The Impact of Food for Education Programs on School Participation in Northern Uganda

The Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education is one that has attracted considerable interest, in part because it can be addressed, at least nominally, directly through education policy. Many developing country governments have moved to eliminate primary school fees and institute a policy of universal primary education in the past decade. Food for education (FFE) programs are generally considered to be effective at increasing school participation. A large body of research supports this view, though estimates of the size of the effect differ considerably by context. The ambiguity regarding FFE effects on school participation weakens support for new FFE initiatives because these programs can be relatively expensive to operate. The two FFE programs of interest are an in-school feeding program (SFP) and a take-home rations (THR) program conditional on school attendance. By directly comparing SFP and THR programs operating in the same context in Northern Uganda, this study helps to explain which components of FFE programs are most vital to improving school participation.