Austerity is impeding children’s education: A qualitative study of the associations of food insecurity and school engagement in Ghana

Abstract

The latest round of fiscal austerity in Ghana has meant that the feeding rate paid to the service providers of Ghana’s school feeding programme is both frozen and unrealistically low. Accordingly, service providers adopt discretionary coping strategies. This qualitative case study, therefore, explores the impacts of austerity on children’s school engagement. Relying on semi-structured interviews with school children in two public primary schools, as well as two focus group discussions with the teachers in both schools, the study shows how the discretionary coping strategies adopted by the service providers impact school children’s food security, which might lead to disinterest in classroom activities and increases in absenteeism and truancy.

Financial inclusion and food insecurity: Examining linkages and potential pathways

“…Between 2019 and 2020 Africa recorded about 46 million more people being hungry but in all parts of the world, the prevalence of food insecurity is higher among women than men (FAO et al, 2021). Food insecurity harms health and wellbeing (Gundersen & Ziliak, 2015; Weaver et al, 2021), children's school engagement learning outcomes (Johnson & Markowitz, 2018; Mohammed, 2021), labor productivity and wage earnings (Mishra & Rampal, 2020) and other welfare outcomes (Johnson & Markowitz, 2018; Weaver et al, 2021). To achieve zero hunger, an in‐depth context‐specific situation analysis by FAO et al (2021) point to six broad key elements of a portfolio of policy measures and investments which include the promotion of peace to avoid conflict, scaling up climate resilience, strengthening economic resilience, reducing cost of nutritious food, addressing poverty and inequality, and shifting toward sustainable consumption patterns.…”

Financial Inclusion and Food Insecurity: Examining Linkages and Potential Pathways

“…Between 2019 and 2020 Africa recorded about 46 million more people being hungry but in all parts of the world, the prevalence of food insecurity is higher among women than men (FAO et al, 2021). Food insecurity harms health and wellbeing (Gundersen & Ziliak, 2015;Weaver et al, 2021), children's school engagement learning outcomes (Johnson & Markowitz, 2018;Mohammed, 2021), labor productivity and wage earnings (Mishra & Rampal, 2020) and other welfare outcomes (Johnson & Markowitz, 2018;Weaver et al, 2021). To achieve zero hunger, an in-depth context-specific situation analysis by FAO et al (2021) point to six broad key elements of a portfolio of policy measures and investments which include the promotion of peace to avoid conflict, scaling up climate resilience, strengthening economic resilience, reducing cost of nutritious food, addressing poverty and inequality, and shifting toward sustainable consumption patterns.…”