if it met regularly and 
there was evidence of minutes for recent 
meetings and actions undertaken for the 
betterment of the school as a result of these 
meetings; if PTA provided support to the 
school in form of labour, seeds and tools for 
school gardening activities, fencing of water 
points, construction of kitchen, store, school 
fence, provides fire wood and condiments to 
hot meals in support school feeding. Overall 
92.4% of the schools had functional PTA’s. On 
average across all Counties, PTA committees 
were composed of 5 (62.5%) male officials and 
3 (37.5%) female officials. This indicates that 
fewer women than men are holding official 
positions on PTAs. 
14.3
2.3 6.0 10.0 5.3 8.9
2.4
10.0 8.1 7.6
85.7
97.7 94.0 90.0 94.7 91.1
97.6
90.0 91.9 92.4
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
120.0
Figure 8: Percentage of Functional PTA by County
Not Functional
Functional
9
School gardens 
Schools with gardens were engaging students in school gardening activities on average one day in a week, mostly Friday. Mostly 
grades 3 to 6 were involved in school gardening activities. Cassava (71%), green leafy vegetables (29%), Bitter ball (28%), Pepper 
(22%) and Sweet corn (19%) were the common crops planted by schools with gardens. 
Percentage of schools with school gardens by County
County Without 
Garden (%)
With Garden (%)
Bomi 59.2 40.8
Gbarpolu 45.7 54.4
Grand Bassa 67.2 32.8
Grand Gedeh 76.0 24.0
Grand Kru 76.9 23.1
Maryland 86.7 13.3
River Gee 61.0 39.0
Rivercess 52.0 48.0
Sinoe 51.4 48.7
Overall 66.8 33.2
Fuel saving stoves 
Overall, only 2.6% of the schools had fuel saving stoves. Majority (97.4%) of the schools were using the traditional 3 stone fire place. 
Among schools with fuel saving stoves, majority (26.7%) were found in Grand Gedeh County. None of the schools assessed in 
Gbarpolu, River Gee and Rivercess Counties had Fuel saving stoves. 
Traditional 3 stone fire 
place
10
Teaching staff 
Pupil -teacher ratio by County and School 
Year 
The pupil-teacher ratio has increased by 6.3% 
between school years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. 
Bomi, Gbarpolu and Grand Bassa Counties 
had the highest pupil-teacher ratio. The 
average pupil-teacher ratio is 35:1. 
Grand Gedeh (29:1) and Grand Kru (29:1) 
Counties to-date have the best pupil- teacher 
ratio. A high pupil-teacher ratio affects the 
quality of education. 
Classrooms 
Pupil-Classroom ratio by County 
and School Year 
There has been an increase in the 
pupil –classroom ratio between 
2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school 
years of 4.9%. 
Compared to other counties, Sinoe 
had the best (31:1) pupil-classroom 
ratio during school year 2013-2014 
and Maryland County had the 
worst pupil-classroom ratio.
Overcrowding as a result of a high 
pupil-classroom ratio makes the 
learning environment inauspicious. 
31
34
39
26 25
36
28 27
35
32
41 41 41
29 29
35
30
34
29
35
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Pupil -teacher ratio by County and School Year
2012-2013
2013-2014
35 33
42 43
40
51
34
28
53
41 41
38
45 47
49
52
39
34
31
43
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Pupil -Classroom ratio by County and School Year
2012-2013
2013-2014
11
Constraints to the school feeding programme 
 Poor records and food management mechanisms at school level;
 Poor tracking of daily attendance and drop-out;
 Limited capacity (i.e. knowledge & skills) of communities and MoE decentralized levels to monitor and report on/account 
for school feeding activities; 
 High school-monitor ratio; 
 Inadequate trained teaching staff; 
 High pupil-teacher ratio;
 High pupil-classroom ratio leading to overcrowding 
 Combined grades due to inadequate teaching staff and classrooms; 
 Hidden fees that undermine the policy on compulsory education for all;
 Cultural & traditional beliefs that give preference to the traditional forms of education (Sandi Society schools); 
 Limited financial commitment at central level towards education; 
 Poor water and sanitation health at school level 
Recommendations and Conclusions 
Recommendations 
 Advocate at national level for policies, principles and guidelines that promote the role of school feeding;
 Build capacity of school authorities in records and food management through customized trainings at decentralized levels;
 Strengthen the capacity of MoE at central and decentralized levels to monitor and report on school feeding activities through 
customized technical trainings in monitoring and evaluation, data collection, processing, analysis and reporting; and 
provide capital inputs; 
 Forge strategic partners with other stakeholder (e.g. UNICEF, MoHSW, FAO, UNDP, MoA, NGOs etc.) to support the 
programme in the areas of health, hygiene, nutrition education, school gardens, fuel efficient stove and programme 
monitoring 
 Traditional forms of education should be undertaken during periods when children are on holidays 
 Schools and education authorities at decentralized and central levels to continuously track enrolment figures to match them 
with available resources (teachers, classrooms, text books, benches, desks, latrine stances etc.).
