Report of the Dissemination/ Joint Briefing Session with the Ogun State Home Grown School Feeding Team

On August 29, 2018 Action Health Incorporated with support from MacArthur Foundation organized a dissemination / joint briefing session between the Ogun State Home Grown School Feeding Team (Ogun Meals) and the Ogun State Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) Support Group at the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, State Secretariat, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

The session was an opportunity for the HGSFP Support Group, which is comprised of Action Health Incorporated (AHI), the Centre for Women’s Health and Development (CEWHIN), The Education Partnership (TEP) Centre, Partnership for Child Development (PCD), and Women Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON), to share findings from its monitoring activities with the Ogun State HGSFP Team.

The meeting began with welcome remarks from Alhaji Kolawole Ogunlana, the acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, who also applauded the efforts of the HGSFP Support Group. Afterwards, Mr. Oladayo Olaide, the Deputy Director of MacArthur Foundation’s Nigeria Office appreciated the State HGSFP Team for their kind reception and gave a brief overview of the Foundation’s efforts to support the State’s HGSFP.

Findings from the monitoring activities were then presented by Ms. Stella Soneye, AHI Programme Officer. She shared the successes recorded, the challenges identified, and the recommendations made regarding the programme.

Following the presentation of findings, Barrister Adeleke Adewolu, Honourable Commissioner for Special Duties, gave his remarks. He appreciated the support group for working constructively and collaboratively with the Ogun Meals. He also appreciated the team for sharing their findings from monitoring and enjoined the State Team to take all recommendations made for improvement. He however noted that some of the issues raised have already been addressed, such as the uniform issue which has been replaced for the Batch 1 vendors and other batches will be distributed before the next school resumption.

After the Commissioner’s remarks, Dr. Esiet charged the Ogun State HGSFP team to learn from what the Osun State HGSFP team are doing differently to effectively implement the project. He also encouraged them to look beyond Federal Government funding and devise sustainable means of feeding the pupils in the absence of funds from the Federal Government. He also pointed out that food and materials should be sourced indigenously.

There was then a general discussion about the findings and the status of the Ogun State HGSFP which covered the performance of the beef and fish aggregators, the processing of protein content, BVN and loan deduction issues. At the end of this discussion, Dr. Esiet highlighted the following next steps:

• The HGSFP Support Group should endeavour to provide real time, more specific reporting and escalate when necessary
• The President of Aggregators should reach out to his team and ensure improvement in protein content
• The OGSHGSFP team will hold periodic meetings with cooks and other concerned stakeholders
• AHI should update the information guide to include protein content processing and distribution

All stakeholders present gave their closing remarks and pledged their dedication to the success of the programme. Ms. Soneye closed by appreciating the State Team for their support and their commitment to ensuring the success of the meeting, particularly by inviting the aggregators to the meeting.

Event Photos