1.1. INTRODUCTION
1.2. CONTEXT
The Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe (STP) is a lower-middle-income island state located within the Gulf of Guinea, off the western coast of Central Africa. The nation consists of two essential islands (Sao Tome and Principe), positioned about 140 km aside with a land space of simply over 1,000 km.
As a small island creating state, the nation faces varied challenges. Due to its insularity and geographical location, Sao Tome and Principe is susceptible to climatic shocks and pure disasters and is susceptible to market worth fluctuation, which negatively impacts the subsistence circumstances of its inhabitants and additional will increase their meals insecurity.
In 2019, STP Government has built-in the 2030 Agenda and has adopted the zero-hunger strategic evaluation (ZHSR) report in April 2018 as a street map for attaining zero starvation within the nation. The ZHSR recognized challenges, inefficiencies and gaps at varied ranges (authorized, strategic, coverage framework and operational). Gender inequalities have additionally been recognized as cross reducing difficulty particularly, entry to meals, college meals, vitamin, smallholder productiveness and knowledge programs.
Access to meals: Food and vitamin insecurity in Sao Tome and Principe are the results of components corresponding to excessive unemployment charges and the weak efficiency of the agriculture, fishing and livestock sectors. These result in restricted meals manufacturing and entry to primary providers; heavy reliance on meals imports, which exposes the nation to fluctuating meals costs, affecting principally the livelihoods of the poor; and lack of entry to training, employment, monetary providers and technique of manufacturing (together with land and agricultural sources), which impacts men and women at completely different ranges all through their lives.
School meals: Challenges associated to high school meals embody an absence of a nationwide college meals technique; insufficient consideration of faculty meals in nationwide priorities and budgets; restricted authorities capability to handle college meals operations successfully and equitably; insufficient funding mechanisms; logistical challenges hindering meals deliveries at faculties; the lack to find out precisely the price of a college meals programme and the extent and inclusiveness of group participation; weak civil society mobilization to help a transition in the direction of nationwide possession, together with group contributions and fogeys’ associations; and heavy reliance on a meals basket composed of imported meals corresponding to rice, beans, salt and vegetable oil. There is a must develop a full-fledged home-grown college meals (HGSM) method that’s gender-transformative and has a powerful deal with the direct procurement of domestically produced nutritious meals.
Nutrition: Factors contributing to vitamin insecurity in Sao Tome and Principe embody the inadequate variety of nutritionists within the nation; the necessity for gender-aware communication methods to advertise toddler and younger youngster feeding and maternal vitamin practices; the necessity to reinforce vitamin training for adolescents (as future dad and mom and in a gender-transformative method); inadequate dedication to prioritizing the primary 1,000 days of life (i.e., from conception to age 2); and inadequate emphasis on meals fortification programmes.
Smallholder productiveness: Smallholder productiveness is hindered by underdeveloped and poorly built-in agriculture markets; the shortage of a gender-equitable coverage to guard and supply incentives to farmers and fishers; disorganized, inefficient and unrepresentative smallholder farmer associations (notably for girls); the necessity to enhance infrastructure to attach manufacturing websites and markets; a crucial lack of dependable agriculture knowledge; an inadequate workforce and restricted technical capability;45 and the shortage of a worth chain for nutritious meals. As highlighted by the ZHSR, the low ranges of agricultural productiveness are brought on by poor infrastructure, inadequate buy-in from the Government, grossly insufficient scientific analysis and too few small-scale farmers. There are simply 8,955 small-scale farmers (30 p.c of whom are ladies),46 and they’re excluded from discussions regarding agriculture and rural improvement insurance policies.
Coordination: Challenges associated to coordination embody the restricted coordination capacities and sources of the nationwide Council for Food and Nutrition Security (Conselho de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional or CONSAN); the restricted technical and monetary capability of the Government to implement present programmes; and an absence of sustained, evidence-based advocacy to boost consciousness of meals and vitamin safety points.
