Introduction: 

Many low and middle-income countries (63% of lower-middle-income countries, 36% of upper-middle-income countries) experienced a significant rise in domestic food prices.[1] In Egypt, 14.4% of the population face food insecurity as the country ranks 57th out of 121 nations on the 2023 Global Hunger Index, indicating a moderate incidence of hunger.[2] The Country is also navigating challenges with general nutrition and food security due to the heavy reliance on imports (85%) of its staple food (wheat) from volatile foreign markets.[3]

Mothers and children suffer the heavy and long-term consequences of malnutrition and hunger causing deficiencies in early childhood development. With 4% of children under the age of five being underweight and a 13% stunting incidence, making malnutrition among children a compounding issue for Egyptian public health & safety. [4]

Facing this immense challenge and in hopes of supporting the efforts of the Government of Egypt; Sawiris Foundation and partners focus efforts to produce knowledge on what works best in terms of food assistance. Through policy informing research, the Foundation aims to trigger a paradigm shift in nutritional research in Egypt as priorities in research and practice have evolve and unfold. [5]

The General Feeding Program and its Evaluation:

Considering this status-quo, and building on the productive partnerships between the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Egyptian Food Bank’s (EFB) Growth Lab, the launched “General Feeding Program (GFP) Impact Evaluation” and invited participants, keynote speakers, experts and practitioners for the dissemination of the GFP impact evaluation endline results, findings and learnings. The event, titled “Dissemination of the General Feeding Program RCT Results,” was held on July 8, 2024, and communicated important findings, difficulties, and suggestions stemming from the GFP’s rigorous impact evaluation.

Overview of GFP (Intervention, Targeting, box, and awareness components) as presented by Aliaa Ahmed, Growth Lab’s Head and Senior Manager of Program Strategies:

The second sustainable development goal (SDGs) of Zero Hunger[6] insists on eliminating poverty, and it cannot be adopted by one organization, one sector, or one country, due to the complexity of achieving its various targets. The Egyptian Food Bank is an umbrella for almost than 4,000 charitable and community-based organizations across Egypt. These 4000 organizations act as the food bank’s arms to reach the 27 governorates, particularly vulnerable areas, and those most in need.

The Egyptinan Food Bank GFP, one of its longest standing initiatives, assists approximately 120,000 families on average. The primary objectives of the GFP are not only to alleviate hunger and its associated household challenges but also to prevent various non-communicable diseases linked to unhealthy or insufficient diets, such as diabetes, on a monthly, or seasonal basis.

In addition to providing food assistance, the GFP includes an awareness-raising component that utilizes tools like text messages to educate the public about the importance of healthy diets. The program targets diverse groups, including the elderly, people with disabilities, female breadwinners, in addition to humanitarian aid programs for Gazans, Sudanese, and Syrians. Tailored interventions are designed to address the specific needs of each group, with 40% of these interventions focused on female breadwinners.

Opening Remarks:

During his opening remarks Mohsen Sarhan, CEO of the EFB thanked all parties for the intervention efforts to reduce multidimensional poverty in Egypt. Mentioning the importance of evidence-based projects and evaluations. Notably, Mr. Sarhan also announced the launch of a specialized unit for advocacy and dissemination of scientific research and projects implemented by EFB.

Touching upon the huge gains in knowledge and charted paths forward in food assistance programs Sikandra Kurdi, country program leader (IFPRI) asserted that; Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) will not only provide evidence for the Egyptian food bank itself to decide in making the best decisions about their programs, but also probing further into distinguishing between the types and items of the food distributed.

Mays Abou Hegab, Deputy Executive Director of (SFSD) expressed her satisfaction with the study’s outcomes, highlighting it as one of the largest impact assessment studies in the Egyptian development community. She asserted the foundation’s strong interest in building partnerships based on the use and generation of scientific evidence that improves the practice of various stakeholders involved in development programs targeting the most vulnerable families.

Expert Panels: 

In a panel discussion of Nutrition experts and practitioners moderated by Hanan El-Khayal Principal Social Empowerment Officer at SFSD, the motivations for such a study were explored and commented upon by lead experts and practitioners;

As explained by Mr. Sarhan, the Egyptian Food Bank’s journey to target the direct nutritional needs and trace the effects of their programs has been a remarkable scientific journey assimilated to the medical process of prescribing remedies or medicine to any physical ailments.

The Ethos of development work among Egypt’s civil society has long been developing along traditional strategies towards social protection and poverty reduction. As a grant making organization, Dr. Mohammed ElKarmany the Director of Learning & Strategy at SFSD asserted; the foundations’ sponsorship of evidence based developmental practice, and backing this by innovative funding decisions that enables the mainstreaming of this rigorous and scientific developmental practice.

On another note, Dr. Sahar Zaghloul, Professor Emeritus, National Nutrition Institute (NNI) shed light on the necessary role of qualitative research to have a deeper understanding of findings and beneficiary perceptions, beliefs, and motivations.

Congratulating the participating, entities, Dr. Ahmed Elsayed Executive Director of the Abdullatif Jameel Poverty Action Lab in the Middle East and North Africa (J-PAL MENA) remarked with his admiration of all parties that are concerned with the production & dissemination of the GFP evaluation, as well as rigorous scientific research in the Egyptian development ecosystem.

Lessons from the GFP Evaluation[7]:

An impact evaluation study conducted by IFPRI compared the impacts of a staple food box and a more nutritious and a micronutrient-rich food assistance box (with and without messaging) for female breadwinners with a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of households associated with the nutrition indicators of Calorie Intake, Dietary Diversity, and Food Insecurity Experience reveals key insights:

• Nutritious Food Box had a more pronounced impact on food security and nutrition for lower-income households.

• Staple Food Box had a more complex effect on food security, yielding benefits primarily for households with higher education levels but lower income from work.

• Households headed by individuals with higher education levels and smaller household sizes benefit from both interventions.

• Boxes have a greater impact on dietary diversity and preference for in-kind donations in rural households compared to urban households.

• Messaging interventions were successful in increasing nutritional awareness across all categories of messages, resulting in a notable impact on reported practices, particularly related to food safety.

• Machine Learning (ML) algorithms can identify specific household characteristics that are strongly associated with high treatment effects, ML can help in predicting the most effective criteria to target food aid programs. [8]

Concluding Remarks:

Sawiris Foundation for Social Development celebrates reaching the endline and harvesting learnings from years of hard work to reach this crucial milestone. This study directs SFSD and its partners towards tailored (to various beneficiary groups) food assistance boxes and emphasizes a stronger focus on messaging and the information shared with food packages as a catalyst to enhancing food assistance interventions.

Empowering vulnerable communities through nutrition education is a key intervention that provides households with the knowledge and skills to make better more informed decisions about their families’ diets. This could take the form of training on healthy eating habits, food preparation techniques, and nutrition planning, enabling better health conditions and well-being for marginalized households.

In conclusion of this noble effort, Sawiris Foundation calls on partners to utilize these crucial insights to reducing multidimensional poverty. The Foundation advocates for increased efficiency in fund allocation achieving cost effectiveness of development programs. Finally, we affirm our commitment to scientific frameworks to base fiscal decisions geared towards eliminating poverty. A necessity, if not the only way forward for effective developmental practice in Egypt.

You can watch the full recording of the event via the following link: https://youtu.be/6HyvyDI4sLY