Evaluation of The School Nutrition Program

Evaluation of the School Nutrition Program
Final Report
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
October 2011
This report contains 114 pages
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Evaluation of the School Nutrition Program October 2011
Disclaimer
Inherent Limitations This report has been prepared as outlined in the Scope Section. The services provided in connection with this engagement comprise an advisory engagement, which is not subject to assurance or other standards issued by the Australian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and, consequently no opinions or conclusions intended to convey assurance have been expressed. The findings in this report are based on a qualitative study and the reported results reflect a perception of relevant stakeholders but only to the extent of the sample representative sample of stakeholders. Any projection to the wider stakeholders is subject to the level of bias in the method of sample selection. No warranty of completeness, accuracy or reliability is given in relation to the statements and representations made by, and the information and documentation provided by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and stakeholders consulted as part of the process. KPMG have indicated within this report the sources of the information provided. We have not sought to independently verify those sources unless otherwise noted within the report. KPMG is under no obligation in any circumstance to update this report, in either oral or written form, for events occurring after the report has been issued in final form. The findings in this report have been formed on the above basis. Third Party Reliance This report is solely for the purpose set out in the Scope Section and for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations information, and is not to be used for any other purpose or distributed to any other party without KPMGs prior written consent. This report has been prepared at the request of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations in accordance with the terms of KPMGs engagement letter/contract dated 21st June 2011. Other than our responsibility to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, neither KPMG nor any member or employee of KPMG undertakes responsibility arising in any way from reliance placed by a third party on this report. Any reliance placed is that partys sole responsibility.
Acknowledgements KPMG would like to acknowledge and thank those who contributed their time and input into the evaluation of the School Nutrition Program (Northern Territory). This includes representatives from Providers and their staff, Schools, Health Clinics and other community based and Government agencies. Appreciation is extended to parents and other local people who met with members of KPMG teams during the field visits to 12 indigenous communities in August 2011, who shared information and their experiences and helped support the evaluation. KPMG would also like to acknowledge the support and contributions of the DEEWR NT and regional officers.
ii
Acronyms
Acronym ACT AIDS CDEP DEEWR DoHA EWA FaHCSIA FTE IM KPIs NAPLAN NATSINSAP NFSI NSLP NSW NSWSCA NT NTER OOSH Australian Capital Territory Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Community Development Employment Program Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Department of Health and Ageing National Public Health Partnership's Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan - Eat Well Australia, 2000-2010 Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Full-Time Equivalent Income Management Key Performance Indicators National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan 2000-2010 Nutrition Friendly Schools Initiative The National School Lunch Program New South Wales New South Wales School Canteen Association Northern Territory Northern Territory Emergency Response Out of School Hours iii Definitions
PANOSH RDA RIST SA SBP SNAC SNP TPO TSCA UK UNICEF WfD WHO
Physical Activity and Nutrition Outside School Hours Recommended Dietary Allowance Remote Indigenous Stores and Takeaways South Australia School Breakfast Program School Nutrition Action Coalition School Nutrition Program (NT) Third Party Organisation Tasmanian School Canteen Association United Kingdom United Nations Children's Fund Work for the Dole World Health Organisation
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Contents
Acronyms Executive Summary 1. Introduction
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Background Evaluation terms of reference Evaluation scope, methodology and governance Limitations Structure of this report Program activities Program administration and management Program funding Performance reporting and measurement The international context The Australian context
iii 1 4
4 5 5 6 7
2.
SNP program design and delivery

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6
8
8 9 10 13 15 23
3. 4.
The Evaluation Approach Evaluation findings Education

4.1 Contribution of the SNP to improvements in school enrolment, attendance, engagement and retention 4.2 Has the SNP supported greater parental involvement in schools? 4.3 Summary
26 30
30 40 41
5.
Evaluation findings - Employment and training

5.1 Is the SNP providing employment opportunities for local Indigenous people? 5.2 Has the SNP contributed to increasing the number of local Indigenous people who are work ready?
43
43 46
6.
Evaluation findings Health

6.1 Has the SNP helped build the skills of parents in preparing and providing nutritious meals to their children and families? 6.2 Has the SNP provided opportunities to improve nutritional awareness and education in schools? 6.3 Has the SNP contributed to an improvement in the health status of students? 6.4 Summary
50
50 51 52 56
v
7.
Evaluation findings Funding model and service delivery arrangements