Information programs: Information programs are hindered by an absence of periodic meals safety and vitamin knowledge for the nation, mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating progress in meals safety and vitamin till 2030, a manufacturing and commercialization pricing system, and knowledge and evaluation disaggregated by gender and age.
Complementing the Government’s efforts, WFP has offered help in step with the nationwide context.
Over the years, WFP’s operations transitioned from offering direct meals help to strengthening nationwide institutional capacities. Although the college feeding programme managed by WFP was handed over to the Government since 2015, the latter nonetheless faces some operational and monetary hardships. Moreover, a number of challenges and gaps associated to meals insecurity and vitamin had been recognized by the ZHSR report and through consultations with the Government and stakeholders to realize Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 and 17 in Sao Tome and Principe. In line with the findings and leveraging on WFP’s place because the Government’s associate of alternative, WFP has strengthened nationwide capacities to autonomously implement the college feeding programme and enhance market entry for smallholder farmers. On 30 June 2019, WFP efficiently concluded the implementation of the transitional-interim nation strategic plan and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education by the National School Feeding, and Health Programme (PNASE) remained WFP’s essential associate. Partnerships had been additionally strengthened with the National Council for Food Security and Nutrition (CONSAN) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development by the Rural Development Support Centre (CADR). In line with the work plan, WFP funded and facilitated a variety of capacities strengthening actions with PNASE, together with the reactivation of the college gardens, consciousness campaigns on the significance of consuming of native merchandise at school menus, revision of the college feeding legislation and the availability of belongings and tools to enhance their efficiency in implementing socially sustainable nutrition-sensitive and smallholder-friendly homegrown college feeding programme, in addition to associated meals safety and vitamin insurance policies and programmes nationwide. The authorities has been capable of see the linkages between small holder farmer programs with college feeding programme as means to rely college feeding meals on native merchandise.
In addition, WFP supported the nationwide Government with obligatory instruments and belongings that may permit coordinate and strengthened Government capacities in offering incentives for sustainable and equitable native meals worth chains and stimulating smallholder agricultural markets, together with the institution of a knowledge assortment and administration data system for the Ministry of Agriculture, funded coaching periods organized by CADR to its personnel on sustainable and environmentally pleasant agricultural methods, offered belongings and tools to help manufacturing actions of women and men smallholders and stimulate their entry to markets and funded varied knowledge assortment actions. WFP additionally supported to the promotion of nationwide dialogue about meals safety and vitamin within the nation, together with the necessity to encourage ladies smallholders to ship wholesome and high quality merchandise to high school canteens was additionally made by WFP.
WFP repositioned itself in 2020 to make sure immediate alignment to the Government’s agenda, together with making certain strategic response to sudden challenges and capability gaps recognized by the primary nationwide and regional actors. WFP focuses on strengthening nationwide capacities to allow them implement sustainable options for addressing meals insecurity and drive full authorities possession within the areas of faculty feeding and smallholder’s agriculture. WFP strengthened its partnership with the important thing authorities ministries and stakeholders and strengthened collaboration with different improvement companions together with UN companies and worldwide non-governmental organisations (INGOs). The Country workplace performed a vital function within the coordination of humanitarian air flights to Sao Tome and Principe throughout closure of the nation borders.
However, regardless of the strategic and programmatic challenges and the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 that resulted in an unprecedent socio-economic disaster, WFP was capable of present nation capability strengthening proceed help the primary Government counterparts. In Sao Tome, there was a beneficial atmosphere for WFP as a resident UN company to strengthen its partnership with the Government, UN companions and different improvement actors together with nationwide and worldwide nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and to advertise the collaboration between the completely different actors concerned in meals safety and vitamin by a complete society method. WFP was capable of strengthen the capability of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE); the National School Feeding and Health programme (PNASE); the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development (MAFRD); the National Support Centre for Rural Development (CADR); and the National Council for Food Security and Nutrition (CONSAN), in help of the nationwide improvement priorities. WFP supported the (i) revision of the National School Feeding and Health programme Law, (ii) the event of the knowledge administration system for the MAFRD, (iii) promoted coaching periods for CADR personnel and for smallholder farmers, and (iv) supported consciousness and sensitization campaigns in collaboration with CONSAN and the National Nutrition Programme (PNN) about meals safety and vitamin.
