Guides for Focus Groups for School Feeding Program

Below are the guides used for the 16 focus groups conducting with parents, teachers, school directors and students concerning WFP & MENFP local procurement school feeding pilot program.

Focus Group Guide for Organization Members: A

With whom do you most often sell you produce? How do you sell?

Is it you personally who sells direct with the OPA?

When you do not sell with the OPA, where do you sell? With whom? What role does your husband/wife play?

Exactly how does the market chain work?

How many people producer per year? Per harvest? Corn? Millet? Beans?

What is the biggest crop in the area?

Do the OPA really have a use for the farmers?

Do you get a better price with the OPA?

How do you decide the price? Who decides the price? Does the OPA pay more? Less?

When selling local, do you sell with the Madan Sara. Who makes the price…?

Does your OPA ever take the produce to PaP? Why not?

Estimate how many farmers are in your OPA that participate in the program.

How do they invest in agriculture? Borrowing? Most costly aspects of farming investment?

Where do you get seeds? What do you plant when you do not find seeds?

Has the project created new opportunities?

How do you see the school feeding programs….

Focus Group Guide for Parents

PAGE 1

Does everyone here have children in primary school, one that has a canteen.
How do you see the school feeding program? Is it working well?
Did the canteen function well all last year?
What problems did you have?
Did all the children get fed?
- Why yes?
- Why no?
Do you have to pay fees? Why? Why Not?
What happens if you do not pay?
Is it fair?

Do you ever give wood? Do you help in the kitchen?
Does the dicretor pay a salary?
Is it fair? Not fair?

Do other parents pay?

And when even though there is a canteen, do you still feed the children food before they go to school?
When the children eat at school, does that mean you still feed in the afternoon when they come home in the afternoon?
When the canteen functions, what value would you esimate thatit has for the children in house?
That means you save how much money per day?

Is the food they give always salt-food?
Is it necessary to give salt-food?
- Why? Especially, if children eat salt-food at home before they leave, why can’t they give a sweet food at school?

Parent Focus Group: PAGE 2

If you do not give a child salt-food first thing in the morning, what will happen to the child.
How can this be avoided? If you give a little salt-food, after that you can give a food that is not salt-food…. Give and example.
If there is only sweet-food to give in the morning, is it better than no food at all, or better that you don’t eat at all?

What food do you think is best for children?
Is cooked food necessary? Cold food could feed more children… It would be better price, easier to prepare.

Do you know where the school food comes from? Do you know it’s local?
Do you agree?
Would you rather eat imported food? Why? Why not?
If the program wanted to buy from the area of the school, what would you recommend they do?

How do you see your role in the school? What should a parent do to help the school?
Do you feel like you have rights in the program? Obligations?
Is the school director easy to approach? Do you have any influence over him?
If you had a problem with the school directory, what would you do to fix the problem?
Would a complaint system based on SMS work? For example, if WFP put a system where parents could send and SMS, would people us it?

A question about rural teachers: do they really get paid?
How much per month?
If the directors make almost no money, how is it that they pay teachers?
Why don’ the teachers go work in the town or city? Why do they continue to teach? Why do they stay in countryside?

GUIDE FOR FOCUS GROUPS FOR MEMBERS OF FARMER ORGANZATION (SALAGNAC)

Do you still sell with ROPANIP?
Do you make more money when you sell with ROPANIP or with other people or in the market? Who decides the price? Do they ever try to drive the price down?
Is the price good?
Explain how the market chain works. Do they sell in the market or at home?
Has the system of sales with ROPANIP changed in the past 4 months?
Could you do ok without ROPANIP?
Do you understand the WFP school feeding program? What objectives does it have?

Are there school around here that have feeding program/canteen?
If yes, does anyone have children in one of the school?
Is it always salt-food?
Is salt-food necessary?
Why?
Is it necessary to give salt-food?
- Why? Especially, if children eat salt-food at home before they leave, why can’t they give a sweet food at school?
If you do not give a child salt-food first thing in the morning, what will happen to the child.
How can this be avoided? If you give a little salt-food, after that you can give a food that is not salt-food…. Give and example.
If there is only sweet-food to give in the morning, is it better than no food at all, or better that you don’t eat at all?
What food do you think is best for children?
Is cooked food necessary? Cold food could feed more children… It would be better price, easier to prepare.

Focus Group Guide A: For Members of Farmer Organzation (Between Ti Twou and Petit Rivye)

What is the main crop in the area?
Who is the main buyer? Do they personally sell to the association?
When they do not sell wot the association, how do they sell? With whom? Where? Role of wives/women?
Do they sell with ROPANIP?
How many people in the association/area sell with ROPANIP?
Explain how the market chain works. Do they sell in the market or at home?
Has the system of sales with ROPANIP changed in the past 4 months?
Could you do ok without ROPANIP?
Does the association send produce to sell in Port-au-Prince or any other place to sell?
Who takes the produce to market?
Where do they get seeds? If they do not find seeds, what do they plant?
What is the most expensive aspects of production?
Does the WFP canteen program create new opportunities?
Do they understand WFP program? What objectives does it have?

