Perceived Effectiveness of Ghana‟S School Feeding Programme in Improving the Socio-Economic Livelihood of Beneficiary Communities in the Assin South District

Abstract

Over the past decades, the Governments of Ghana have been committed to ensuring the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on hunger and to bringing the socio-economic situation to a level, which would ensure that, the basic economic needs of the individuals are met. School Feeding is one of the policy interventions used by government in ensuring that these objectives are achieved. Generally, the study was to examine beneficiaries‟ perceptions on the extent of effectiveness of the school feeding intervention in improving the economic livelihoods of the beneficiary communities. Explanatory sequential mixed design was employed to fully explore the perceptions of 144 respondents, comprising of 55 head teachers, 63 parents and 26 local foodstuffs farmers, sampled from a population of 230. Selection of the respondents was done with the use of a multi-stage sampling method involving six (6) stages. The study used mixed method in the collection of data. Parents perceived the effectiveness of the programme as „high‟ in motivating them to enroll their children and as „moderate‟ in improving their income level. The results of the study also revealed that, the head teachers of the beneficiary schools generally perceived the effectiveness of the programme as „high‟ in helping to improve the employment situations in the implementing communities. The study concluded that, local foodstuffs‟ farmers perceived the programme as „lowly effective‟ in ensuring the safety and prompt market for their foodstuffs because caterers and cooks in the beneficiary schools do not patronize them. The study recommended that, foodstuffs farmers who produce for the programme should strictly be registered as sole suppliers of food items to ensure a higher patronage.