Liberia Empowerment Through Attendance, Reading, and Nutrition (LEARN) Endline Report

Liberia Empowerment Through Attendance, Reading, and Nutrition (LEARN) is a 5-year program (2017–2022) funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition program (McGovern-Dole). Save the Children (SC) is leading the implementation of LEARN in partnership with SC Liberia, Mercy Corps (MC), and government partners, including the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Health. LEARN aims to reach 132,780 direct beneficiaries, 60,164 of whom (students) are expected to receive meals through school feeding activities in a total of 220 schools recruited in two cohorts of schools across four counties: Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Rivercess, and River Gee. Both cohorts of schools, which started receiving the same program activities in the 2018–2019 school year, aim to achieve the McGovern-Dole objectives in a similar manner.

LEARN program activities are designed to achieve USDA’s two strategic objectives: (a) improve the literacy of school-age children by enhancing the quality of instruction and increasing student attentiveness and attendance through provision of school meals and take-home rations and (b) increase the use of health and dietary practices by enhancing the knowledge of health, nutrition, and hygiene best practices; upgrading sanitation facilities; and improving food safety and storage systems.

SC selected the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to design and conduct the project and impact evaluations of the LEARN project from 2018 to 2022. The endline evaluation, which is the focus of this report, examines the relevance and effectiveness of the interventions, measures the progress of LEARN implementation across all four targeted counties, determines whether the project met its desired objectives, and provides lessons learned and recommendations for consideration in planning future projects.