7.1 Are the program governance, administration and funding arrangement supporting achievement of the aims? 7.2 Summary
58
58 66
8.
Sustainability
8.1 Is the program sustainable and what are the future directions of the program?
68
68
9. 10.
Next steps
9.1 Issues for consideration
72
72
Recommendations
10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Program administration Performance management and data Community and parent level Interagency collaboration Local Indigenous enterprises
76
76 76 77 77 78
11. A B C D E F
Conclusion List of consultations Summary of other jurisdictions Program Guidelines Performance data and reporting limitations Survey Indigenous Enterprise Development Critical Factors
79 80 81 88 89 92 106
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Executive Summary
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) engaged KPMG in June 2011 to conduct an evaluation of the School Nutrition Program (SNP). The SNP was introduced in 2007 as part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) to address overall poor enrolment and attendance at schools in Indigenous communities. SNP is a well established program across 67 schools in the Northern Territory (NT). This presents a solid platform from which Government and communities can build other health and education initiatives, as well as increase avenues for local employment for community members. Currently, there are 41 SNP providers in 67 schools across 68 prescribed communities and three town camps (prescribed communities are those subject to the NTER provisions). The program is underpinned by a principle of mutual obligation which sees DEEWR funding staff salaries, overheads and operating expenses, with the cost of meals funded by parental contributions, which are paid via Centrelink income management (IM) or direct contributions to providers. Contribute to improved school attendance and help with learning and engagement in education Provide employment opportunities for local Indigenous people.
There are two levels of program goals currently for the SNP. The primary goals are to:
Secondary goals relate to increasing parental and community involvement in schools, providing local employment and micro enterprise opportunities to local members of the community as well as improving child health. Program evaluation The evaluation involved an extensive consultation process and secondary analysis of program information and data. Key methods included: Desktop review of relevant national and state school nutrition and related community development strategies, policy and program documentation Analysis of SNP documentation and available performance data Consultations with stakeholders in 12 prescribed communities and five government agencies An electronic survey of all SNP providers and NT school principals.
Education The evaluation has found evidence that small steps have been made towards the achievement of the program goals. School enrolment and attendance are influenced by a complex set of family and social factors, which a single program such as the SNP is unlikely to overcome in just four years. Schools and communities have a number of programs and initiatives in place to address education, and it is difficult to attribute change to any one of these programs. While there has been no significant increase in school attendance in the SNP schools since the implementation of the program, there is consistent anecdotal evidence that SNP is having a positive impact on student behaviour and engagement. Parental involvement in schools through the SNP is strongest when the program is delivered at or through the school and parents are employed by the SNP. Employment objectives Employment of local people represents an important way to engage the community in the SNP a key element of good practice identified through the literature scan. A key barrier to employment in Indigenous communities is the availability of a skilled workforce. Local Indigenous people employed through the SNP are primarily undertaking food preparation, serving and cleaning. Opportunities have been provided to local people to be trained in such skills under the SNP, however, this training has not been regularly provided across the SNP. As at 31 January 2011, a total of 177 Indigenous people were employed through the SNP. Health Objectives At a community level, while local Indigenous SNP employees are gaining food preparation skills and greater nutritional awareness, there are few examples of this being spread to the wider community. There are challenges in linking the SNP with other school based nutrition and health initiatives. The SNP aim of improving health status is not being consistently measured, and there is limited reliable data available to inform an assessment of whether or not the health status of children in SNP schools has improved. There is strong anecdotal evidence to suggest that most parents, community members, educators and health providers believe that the SNP has a positive impact on childrens health. Furthermore, the majority of stakeholders agree that cessation or diminution of the program would have a significant negative impact on child health in many communities. Consideration of best practice offers opportunities to increase the impact of the program on building the skills of parents in preparing and providing nutritious meals and improving child health. Funding model and arrangements: The evaluation collected anecdotal evidence that suggests the SNP could not operate in the future without Government funding due to a range of factors including the cost of transporting food, fluctuating parent numbers and children attending school, infrastructure costs and the available workforce. It is difficult to conclude that the current funding arrangements are supporting all of the Program goals given the 2
methods by which current funding is recorded, but it appears that DEEWR is contributing more additional contributions for meals, than that raised from parental contributions to cover meal costs. The sustainability of this arrangement where it appears contributions from community are not covering all meal costs, is a matter for future consideration particularly if mutual obligation principle remains as the major policy driver behind the SNP program. Future program sustainability Since the program commenced, no SNPs have transitioned into micro Indigenous enterprises, or resulted in employees establishing other micro enterprises. In a number of communities, parental contributions are in decline. This presents a risk to the future viability of the program and the ability of DEEWR to transition the services to the community. Further, investigations by categories such as size, location of school and type of SNP Provider found no obvious relationship to the effectiveness of the program in a community. This highlights that there are variables at each community that need to be taken into consideration when implementing the program across many communities. Local economic conditions in some communities may mean that the Indigenous enterprise idea is not the best alternative for long term employment. An assessment of local conditions is the first step in determining whether such a program goal is achievable. The sustainability of the program is dependent on effective community based delivery, integration with other education and health initiatives, community understanding and support, as well as effective program planning, administration and monitoring, so that the SNP can be tailored to meet the needs of local communities. Recommendations The evaluation findings have resulted in sixteen recommendations for Government to consider regarding the future development of the SNP. The recommendations are grouped under themes of: Program administration Performance management and data Community and parent level Interagency collaboration and Local Indigenous Enterprise development.
The recommendations are grouped to assist Government with its decisions regarding the next policy and program steps with the SNP. A full list of the recommendations can be found in Section 11.
1.
Introduction
The School Nutrition Program (SNP) is a breakfast and/or lunch service for school-aged children from remote communities in the Northern Territory (NT). The SNP is an initiative under the Australian Governments Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage initiative and forms part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER). The SNP seeks to contribute to broader efforts to address critical issues around education levels, child health and the development of community capacity. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) engaged KPMG in June 2011 to evaluate the SNP.
1.1
Background
The SNP was established in June 2007 as part of the NTER to the Little Children are Sacred report1. The aim of the NTER is to protect children living in remote communities and town camps in the Northern Territory. Approximately 8,000 children (including 180 non-Indigenous children) are enrolled in 71 schools in the 73 communities prescribed under the NTER with an estimated 2,500 children not attending sufficiently regularly to benefit from their education. Up to a further 2,000 children of school age are estimated not to be enrolled in education.2 The SNP is managed by DEEWR, with over $30 million in funding having been allocated to the program since it began in 2007. DEEWR works with each community to establish and fund SNP providers so they can employ local workers to prepare and deliver the meals, to ensure adequate kitchen facilities and equipment are available, and to support related professional development activity. The primary goals of the SNP are to: Contribute to improved school attendance, better engagement and a reduction in behavioural problems Provide employment opportunities for local Indigenous people.
Secondary goals relate to increasing parental and community involvement in schools, providing local employment and micro enterprise opportunities to local members of the community as well as improving child health. The SNP also aims to provide job opportunities and training for local community members. Currently, there are 41 SNP providers in 67 schools across 68 prescribed communities3.
1 3
http://www.inquirysaac.nt.gov.au/pdf/bipacsa_final_report.pdf, accessed September 2011 Prescribed communities are those subject to the NTER provisions
2 Ibid
SNP funding comes from two sources: DEEWR, which funds staff salaries, overheads and operating costs Parental contributions to cover the cost of meals, which are paid via Centrelink income management (IM) or direct contributions to providers.
Providers are comprised of a mix of contractors including non-government organisations and schools (directly funded).
1.2
Evaluation terms of reference

DEEWR engaged KPMG to examine the effectiveness of the SNP in achieving its primary and secondary goals. The terms of reference for the evaluation were to determine the effectiveness of SNP through an assessment of: Progress toward the achievement of the SNP education objectives Progress toward the achievement of the SNP employment objectives Contribution to the achievement of improved health for children in the prescribed communities Overall effectiveness of the current SNP funding model and arrangements Barriers to effective implementation of SNP objectives Insights to support devolution of responsibility for aspects of SNP to local providers, including the potential to establish micro business enterprises.
1.3
Evaluation scope, methodology and governance

