“Local procurement” Diversifying school feeding with local production in Cape Verde Executive summary: The ”Local procurement” pilot project for school canteens, which took place from June 2012 to June 2014, aimed at diversifying school meals by systematically introducing local products such as fruits, vegetables, fish and beans in the supply chain of school canteens. This project was implemented thanks to the involvement of several partners, in the framework of United Nations’ Joint Programme “Support to Food and Nutrition Security in Schools”. The challenge consists in its gradual upscaling to all schools in the country.
Context: Cape Verde’s school canteens programme was initiated by World Food Programme (WFP) in 1979 to increase school attendance, fight food insecurity and cover the students’ nutritional needs. As Cape Verde became a middle-income country in 2008, WFP progressively withdrew and the government entirely manages the school canteens since 2010. However, the national context has changed: primary education has become universal, but the poverty rate still remains of 25% and chronic non-communicable diseases are one of the main causes of mortality in the country. Therefore, current priorities of the National School Feeding Programme are to contribute to upgrade of education quality by improving school meals’ quality, as well as to promote nutrition education, reduce poverty and stimulate the agri-food sector.
Contact:
Ana Paula Spencer, “Food and Nutrition Security in Schools” Programme Coordinator ana.spencer@ficase.gov.cv
Target population: The pilot project beneficiated all primary school pupils from 31 schools of different sizes, located in urban and rural zones, in 5 municipalities (Praia and Santa Cruz on Santiago island; São Vicente; Porto Novo and Ribeira Grande on Santo Antão island).
Stakeholders: The project was developed with the support of the United Nations, through the Joint Programme, and implemented by the Cape Verdean Foundation for Social Action in Schools (FICASE) in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Sport (MED), the Ministry of Rural Development (MDR), the Ministry of Health (MS), the Ministry of Infrastructures and Maritime Economy (MIEM), the Public Acquisition Regulating Authority (ARAP), the Food and Drug Regulation Agency (ARFA) and the Business Development and Innovation Agency (ADEI).
The intervention: The “Local procurement” pilot project was carried out in three stages: June 2012-March 2013: preparation
April-June 2013: pre-test
July 2013-June 2014: pilot
Definition of procurement models
Test of procurement models in 17 schools from 3 municipalities
Implementation in 31 schools from 5 municipalities
Creation of public bidding documents compatible with the public acquisition law Definition of quality criteria Improvement of school canteen conditions Training of the actors involved
Confirmation in practical and logistical terms and adjustments before the pilot stage
Balance of good practices and constraints with stakeholders to plan the upscaling of the project.
The gradual upscaling of the pilot project to all primary schools and pre-schools of the country is being prepared.