Field review of the PL-480 Title II program in the Dominican Republic : final report

480 Title II program implemented by CARE in the Dominican Republic. CARE has made a major commitment over the past few years to improve and expand the Title II program. In 1982 an evaluation and audit of the program were performed, and USAID/DR, CARE, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and Church World Services (CWS) were required to take measures to improve the program. CRS and CWS actually opted to phase out of the program, while CARE decided to take action to improve its efforts. Nonetheless, many of today's program deficiencies are similar to those found in the earlier review. That is not to say that the Title II program has not gone through changes. Quite the opposite is true. However, the problem remains that Title II beneficiaries are still receiving food without receiving educational messages, and in fact some families are so used to receiving Title II foods that they ask why they continue to receive such small portions. CARE and its counterparts should not be content with how the Title II program is being run and should be further challenged to use Title II foods in a development sense, thereby making an impact on beneficiaries. Maternal/Child Health (MCH), Other Child Health, and Preschool and School Meal Programs should utilize Title II foods as a valuable food supplement, but also as an incentive to parents to send/take children to preschool and primary schools, to child recuperation centers, to day care centers and to MCH programs. Once in the grasp of the program, parents and/or beneficiaries should receive nutrition education and other educational orientations to help them improve their lifestyles. In MCH programs, beneficiaries should be graduated from programs, not because they reached an age that excludes them from the program, but because children recover from a state of malnutrition due to a combination of food supplementation and educational interventions. Ideally, interventions should provide parents with enough learning opportunities so that children (upon leaving the program) do not fall back into a state of malnutrition. Furthermore, parents should be happy that children no longer need food supplementation and have gained knowledge to utilize more locally available foods for home consumption. In Preschool and School Meal Programs, records should reflect an increase in school attendance. If food commodities are being prepared, we can assume that more parents will see that children attend facilities to be assured that they get at least one good meal that day. However, if attendance records are not accurately kept, program impact cannot be determined. Further, teachers should be able to detect, immediately, the impact food rations can have on children's ability to learn. Children should be more alert and active in food supplemented school and preschool feeding programs.