The evaluation considered the period from the programs inception in June 2007 to June 2011.The evaluation was guided by an evaluation framework and included the following methods: Consultations with 12 prescribed communities in the Northern Territory [Central Desert and Arnhem regions of NT) (see Appendix A) Interviews with government and community based stakeholders (see Appendix A) A KPMG survey of school principals and SNP providers (see Appendix E) A literature scan of good practice approaches and similar initiatives and programs in other Australian jurisdictions and internationally (see Appendix B).
The evaluation gave consideration to the: 1. Current SNP program guidelines 2011 2. Performance Audit of the School Nutrition Program Office of Evaluation and Audit Indigenous Programs 2009) 3. Findings of the SNP Stakeholder Survey, DEEWR 5
4. KPMG School Nutrition Program Survey Results 5. DEEWR employment data 6. Northern Territory Department of Education and Training school enrolment and attendance data 7. Centrelink data on Income Management deductions for SNP from welfare payments of parents and carers 8. Northern Territory Department of Health data. The evaluation was overseen by the Director of Strategic Projects, DEEWR NT. The DEEWR Project Manager provided guidance to the KPMG evaluation team throughout the evaluation.
1.4
Limitations
The following limitations on the data collection are noted: Performance reporting data/information There were limitations in the administrative datasets that informed the evaluation of the SNP, including the lack of time series data to enable trend analysis. These limitations primarily relate to accuracy, specificity, completeness and timeliness and are discussed further for each administrative data set in Appendix D. Availability of stakeholders in community The evaluation was limited to 12 sample sites in which face to face field consultations were conducted and, during the time of visit, some stakeholders were not available, and/or declined the request for interview due to other community commitments. Therefore, the information gathered via consultations represents a small sample of views from school principals, SNP providers, health and other community based employees and community members. Survey distribution Electronic online surveys were distributed in August 2011. Follow up emails and telephone calls were made to encourage all recipients to complete the survey. The raw response rate was 62 per cent to the principal survey and 29 per cent to the provider survey. Timeframe of the evaluation The evaluation considered the SNP over the period 2007-2011. The consultation schedule for the evaluation was developed cognisant of the parallel Stronger Future community consultations led by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) in the NT throughout July and August 2011. In some communities, the impact of hosting consultations prior to the SNP consultations resulted in some stakeholders feeling over consulted, leading to a reduced level of willingness to participate in the SNP evaluation.
1.5
Structure of this report

This report summarises the evaluation findings and synthesises those findings to: Consider the key achievements and outcomes of the SNP against the program goals Make recommendations for future directions of the program.
The report is structured as follows:

Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Section 10 Section 11 Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E Appendix F Introduction SNP program design and delivery Program context Evaluation findings Education Evaluation findings - Employment and training Evaluation findings Health Evaluation findings Funding model and service delivery arrangements Sustainability Next steps Recommendations Conclusion List of consultations Summary of other jurisdictions Program Guidelines Performance data and reporting limitations Survey Indigenous Enterprise Development Critical Factors
2.
SNP program design and delivery

This chapter describes the design and delivery arrangements for the SNP. It also describes program activity based on DEEWR performance data.
2.1
Program activities
The primary goals of the SNP are to: Contribute to improved school attendance and help with learning and engagement in education Provide employment opportunities for local Indigenous people.
Secondary goals relate to increasing parental and community involvement in schools, providing local employment and micro enterprise opportunities to local members of the community as well as improving child health. The SNP provides mainly breakfast and/or lunch, and sometimes afternoon tea and other meals, to all Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal school-aged students enrolled and attending school in up to 73 prescribed communities in the NT. Each SNP site is customised to the community, with the program delivery developed to take account of local needs and arrangements.4 Children may either have the meals at the school premises, or their parent / carer can collect meals from the provider to bring to their child at school or to take back to the home when the child is absent from the school due to illness. Employment roles within the SNP include: supervisors, breakfast and lunch coordinators, part-time assistants, administrative assistants, store-persons, volunteers and cleaners. Under the Program Guidelines, experienced external supervisors may be contracted to oversee and coordinate the delivery of the program, and manage financial and reporting components.5 All SNP employees are subject to a Northern Territory Police Criminal History Check.6
2.1.1
Service delivery outcomes

As at 28 February 2011, there were a total of 7,694 meals served daily to approximately 4,800 attending students. This comprised 3,183 breakfasts and 4,511 lunches.7 There were also over 4,000 morning or afternoon teas provided to the children each day.8 These figures are similar to those reported in the Closing the Gap Monitoring Reports for June and December 2010. The program figures provide an insight into the scale of the service delivery of the SNP on any given school day.
4 5
Administrative Guidelines Administrative Guidelines 6 Administrative Guidelines 7 SNP Fact Sheet 8 SNP Fact Sheet
2.2
Program administration and management

While the SNP contracts are administered by DEEWR, Centrelink administers the arrangements and collections for the parental contributions. Under the Program Guidelines, the development and implementation of a SNP in a community must involve local Indigenous communities from the outset, with active collaboration from DEEWR and SNP providers.9 SNP providers must work closely with Iocal community and Indigenous people to support their employment and engagement with the SNP.10,11 DEEWR receive enrolment and attendance data from NT Department of Education and Training and parental contributions data from Centrelink. This data informs DEEWRs funding arrangements with each provider.
2.2.1
DEEWR program staffing