Gender was mainstreamed in all WFP interventions, notably throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. WFP supported the Government in making certain meals safety of susceptible households, with deal with femaleheaded households who had been most affected by the socio-economic influence of the pandemic.
Insufficient funding remained one of many main strategic dangers for WFP Sao Tome and Principe.
In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continued impacting the financial system and the livelihoods of probably the most susceptible individuals, together with ladies, youngsters, the aged, and folks with disabilities. The Government requested help from humanitarian and improvement companions, together with WFP, with a view to minimizing the socio-economic influence of the pandemic. In this regard, WFP scaled up its operations underneath strategic consequence 2 which aimed to supply meals and vitamin help to crisisaffected populations by in-kind transfers and elevated its efforts to mobilize sources to help 50,000 school-aged youngsters nationwide. In May 2021, WFP signed a partnership settlement with Chellaram Foundation and obtained USD 700,000 to help 25,000 schoolchildren. Through this contribution, WFP was capable of distribute nutritious meals within the type of various take-home rations, in addition to hygiene kits (corresponding to face masks and hand sanitizers) to five,000 susceptible college youngsters (2,550 ladies and a pair of,450 boys). This contribution additionally allowed WFP to acquire and ship 395 metric tons of meals commodities to authorities warehouses for on-site college meals throughout 127 faculties, together with pre-schools and first faculties. On-site college feeding will begin in January 2022 with the resumption of the National School Feeding and Health Program (PNASE) and can profit 20,000 college youngsters for 5 months. Despite pandemic-related challenges, WFP additionally contributed to strengthening the Government’s capability within the areas of home-grown college feeding (HGSF), smallholder farmers’ entry to markets, and the meals safety and vitamin of the inhabitants. To this finish, WFP applied revolutionary capability strengthening initiatives, corresponding to activating group college gardens to make sure the sustainability of the nationwide college feeding programme, finishing up an agricultural evaluation and territorial analysis to gather disaggregated knowledge on smallholders’ productiveness and capability wants, and on territorial traits to tell nationwide improvement methods and plans. In addition, WFP retrofitted Government warehouses to make sure that meals commodities are saved in sufficient circumstances and facilitated nationwide dialogue on meals safety and vitamin by the National Council for Food Security and Nutrition (CONSAN). Contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 17 (Partnerships), WFP strengthened its present partnerships and made progress in the direction of new strategic partnerships with the personal sector and non-traditional donors.
In this regard, each capability strengthening and emergency college feeding actions had been applied by WFP in shut collaboration with varied stakeholders, together with the Chellaram Foundation, the African Development Bank, nationwide authorities and public entities, the PNASE, the CONSAN, training directorates, in addition to civil society organizations, together with dad and mom’ associations. The actions applied by WFP in 2021 additionally contributed to improved gender equality outcomes, particularly for schoolboys and schoolgirls. Notably, WFP’s emergency college feeding intervention and the group college gardens focused susceptible girls and boys to mitigate the destructive influence of the pandemic on their wellbeing by nutritious meals. Other companions additionally contributed to the containment and mitigation of the COVID19 pandemic influence whereby, for instance within the final quarter of 2020, as a part of the back-to-school marketing campaign applied in partnership with UNICEF, 47 Metric Tonnes of meals commodities had been delivered to susceptible youngsters.
https://reliefweb.int/report/sao-tome-and-principe/evaluation-capacity-strengthening-activities-government-and-local-communities-sao-tome-and-principe-july-2019-december-2022
