WFP Pakistan is implementing a school meals project in two districts (Malir and Keamari) of the Karachi Division in Sindh Province from 2026 to 2030. The project is funded with USD 40 million from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) McGovernDole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. In addition to school meal provision, the project includes complementary and system-strengthening support in four areas: (i) literacy programming, (ii) school health, nutrition and WASH, (iii) meal delivery infrastructure, and (iv) government capacity strengthening. It expects to reach approximately 100,000 (pre-)primary students in more than 600 schools.
WFP Pakistan has commissioned a baseline study (2026), midterm evaluation (2028), and endline evaluation (2030) of the project. The midterm and endline evaluations would be implemented by the same contractor consortium based on satisfactory performance in the baseline. The evaluation series will cover the period from December 2025 to December 2030. Covering the evaluation criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability, it aims to assess the performance of the project and related activities. It will serve both accountability and learning to measure and understand the effectiveness of the project in improving enrolment, attendance, literacy, health and nutrition of primary school students in government schools. It is also expected to enable WFP to strengthen implementation, document lessons learned and develop key operational procedures and guidelines along with the Sindh Education and Literacy Department to expand school meals across the province.
The evaluation will adopt an integrated mixed methods design that combines a quasi-experimental (difference-in differences) impact framework with theory-based qualitative enquiry. The quantitative component will estimate changes in outcomes and performance indicators over time and, at endline, it will identify program effects using a comparison group. The proposed sample comprises a survey with 300 schools at baseline and endline, with 12 students per school (survey of 3,600 households and students per wave). The qualitative component will contribute to the assessment of all six evaluation criteria (through document review, key informant interviews at all schools, and focus group discussions in schools).