Centrally, one FTE staff member manages the program. This position liaises regularly with DEEWR Regional Directors and contract managers for the four DEEWR regions across the Territory. The central management position is responsible for: Coordination and implementation of the program from central office Overseeing development of all service agreements, funding requests and decisions Compiling information about the program for reports and briefings Representing the agency at inter and intra departmental meetings Providing advice about Program guidelines and updating/interpreting as required Liaising with regional field staff and providers as required.
The regional contract managers are responsible for the day to day implementation of the service agreements. The contract managers also administer contracts for other DEEWR initiatives oversee the selection of providers, receive quarterly reports, and help assess applications for training and facilities upgrades and maintenance.
2.2.2
SNP providers
For the funding period 1 January 2011 to 30 June 2012, there are 41 contracted SNP providers in 67 schools, and these are located within 68 of the 73 NTER prescribed communities.12 The SNP is not delivered in Town Camps, outstations or homelands in the NT13, Under the program guidelines, providers must:
9
Provide an accessible and appropriate venue for children to have their meals Ensure dietary requirement alternatives are available to school children
Administrative Guidelines Administrative Guidelines 11 It is noted that there are conditions for Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) or Work for the Dole (WfD) participants, and work experience placements (WEP). 12 SNP Fact Sheet 13 Administrative Guidelines
10
Follow the Northern Territory School Canteen Guidelines 2006 nutrition guidelines at a minimum.
Providers must meet administrative and compliance requirements, including ensuring that all specified insurances and privacy obligations and processes are in accordance with the Funding Agreement. Relevant legislation and standards also apply for the preparation, transport, storage and clean-up of food. Providers are subject to Northern Territory and Commonwealth legislation, including provisions for mandatory reporting under the SNP service agreement.
2.2.3
SNP Service Agreement and program guidelines

The SNP Service Agreement sets out the terms and conditions of SNP funding from DEEWR, on behalf of the Commonwealth, for providers delivering the program. The Service Agreement is aligned with the Program Guidelines. The Service Agreement includes program information such as goals, objectives, funding amount, debt recovery, promotion of SNP, banking arrangements, and a list of funded activities, as well as a performance reporting schedule including the performance measures. The Operational / Administrative Guidelines form part of the Funding Agreement. The current program guidelines explain that mutual obligation between parents and the Government is the principle which underpins current funding arrangements.
2.3
Program funding
DEEWR and parents / carers are divided as follows: DEEWR provides the funds for implementation of the SNP which includes staff wages / salaries, infrastructure and service provision Centrelink payment arrangements for parents / carers voluntarily meet the cost of SNP meals for their children. [combine footnotes]14, 15 Direct debit/EFT Parents and carers can have their contributions deducted through their employer or bank Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program participant deductions Parents / carers receiving CDEP payments can arrange for SNP deductions to be made from their CDEP wages.
The table below provides an overview of the total funding that DEEWR has allocated for the SNP since 2007. The funding from DEEWR covers employee and operating costs, as well as funding to meet requests for training and facilities upgrades and maintenance.
14 15
Administrative Guidelines 2011 Administrative Guidelines 2011
10
Table 1: Funding for SNP from 2009 to 2012 Year 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 Total Funding ($m) $5.2m $16.2m $10.3m $31.7m
Source: KPMG adapted from SNP Fact Sheet
Parents are strongly encouraged to participate in the SNP by making a voluntary deduction from Income Management (IM) funds, Centrepay or direct debit. IM is designed to ensure that money provided for the welfare of individuals is spent on priority needs and expenses, while Centrepay is a free direct bill-paying service offered to customers receiving payments from Centrelink. Direct debit involves money being removed from an individuals bank account at specified dates. Data from Centrelink provides information on the number of children whose payments come through either IM or Centrepay. The total of $31.7m in Table 3 does not include parental contributions collected under IM, electronic funds transfer (EFT) and Centrepay. The breakdown of funding and methods by which parents contribute is not available. This information is not collected or reported on by Providers and or DEEWR.
2.3.1
SNP Providers
Funding for each SNP provider is negotiated during the program proposal and assessment process prior to the start of each financial year. This process includes submission of budget and equipment / infrastructure applications.16 The FTE budget for SNP Providers includes:17 One full-time Indigenous School Nutrition Coordinator salary costs set at the base level of NT Administrative Officer Level 2 plus 30 per cent on-costs One part-time (0.5 FTE) Indigenous assistant for every 50 students enrolled (after first 50) salary costs set at the base level of NT Administrative Officer Level 1 plus 30 per cent on-costs.
Equipment and infrastructure purchased through the SNP becomes the property and responsibility of the SNP provider, unless otherwise specified in the Funding Agreement.18
16 17
Administrative Guidelines Administrative Guidelines 18 Administrative Guidelines
11
2.3.2
Parent / carer contributions and reimbursements

Parental payment deductions and contributions are made during 46 weeks of the year, from when the school terms commence and cease. Apart from exceptional circumstances, meal funding contributions cannot be reimbursed to parents or carers. It is expected that parents will ensure meal collection by their child, or seek to cease their payments (or a period of payment) through Centrelink if the meals are not required.19 Re-direction of payment to an alternative SNP provider is coordinated by Centrelink should a child and parent move between SNP provider communities. Appeals processes and mechanisms are available to IM Centrelink customers regarding the administration of their contributions.20 The amount that a parent or parents contribute to SNP varies between community and according to the number of children. The evaluation was advised that the current range of parental contributions is between $20 and $35 per week.
Income Management
Under the program guidelines all eligible children will be provided with a meal when attending school, and parents and carers are strongly encouraged to make voluntary contributions towards the cost of meals for each of their children.21 As described above, this has been managed through the IM scheme as part of the NTER, as well as through Centrepay and / or cash (direct debit) contributions.22 SNP providers have a bank account for the sole purpose of accounting for and administering SNP funding, and are registered as IM third party organisations (TPO) for the purpose of receiving IM funding.23 IM is an arrangement that ensures that spending on life essentials, and in the best interests of children, are met through the compulsory income management of 50 per cent of an individuals income support and family assistance payments.24 Individuals can choose to make payments to the SNP either as part of the 50 per cent managed income amount, or as part of the remaining non-income managed components of their Centrelink benefit. In situations where Centrelink identifies that a parents or carers children are not receiving breakfast or lunch meals at home, and they are not already making an SNP contribution, they may have a SNP payment automatically deducted from the 50 per cent income managed component of their income as part of income management. 25
19 20
Administrative Guidelines Administrative Guidelines 21 SNP Fact Sheet 22 Administrative Guidelines 23 Administrative Guidelines 24 Administrative Guidelines 25 As directed by the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth)
12
2.3.3
Meal expenditure determination