Are there school around here that have feeding program/canteen?
If yes, does anyone have children in one of the school?
Is it always salt-food?
Is salt-food necessary?
Why?
Is it necessary to give salt-food?
- Why? Especially, if children eat salt-food at home before they leave, why can’t they give a sweet food at school?
If you do not give a child salt-food first thing in the morning, what will happen to the child.
How can this be avoided? If you give a little salt-food, after that you can give a food that is not salt-food…. Give and example.
If there is only sweet-food to give in the morning, is it better than no food at all, or better that you don’t eat at all?
What food do you think is best for children?
Is cooked food necessary? Cold food could feed more children… It would be better price, easier to prepare.

Focus Group Guide B: For Members of Farmer Organzation

What kind of garden do you make?
How frequently do you harvest?
How do you sell the harvest?
Where do you sell the harvest?
Who sells the harvest?
Why don’t you plant other crops in place of what you plant?
Do you plant with the market in mind or because that is what grow best….?
Biggest problems with crops
System to work the land (where they find credit, tool, labor…)
Do they live where they plant?
On what crops do you put fertilizer?
How do you buy fertilizer? Seeds?
Do you sharecrop?
Do you know the canteen program?
Problems you see with the canteen program
Would you sell to the program? Why? Why not?
Importance of eating local crops?
What local foods should they give children?

Male Farmers not in Association

What do you most often plant?
What crops do you have in the garden all the time?
What produce can you find all the time in the market? (include fruits)
What is the cheapest foods in the market (for example, If you only had 50 goudand you needed to feed the house, what food would you purchase?_
What do you harvest per season in abundance/at once
What seasons?
If someone bought from you, rather than in the market, what is the price difference?

Who sells the harvest?
Could you sell without your wife?

Would you sell to a local school?
Would you deliver the food to the school?
Who would carry the food to the school: man or woman?

Have you heard of the school canteen?
Have you heard of WFP programs?

What do you think would be the best mean to find food for the school canteen?
How much do you think it should cost to feed each child?
According to you, what food do you prefer?
Is local food better than imported food?

Let’s change the subject and speak about associations
Do you think they’re effective?
Do they really use/share the assistance they get? Why yes? Why no?
Would it be effective to use them for give supply schools? Why yes? Why no?

Traders

(Do not return and interview women who were in the last 2 focus groups. Choose 5 women traders who live near to the schools. It would be good if they are parents of children in the school, but what is most important is that they live in the area of the school and that they are really professional traders.)

Do you harvest?
For whom? (husband, son, brother, father…)
Times they harvest per year
Products?
Where they sell? To whom?
Do they sell other products?
Where? to whom?
Do they loan money?
Do they take merchandise on credit?
Do they process food? Transport? Store?
What do men do in all of the above?
Compare women to men in terms of competence (harvesting, processing, storing, transport, selling, preparing and cooking food)

Are they aware of the canteen program?
Do they have children/grand children in the program
How would they sell to/buy for the program
What would be the best way, meaning who would they get the best price, where would they buy (market or as a sara)? Would they go to people or have people come to them?
Would they buy gardens? Is the price better?
How would they structure the program?
Explore catering vs. marking food at the school. Which would be the best price? Could catering work?
If they were making decisions, which foods would they prefer to give the children?
Opinions on sweet vs salty foods.
Would they feed akasan? Bonbon?
For how much do they think they could feed each child? Which food would be cheapest?

Children

(Sit with each child and make a list of food they prefer in the morning

What grade are you all in?
What do your parents feed you before school?
What do you most like to eat in the morning before school?
Sweet vs. Salt-food, what do you like most?
Do your parents give you money to buy snacks at school?
What do you buy at school with the money?
What snacks do you most like?
Do you eat cookies? What kind? Explore favorite foods.
Opinions on local vs. imported foods
Do your parents ever give you food to take to school?

Does the school feed you?
What do they feed you?
Do you like it?
What do you most like?
What do you least like?
Do you get food daily?
Is there ever days the school does not feed you at all?

Do they ever send you home for not paying fees?
Explore fees

What do you prefer: School vs home food
Is the food given at school enough?
Do they give equal portions?
What other foods would you like them to give?
Would you like cold foods?
Explore sweet vs salt foods
Favortite foods

What do you eat when you get home in the afternoon?
Do you ever dig sweet potatoes or other foods in the gardens?
Do you ever feel hungry?
When are you hungriest?
What work do you do around the house/garden…