The Mcgovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program in Guatemala: Increases in Literacy Associated with Program Implementation from 2014-2016

Background and Purpose: The McGovern–Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (FFE), funded by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, currently provides agricultural commodities, financial support and technical assistance to primary schools in 24 low-income countries around the world experiencing food deficits. Its strategic objective is to improve reading literacy particularly for girls. Yet, few studies have empirically examined the effectiveness of FFE in achieving this objective, and the Trump administration’s “America First” budget blueprint has proposed eliminating this program for lack of evidence. This study examines the extent to which literacy of primary school-aged children has increased alongside FFE implementation in the Department of Totonicapán, Guatemala, a region with one of the highest rates of food insecurity and lowest rates of literacy in the world. We pay particular attention to differences over time between girls and boys and whether children identify as indigenous Mayan K’iche’.

Methods: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) implemented FFE from 2014-2016 serving 212 schools in Totonicapán. Repeated cross-sectional data were collected by external researchers from all 3^rd and 6^th grade students from randomly selected schools in 2014 (n=74 schools, n=2,387children), 2015 (n=120 schools, n=3,833 children), and 2016 (n=120 schools, n=3,624 children). Literacy was measured using a 30-item Spanish reading comprehension and scored from 0% to 100% correct. Other covariates included were gender (1=Female; 0=Male), and whether the child spoke K’iche’ (1=Yes; 0=No). One- and two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) tests were employed to examine changes in literacy over time, between boys and girls, and between K’iche’ speaking and non-K’iche’ speaking children, using Welch’s test to account for unequal variances. Additional information was collected on child enrollment and attendance over time. Parent focus groups (n=20) were conducted at randomly selected schools related to program effectiveness and sustainability.

Results: Overall, the mean of literacy achievement increased over time from 17.97% (SD=14.51%) at baseline to 24.32% (SD=12.73) at midterm to 31.78% (SD=13.24%) at endline (p<.001 for all). No statistically significant differences emerged between males and females. Increasing disparities were identified for indigenous children – no statistically significant difference occurred at baseline, but Non-K’iche’ speaking children scored 1.92% higher at midterm (p<.001) and 4.79% higher at endline (p<.001). Focus groups revealed that parents believe the FFE provides a safety net in terms of food provision for children and also results in greater child attendance, but that sustainability remains a problem for communities should USDA remove support. Child enrollment declined steadily with 3.6% fewer children attending school in 2015 (vs. 2014) and 4.6% fewer in 2016 (vs. 2015), reflecting a national trend in Guatemala.

Conclusions and Implications: The results of this study show that children have made substantial gains in literacy since FFE implementation, although disparities exist in gains made between K’iche’ and non-K’iche’ children. As a result of this study, CRS is increasing its focus on bilingual education training for teachers, and is conducting a barriers analysis to explore reasons for decreasing school enrollment. Future research should follow children longitudinally to measure changes in literacy alongside program implementation.