Under the program guidelines, the cost allocation for meals was negotiated and agreed between providers and DEEWR at no more than $35 per child per week.26 This value is determined according to the local community economy and number of meals provided, and takes into consideration the notional attendance rate and absenteeism effects on meals.27 Providers are expected to provide high quality meals at minimal cost.28 In line with this, the maximum contribution that parents can be charged is $35 per child per week.29 The program guidelines state that where providers receive an excess of contributions from parents and carers over the actual cost of meals and / or their expected contribution, that providers and DEEWR will work together to either reduce the expected contribution amount, or find relevant alternative uses for the excess. The management of unspent funding is determined by DEEWR, for re-allocation to program-related purposes.30
2.4
Performance reporting and measurement

Performance reporting and measurement of the SNP are a key component in the funding agreement and operational guidelines, and are set against the key aims of the SNP. A set of key performance indicators (KPIs) have been developed for Providers as a tool when measuring the SNP, and are based on a set of streamlined indicators developed more broadly for Indigenous programs.31 With consideration of extraneous factors, the following questions form the basis of performance measurement: How much needs to be done? How well does it need to be done? Did it achieve what we expected?
The KPIs for the SNP are:32 KPI 1 Target KPI 2 Target Percentage school days meals are provided by funded activity 100 per cent of school days each school term Percentage of funded positions filled 60 per cent of funded positions filled each reporting period
26 27
SNP Fact Sheet Administrative Guidelines 28 Administrative Guidelines 29 Administrative Guidelines 30 Administrative Guidelines 31 Operational Guidelines 32 Administrative Guidelines 2011
13
KPI 3 Target
Project manager rating of the quality of the outcomes of the agreed activities Rating of 5 on a scale of 1-5, where 5 = excellent and 1 = inadequate
Performance and financial reporting

SNP providers are required to report against the KPIs, as well as report on their financial expenditure. The two key types of reports and a summary of their requirements are at Appendix C. SNP providers report quarterly. As part of the reports, providers can provide qualitative information outlining additional activities they may have undertaken against the program guidelines. Section 2.3.1 provides details about what DEEWR funding includes. Under program guidelines providers are able to renegotiate annually, with DEEWR, the level of funding per service agreement, as well as submit requests for gap funding when the level of funding raised under parental contributions does not cover all meal costs. The evaluation was advised that the quantum of gap funding a provider may request can fluctuate from school term to school term. Factors that impact on gaps in funding to cover meals include a reduction in parental contributions, rises in the cost of food and services such as transport, and increases in attendance at school on any day. Requests for funding to upgrade facilities, purchase new equipment, or for training, can be submitted at any time to DEEWR via the DEEWR Regional Directors and central Program Director. Each request is assessed against its merits and must include at least three quotes. In the event that a provider is left with surplus parental contributions, the program guidelines require the provider to consider engaging parents and community members to discuss the best way to use the funds. Figures regarding the quantum of surplus parental contributions per quarter were not available for this evaluation. Performance assessment and measurement The overall performance assessment of a provider by DEEWR is based on the following:33 evaluation of provider reporting and other program data program evaluation and audit exercises periodic site monitoring visits assessing both compliance as well as allowing support and communication between providers and DEEWR. 34
Enrolment and attendance performance data are received by DEEWR directly from NT Education.35 Centrelink IM reports were also provided and used to develop targeted
33 34
Administrative Guidelines Administrative Guidelines
14
sign-up initiatives with parents in communities in the first year of the SNP. During the initial year (2007-2008) Centrelink offices would visit the communities often and DEEWR had funded field officer positions who assisted Centrelink and the agency to promote the SNP to communities Program context This chapter presents information about school nutrition approaches collated from a literature scan of good practice approaches and similar initiatives and programs in other Australian jurisdictions and internationally. It provides a broad overview of the principles and approaches to school nutrition programs around the world, considers the evidence of outcomes and benefits from similar initiatives in other jurisdictions, and outlines the Australian policy context for the SNP evaluation.
2.5
The international context

Good nutrition is critical to the growth, development and well-being of children. There have been numerous school-based programs and initiatives implemented around the world in developed and developing countries to address the issue of poor nutrition in school aged children. In an analysis of evidence of more than 100 published research articles, a team from Harvard Universitys School of Public Health found that serving breakfast to those school children who dont get it elsewhere significantly improves their cognitive or mental abilities, enabling them to be more alert, pay better attention, and to do better in terms of reading, math and other standardized test scores.36 In particular, the study highlighted the following benefits which showed demonstrable improvement in students in the research examined: Cognitive and education benefits (improved attendance and less tardiness, concentration, alertness and energy, academic performance, comprehension, learning and memory) Health related benefits (better overall diet, better eating habits, improved nutritional status, reduced illness) Behavioural and psychological benefits (psychosocial well-being, discipline and social behaviour, aggression and suspensions).37
2.5.1
Principles and approaches of school nutrition programs