Conclusions 
There is increased enrolment in Bomi, Gbarpolu, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Grand kru, River Gee and Rivercess counties between 
school years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. The increase is more vivid among the boys than girls. Enrolment in Maryland and Sinoe 
counties declined between school years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Enrolment increases in assisted schools may be achieved at the 
risk of drawing pupils away from other, non-assisted schools. Also, significant increases in enrolment, particularly when first 
introducing school feeding may put strong pressure on available school infrastructure regarding classrooms, teachers or learning 
materials, leading to overcrowding of classrooms, children sitting on the floor or under a tree or teachers teaching excessively large 
classes, thus effectively reducing educational quality. 
Poor infrastructure for education, transfers/migration of parents, abrupt introduction of registration fees, cultural practices that 
give preference to traditional forms of education and early engagement in income generating activities by children especially the 
self supported children are key factors leading to reduced enrolment. 
Low attendance is attributed to cultural practices that give preference to traditional forms of education (Sandi Society Schools) and 
inadequate accountability mechanisms at school level for tracking daily attendance of children. Daily roll calls are hardly done by 
2
teachers. Another factor affecting attendance especially in the lower grades is irregular feeding of students (i.e. monthly feeding 
days are always below the monthly school days) 
Overall retention rate for the 2012-2013 school year was 89.6% and drop-out rate was 10.4%. This is an indication of increased 
ability of WFP target schools to keep children in school. The gender gap in enrolment is more in upper grades (grades 4, 5, 6) than 
lower grades. This means that there are more boys than girls in the upper grades and an indication of possible disadvantage of girls 
in their access to school in the upper grades. Some of the reasons noted during the survey for the low numbers of girls in upper 
grades were: withdraw of girls either due to overage, pregnancy or to attend traditional schools. 
Grand Gedeh County had the least percentage (71.1%) of girls successfully completing the yearend examination in the highest 
grade. At programme level, the pass rate was 80.8%. This is a signal that more boys than girls are successfully transitioning to 
grade 7. There were generally few schools with good kitchen facilities (8.3%); good food stores (8.1%); good latrine facilities 
(11.8%); and good record keeping (9%). Based on these statistics there is great need to strengthen food management and records 
systems in schools and to provide health, hygiene and nutrition education in supported schools. 
On average across all Counties, fewer women (37.5%) than men held official positions on PTAs. There is need to encourage more 
women to participate in the leadership of PTAs. Only one third of the schools are engaged in school gardening activities; school 
gardening is done on average once a week and mostly by grades 3 to 6. School gardens are a key conduit to transition from food 
aid to a home grown school feeding programme. 
1
Annexes 
Baseline/Headcount Tool/Questionnaire: 
Link: https://ymwaq.enketo.formhub.org/webform
Operational design documents and Baseline/Headcount TOR 
Agreement_FFE-669
-2013-036-00 8.12.pdf
McGovern-Dole 
Results Framework.docx
TOR-BASELINE 
SURVEY AND HEAD COUNT SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME.docx
Baseline_headcount 
statistics by School, 2014.xlsx