The Year-End High Level Dissemination Meeting

The Year-End High-Level Dissemination Meeting on the Ogun State Home Grown School Feeding Programme (OGHGSFP) which was conducted on December 4, 2019 had over 200 participants drawn from various stakeholder groups. They included Government Officials, the Monitoring Cohort, Parent Teachers Association/School-Based Management Committee (PTA/SBMC) members, Local Government Education Secretaries, Local Government Desk Officers of the HGSFP, Health Teachers, School Heads and Cooks. Participants were drawn from the different Local Government Areas where monitoring is being conducted by the three partners: Action Health Incorporated (AHI), Centre for Women’s Health and Information (CEWHIN) and Women’s Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON).

Following the welcome address by Mrs. Adenike Esiet, the Executive Director of Action Health Incorporated, Mrs. Mopelola Osolukoya, the State Operations Officer, in her remarks expressed her appreciation to AHI, CEWHIN, WOCON, TEP Centre, and the MacArthur Foundation who had vigorously driven the Ogun Home Grown School Feeding officials in the last one year to be able to achieve what was being celebrated. She attributed her team’s success in monitoring the OGHGSFP to the support given by the Cohort and the MacArthur Foundation, and noted that Ogun State had become a model and a point of learning for other states of the federation. She enumerated that one of the hitches encountered was due to the headcount conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which led to some schools not feeding anymore while some cooks were dropped. She stated that the headcount led to a decrease in the number of pupils being fed from 278,912 to 182,422 and also a decrease in the number of cooks being engaged from 3090 to 2779.  She further explained that some schools which were not reached by the statistics body were automatically dropped from feeding.

Status Report of Monitoring of HGSFP in Ogun State

After the progress report by the Programme Manager, representatives from the different organizations that make up the Cohort took turns to present their activities in monitoring the OGHGSFP within the last one year, achievements, challenges and recommendations. It was also specifically recommended that the Home Grown School Feeding Programme should be adopted as an educational system policy in Nigeria.

Rendition of Success Stories on the Ogun HGSFP

Across the LGAs in Ogun State where the HGSFP is being monitored, people were called to share success stories arising from implementation of the programme in their respective LGAs. Below is one of their responses:

Improved Community Stakeholder Participation in Ensuring Programme Sustainability

“According to Mr. Olaleye Ramon (Ado-Odo Ota LGA), a Community Watch Group member from A.U.D Practicing School 1, parents from the school came together to build a space where the cooks can serve the children meal through the support of the Head Teacher. He also appealed for financial support in order to finish the already embarked-upon project.

Presentations of Awards

The CBO partners were given awards based on their exceptional community service, the recipients of this awards included: Mr. Sodipo Olalekan, Mr. Dammylola Shodiya, Mr. Adebayo Samuel & Mrs. Folashade Ofurunne.

At the end of the presentations of awards, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Ogun State Government, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo, represented by Mr. Bayo Adenekan, gave his remarks. He expressed his profound appreciation to all the team members who have helped in the success of the NHGSFP. He promised that Ogun State will continue to support the programme and make adjustments in response to all the challenges mentioned. He also congratulated the awardees and urged them not to relent in their efforts as an award is a call to greater duty. The meeting ended with vote of thanks given by Mr. Adeogun, the Project Coordinator, WOCON.