A number of countries have implemented school nutrition programs in various forms. These include the United States (The National Schools Lunch Program), South Africa (National School Nutrition Programme), Brazil (School Nutrition and Food Security Programme) and India (Midday Meal Scheme). Appendix D summarises these initiatives.
35 Enrolment numbers provided from Northern Territory Government and Northern Territory Catholic Education Office 36 Brown, JL. Beardslee, WH. Prothrow-Stith, D. Impact of school breakfast on childrens health and learning: an analysis of the scientific research. (November 2008). Sodexo Foundation. 37 Ibid
15
The literature suggests that the focus of school nutrition programs varies widely from relief and recovery interventions to programs that have broader health and life skills objectives. School nutrition programs often target vulnerable/at risk communities and/or population groups. The principles and approaches to school nutrition programs also vary. Some are embedded in a strong health promotion ethos, such as the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion (1986)38 and Health Promoting Schools39, and include comprehensive and coordinated whole-of-school strategies.40 Others take a less rigorous philosophical approach. Broad health promotion approaches can be categorised into the following groups: Comprehensive approaches that link school nutrition programs with school programs on other health topics, such as physical activity or mental health, or that link school nutrition programs with programs being delivered in other settings. Such comprehensive programs can also be part of community wide initiatives Coordinated school-agency programs which have other agency staff or local community or health professionals working with school staff to deliver several programs in or near the school Whole school programs where multiple interventions are delivered by school staff alone (for example, classroom instruction, parent education, student/school activities).41
The following table summarises the characteristics of different school health and nutrition programs. The current program goals of the SNP align with the education and services domains.
Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986). Available from: <http://www.who.int/hpr/NPH/docs/ottawa_charter_hp.pdf>, accessed June 2011. 39 Health promoting schools take a whole school approach to the promotion of health. The World Health Organisation states that A health promoting school can be characterized as a school constantly strengthening its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working. Promoting health through schools. Report of a WHO Expert Committee on Comprehensive School Health Education and Promotion. WHO Technical Report Series N870. WHO, Geneva, 1997 4040 Some international examples of coordinated school nutrition programs for at risk populations include Pima Pride, Pathways, Bienestar to name a few. 41 Schools for All website. School Nutrition Multi-Intervention Program. Available from: <http://www.schools-forall.org/page/School+Nutrition+Multi-Intervention+Programs+(HS)>, accessed June 2011.
38
16
Table 2: Characteristics of major school health and nutrition program approaches Source: Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion 42 Domain Health promoting schools (WHO) Child-friendly Schools (UNICEF) Global school feeding campaign (World Food Program)
Policy
Respects an individuals wellbeing and dignity Provides multiple opportunities for success Acknowledges good efforts and intentions as well as personal achievements
Respects and realises the rights of every child Acts to ensure inclusion, respect, and equality of opportunity for all children Is gender sensitive and girl friendly Is flexible and responds to diversity Sees and understands the whole child in a broad context Enhances teacher capacity, morale, commitment, and status Is healthy, safe, and secure Is protective emotionally and psychologically
Focuses on the poorest and most foodinsecure communities Gives priority to girls and AIDSaffected children
School environment
Is healthy Provides opportunities for physical education and recreation
Serves as platform for essential package approach that includes water, sanitation, and environmental measures
42
Adapted from: Bundy, DAP. Schaeffer, S. Jukes, M. et al. (2006). School Based Health and Nutrition Programs. Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries. Second Edition. Oxford University Press and The World Bank.
17
Domain
Health promoting schools (WHO)
Child-friendly Schools (UNICEF)
Global school feeding campaign (World Food Program)
Education
Provides skills-based health education Fosters health and learning
Promotes quality learning outcomes Provides education that is affordable and accessible Provides skills-based health education, including life skills relevant to childrens lives Promotes physical health Promotes mental health
Supports learning through good nutrition Promotes access to education
Services
Provides school health services Provides nutrition and food safety programs Provides programs for counselling, social support, and mental health promotion Provides health promotion programs for staff Includes school and community projects and outreach Engages health and education officials, teachers, teachers unions, students, parents, health providers, and community leaders in efforts to make the school a healthy place
Provides food Promotes and supports deworming
Supportive partnerships
Is child centred Is family focused Is community based
Promotes community and school partnerships
18
A major step forward in international coordination for school health and nutrition is the Focusing Resources on Effective School Health (FRESH) initiative launched in 2000 by UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank.43 These four international agencies agreed upon a shared framework to strengthen school health, hygiene and nutrition programs. The framework is based on a core group of activities that captures best practices from school health/nutrition program experiences, and comprises:44 Health-related school policies Health policies in schools mandating a healthy, safe and secure school environment and guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities and regulating the provision of health education and services, are important to harness the potential of health to improve education outcomes. Skills-based health education Quality skills-based health education will support young people to acquire the necessary skills to adopt and sustain a healthy lifestyle, not only during their school years, but throughout their lives. Provision of safe water and sanitation This is particularly pertinent to developing countries where there should be safe water and sanitation facilities in schools to ensure a healthy physical learning environment. School-based health and nutrition services Schools can effectively deliver some health and nutrition services provided that the services are simple, safe and familiar, and address problems that are prevalent and recognised as important within the community. If these criteria are met then the community sees the teacher and school more positively, and teachers perceive themselves as playing important roles. Effective partnerships between the education and health sectors. These sectors need to identify responsibilities and present a coordinated action to improve health and learning outcomes for children. Effective community partnerships, which are fundamental to the success and sustainability of a school health and nutrition program. Community partnerships engender a sense of collaboration, commitment and communal ownership. They also build public awareness and strengthen demand, reinforcing education about health. These partnerships can identify health issues that need to be addressed through the school and then help design and manage activities to address such issues. Pupil awareness and participation. Children must be important participants in all aspects of school health programs, and not simply the beneficiaries. Children who participate in policy development and implementation, efforts to create a safer and more sanitary environment, health promotion aimed at their parents, other children,
These core activities should be supported by:
43 World Health Organisation (2006), Report of the Brainstorming Meeting on the development of a framework on the Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative 44 FRESH (2008), Focusing Resources on Effective School Health: A FRESH approach for achieving education for all, viewed 11 September 2011, <http://www.freshschools.org/Documents/FRESHandEFAEnglish.pdf>
19
and community members, and school health services, learn about health by participating.
2.5.2
Effectiveness of school nutrition programs

Evaluations of school nutrition programs have generally found some empirical evidence of a positive impact on student attendance, but evidence relating to educational performance is mixed. The key challenge with empirical studies has been methodological shortcomings that limit the quality of their contributions or strength of conclusions.45 Evidence that SNPs contribute to improved attendance There is a clear causal link between ill health and nutrition, and student absenteeism; school nutrition programs that bolster student health should logically reduce absent days. In this regard, school health programs that have been designed to provide certain nutrient supplementation or prevent specific diseases can be effective. For example, one study (Bobonis & Sharma) which examined iron supplements and de-worming treatment provided to children in East Delhi indicated that attendance at the preschools rose by 5.8 per cent (representing a one-fifth reduction in absenteeism).46 In terms of school meal programs, a study by Vermeersch & Kremer (2004) evaluating a school breakfast program in Kenya where porridge was offered indicated 35.9 per cent attendance at the preschools compared to 27.4 per cent attendance at nonprogram comparator preschools.47 However it was noted by Adelman, Gilligan & Lehrer (2008) that participation in preschools in Kenya is not the norm and therefore it is difficult to assess the relevance of these study results for a primary school meal program in a country with a policy of achieving universal primary education.48 Another study by Powell et al. (1998) evaluating a school meal program in Jamaica which provided breakfast to children for one year found that attendance rose 2.3 per cent from a baseline of around 80 per cent.49 A program which combined both school feeding and micronutrient supplementation was found by Stuijvenberg et al. (1999) to reduce student absenteeism. In South Africa, a program where biscuits fortified with iron, iodine and beta-carotene were provided to students saw diarrhoea-related absenteeism decline. The examples highlight why school nutrition programs are viewed as initiatives that can help contribute to improved school attendance.
45 Adelman, S. Gilligan, D. Lehrer, K. (2008), How effective are school feeding programs? A critical assessment of the evidence from developing countries, Food Policy Review 9, International Food Policy Research Institute, p.viii 46 Cited in Jukes, M. Drake, L. Bundy, D. (2008), School health, nutrition and education for all: levelling the playing field, CABI Publishing, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, p.43 47 Ibid.p. 43 48 Ibid, p.27 49 Ibid, p.44
20
2.5.3
Benefits of school nutrition programs

