School Feeding Programme good but…

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Joseph Yieleh Chireh, has asked management of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), to work hard to redeem the image of the programme so as to win back the confidence of donor partners.

He said management must also work with renewed effort and best practices to sustain the programme to improve educational delivery in the country.

Mr. Chireh gave this advice when he paid an unannounced visit to the secretariat in Accra, as Part of a familiarization tour of agencies under the ministry. He was accompanied by his deputy, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah.

The minister said the programme was a laudable one and the government was committed to its sustainability but added that a lot would depend on the ability of the management and staff to justify the continued existence of the programme.

Mr. Chireh asked management to cut down expenditure by ensuring that decentralized bodies under the programme were equipped with the capacity to conduct monitoring and evaluation at the district level rather than officials from Accra.

The National Coordinator of the programme, Mr. Michael Nsowah, said the programme is on course and assured the minister that everything possible would be done to justify the continued existence of the programme for the benefit of school children.

The GSFP which was initiated to provide children in public basic schools in deprived areas with one hot meal a day as a strategy to encourage school enrollment and retention is being co-funded by the Dutch government.

However, the Dutch government last year temporarily withdrew its support for the programme due to queries raised against the operations of the programme in the 2006 Auditor General’s Report and led to the restructuring and management of the programme.

The Dutch government hopes to restore its support to the programme by June when management would have implemented recommendations made by the Auditor General’s report to improve efficiency and accountability.



Source: The Ghanaian Times