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Policy and Programme

The government's Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) was piloted in 10 schools in late 2005, and since then has progressively grown to serve over 1.6 million children in 4,000 public schools across all 170 districts in Ghana.

As a strategy to increase domestic food production, household incomes and food security in deprived communities, the GSFP has become a very popular programme with the Ghanaian public, and enjoys solid commitment from the government.

The GSFP coordination and implementation is undertaken by a National Secretariat, with programme oversight provided by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. Line Ministries offer technical support through the Programme Steering Committee (PSC), although a number of NGO and bilateral agencies provide technical support.

The presence of the GSFP as a strategy to address poverty is abundant in policy literature across a number of Ministries, including the ministries of; food and agriculture, education, health and local government and rural development. Donor support for the GSFP has been well expressed through commitments of the Dutch Government between 2005 and 2010, however the programme is mostly funded from the Ghanaian governments own coffers.

Key successes

Key successes of the GSFP have included significant enrolment increases observed in assisted schools, as well as reduced dropout rates, for example in the Brong Ahafo region dropout rates were observed to reduce by 58% as a result of school feeding activities.

The programme as a whole is highly valued by the Ghanaian public, its high profile has meant sensitisation of the benefits of school feeding have reached many isolated communities.