The literature indicates that school nutrition programs such as breakfast and lunch initiatives can provide direct (improved nutritional status and cognitive function) and indirect benefits (community / participation and economic development) to students. This is particularly so for those students from low socio-economic or vulnerable communities most at risk of poor health outcomes, with the suggestion that the availability of such programs throughout the academic year increases the probability that children will eat breakfast/lunch and improve their cognitive performance and academic attentiveness. School health and nutrition programs are also considered to be cost effective contributors to improved education access and completion of education, which in turn improves the long term economic development of communities. The pre-existing infrastructure of the educational system can often offer a more cost-effective route for delivery of simple health interventions and health promotion than can the health system.50 School health interventions can raise adult productivity not only through higher levels of cognitive ability, but also through their effect on school participation and years of schooling attained. Healthier children are more likely to attend, and modest improvements in examination scores can be associated with continuation in schooling.51 A recent study52 by the World Bank and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), calculated the potential human and economic benefits to be gained from increasing nutrition investments in the Kyrgyz Republic. The study found compelling evidence of the potential to improve health and economic outcomes through scaling up effective nutrition interventions and introducing new proven interventions to reduce the direct causes of under-nutrition in order to support the Kyrgyz governments commitment to the well-being and prosperous future of the Kyrgyz people.53 It was estimated that some US$6.2 million of the countrys economic losses from under-nutrition could be prevented by scaling up existing nutrition programs. While the majority of available evidence indicates the broad benefits of school nutrition, it is not conclusive. In the Australian context, very little formal research and quality evaluations are available on the benefits of school nutrition programs, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and the long-term health and educational outcomes of children who participate in such programs.
50
Bundy, DAP. Schaeffer, S. Jukes, M. et al. (2006). School Based Health and Nutrition Programs. Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries. Second Edition. Oxford University Press and The World Bank 51 Ibid 52 World Bank/UNICEF. Situational Analysis: Improving economic outcomes by expanding nutrition programming in the Kyrgyz Republic (June 2011) 53 Ibid
21
In 1997, the Commonwealth Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services commissioned a critical review by Butlin et al.54, of the evidence for successful food supply and nutrition programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This review and others (Couzos et al.55) noted that there is still a lack of well evaluated nutrition/health programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.56
2.5.4
Key features of successful school nutrition programs

Nutrition programs that have been evaluated share several features which are likely to be indicative of good practice. These include: Community involvement and support in all stages of the program Empowering the community rather than imposing priorities on the community Multifaceted interventions (including behaviour change and communication strategy that involves the whole community) Monitoring and providing feedback to participants and Modifying strategies according to need (flexibility).57
Some challenges that have been highlighted in the literature cover perceived nutritional benefits and programmatic issues which may be confounded by other influencing factors such as broader economic development imperatives. Issues include the potential of students who are receiving breakfast at school not receiving enough food at home, with the school meal simply replacing a home meal rather being additional to a childs diet, and the relationship of such a program to the broader health, education and economic development policy agenda. Despite these challenges and issues, and that no single study or intervention provides a definitive assessment of school nutrition programs (particularly for school breakfast initiatives), the body of evidence provides a reasonably consistent message: the contribution of school nutrition programs to education and health outcomes should not be underplayed. In another paper, the following key elements were identified as common contributors to success across a diverse range of international school health and nutrition programs:58
Butlin A. Cashel K. Lee A. et al (1997). Food and nutrition programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services. CDHFS, Canberra, (unpublished). Couzos S. Metcalf S. Murray R. et al (1998) Plain Language Summary: Systematic Review of Existing Evidence and Primary Care Guidelines on the Management of Non-insulin Dependent Diabetes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Populations. Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services Council. Department of Health and Family Services, Canberra.
56
54
55
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan 2000-2010 and first phase activities 2000-2003. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Working Party. National Public Health Partnership 2001. 57 Ibid
22
Focus on education outcomes Making an explicit link between school health and nutrition programs and education sector priorities. Develop a formal, multi-sectoral policy The education and health sectors need to work together, and potential tensions can be resolved by setting out sectoral responsibilities at the outset. Initiate a process of wide dissemination and consultation A process of consultation will establish ownership and identify obstacles among multiple stakeholders. Using the existing infrastructure as much as possible Building on existing curriculum opportunities and networks of teachers will accelerate implementation and reduce costs. Programs which rely on the development of new systems are expensive and complicated to take to scale. Build the program around simple, safe and familiar health and nutrition intervention Success in reaching all schools is dependent upon stakeholder acceptance, which is more likely if the interventions are already supported by local and international agencies, and already in common use in the community. Provide primary support from public resources There are compelling reasons for public investment in school health and nutrition, including contribution to economic growth, the existence of large externalities and the fact that the majority of interventions are public goods. Be inclusive and innovative Contributions from outside the public sector should not be excluded. Non-government organisations can support public sector programs through training and supervision, particularly at the local level.
The identification of good practice indicators can help program administrators to not only design and refine their programs to better support broader education and health goals, but also clearly highlights the importance of collaboration between schools, health and community stakeholders in the delivery of school nutrition programs.
2.6
The Australian context

