The Eradication of Absolute Poverty (EAP) Programme is an integrated development project within identified pockets of poverty. Financial provision in the budget speech 2008/2009) had been made to ensure that
(i) all poor children of pre-primary school going age, attend school
(ii) these children are provided with decent lunch
(iii) parents are trained to get a decent job with sustainable income
(iv) social problems are dealt with
(v) there is training in life skills management for parents and children, and adequate infrastructure to those needing it.
The EAP programme is being implemented by a consortium involving government, private sector, Non Governmental Organising, socio-cultural organizations, corporate sectors among others. To date, about 819 pre-primary school children are benefiting from the EAP Programme. After almost 20 months of implementation, it would be relevant to assess the status the project with respect to the provision of a decent lunch. This study particularly focuses on the evaluation of the aspect of "Provision of decent lunch", where both the quality and safety of the lunch provided will be assessed. This study aims at getting a better understanding of the administrative, nutritional and safety aspects of the daily lunch provision project.
The specific objectives of the study are to:
Determine mechanism of lunch provision under the EAP programme to pre-primary school children
Determine the types of meals provided and qualitatively assess their nutritional adequacy
Assess nutritional knowledge of the caterers.
Assess the hygienic practices associated and knowledge on food preparation and handling
Identify any constraints in the implementation of the provision of daily lunch project
Develop and run a sho11 (5-6 hours) duration training programme on "Preparation of safe and healthy food for preschool children" for the food providers
Assess the impact of the training programme on the knowledge and attitude of the food providers in nutrition and food safety.