There is a national policy focus on healthy eating and nutrition with the implementation of major strategies and initiatives such as the National Public Health Partnership's Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan - Eat Well Australia, 2000-2010 (EWA) and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan 2000-2010 (NATSINSAP). Current relevant initiatives include the National Healthy School Canteens Project and Get Up & Grow: Healthy Eating and Physical Activity for Early Childhood. However, there is no current national food and nutrition policy in place similar to the 1992 Food
58
Jukes, M. Drake, L. Bundy, D. (2008), op. cit., pp.119-120
23
and Nutrition Policy to direct action towards healthier foods across all sectors (and across the lifespan).59 There are a number of state and territory government initiatives that focus on school aged children such as school food and drink supply strategies (for example, Queenslands Smart Choices: Healthy Food and Drink Supply Strategy)60, Healthy School Canteen programs and healthy lifestyle initiatives. In addition, not-for-profit organisations, often with government support, operate school breakfast and lunch programs such as the Food Bank School Breakfast Program, the Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Club and the Brotherhood of St Laurence Breakfast Club. The key focus of these breakfast clubs is at risk students in socially disadvantaged communities. In the NT, the Department of Healths Nutrition and Physical Activity Program61 covers nutrition and physical activity action plans, policies and initiatives. The program is guided by the Nutrition and Physical Activity Program Action Plan 2007-2012. The program has a number of priority areas including nutrition for school-aged children. The NT Department of Health launched the Go for 2 & 5 initiative in 2005 to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables as well as being part of the Remote Indigenous Stores and Takeaways (RIST) Project with South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. The aim of this program is to improve access to a healthy food supply for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities by establishing and improving standards for remote healthy stores. School nutrition programs in Australia can involve nutrition education for children, promotion of physical activity and/or nutrition guidelines for school canteens. The design of programs providing low cost or free school meals can also differ for example, programs may be operated by non-government organisations. The design of evaluations of school meal programs can also vary, both in the form of evaluation (e.g. empowerment evaluation or process evaluation) and type of analysis used (e.g. econometric or qualitative), although evaluations to date tend to be more qualitative in nature. With these differences in mind, a number of evaluations of school meal programs have been conducted. These are summarised in Table 2, which indicates the benefits attributed to the programs.
59
Public Health Association of Australia. Policy at a Glance: Food, Nutrition and Health Policy, September 2009. Available from: <http://www.phaa.net.au/documents/policy/20091028FoodNutritionandHealthPolicy.pdf>, accessed June 2011. Also see: Toward a National Food and Nutrition Policy: Learnings from a dialogue to inform the advocacy approach of the Dieticians Association of Australia and the Public Health Association of Australia. Canberra, 18 June 2009. Available from: <http://www.phaa.net.au/documents/TowardsaNationalFoodandNutritionPolicyreport.pdf>, accessed August 2011. 60 Queensland Government, Department of Education and Training website accessed August 2011 61 Northern Territory Government. Nutrition and Physical Activity Program website. Available from: <http://www.health.nt.gov.au/Nutrition_and_Physical_Activity/index.aspx>, accessed June 2011.
24
Table 3: Australian school nutrition programs Source: KPMG summary Program Jurisdiction Improved attendance Improved student behaviour Improved learning outcomes
Good Start Breakfast Club (Red Cross)62 School Breakfast Program (Foodbank WA)63
Two schools in western NSW Adam Road Primary School (a large proportion of students are from Aboriginal, Maori and Asian backgrounds) La Grange Remote Community School (a large proportion of students are of Aboriginal descent) Marble Bar School (most of the students are of Aboriginal descent) Middle Swan Primary School Northhampton District High School
A-B See with Wor-Ra-Kee (Karuah Family Nutrition and School Access project) (Karauah Aboriginal community and federal government)64
Karuah Aboriginal community
Further details of these evaluations are provided in Appendix B.
Miller, W. (2009), Practical methods to evaluate school breakfast programs: a case study, University of Wollongong, <http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/3059> 63 Foodbank (2011), School breakfast program: case studies 64 Department of Health and Ageing (2006), Indigenous environmental health: report of the Fifth National Conference 2004, Canberra, viewed 11 September 2011, <http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-ieh-conf2004.htm~ohp-iehconf2004-comm-food.htm~ohp-ieh-conf2004-comm-food-01.htm>
62
25
3.
The Evaluation Approach

As outlined in Section 1.2 and 1.3 this evaluation has included research, field visits and interviews with stakeholders, survey and review of relevant program documentation. To guide the evaluation, an evaluation framework was developed. The Framework, was developed and is derived from the program logic, and formed the basis of the questions asked to all stakeholders. Various methods, such as analysis of program performance and funding information, analysis of education, health and employment data, survey of principals and providers along with face to face meetings with both Government and community representatives were employed to collect and analyse the performance of the SNP. The information reported during the consultations in communities was primarily qualitative. In total, the evaluation visited twelve communities, with all Providers provided with an opportunity to respond to a survey distributed in August 2011. In communities, consultations were held with: SNP Providers and their staff School Principals and other school based staff Council representatives (where available) Health and other community agency representatives Local parents and mothers Community Store owners/employees
A mix of quantitative and qualitative information was gathered to collect information regarding the primary and secondary goals of the program. A list of the Government and community consultation schedule can be found at Appendix A. Sets of questions, derived from the Evaluation Framework, guided discussions with stakeholders. Both quantitative and qualitative information collected was then used to inform the analysis of the SNP achievements against both its primary and secondary goals. The following chapters present the analysis of the SNP against each focus areas of the Evaluation Framework.
26
Figure 1 illustrates the rationale for the design and implementation of the SNP, with a focus on the various potential contributions the program can make to help close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage.
Figure 1: Program rationale
27
Figure 2 illustrates the high level program logic for the School Nutrition Program including the policy basis for the program, through to achievement of the program aims and medium to longer term outcomes.
Figure 2: Program logic
28
Summary of the Evaluation Framework

Aims of the evaluation Levels of evaluation Primary evaluation areas of focus Secondary evaluation areas of focus To examine the effectiveness of the SNP in achieving its aims and to provide the framework and evidence for future policy development Whole of program Individual community 1. Achievement of contribution to improved school attendance and engagement 2. Achievement of employment opportunities for local Indigenous people
3. Achievement of supporting greater Indigenous parental and community involvement in schools
4. Achievement of building parental skills in meal preparation and provision
5. Achievement of providing opportunities for nutrition awareness and education in schools
6. Achievement 7. Achievement of contributing of improved to a work health status ready base of of students local Indigenous people
8. Governance, 9. Sustainability and future administration focus and funding
Literature review Document review Provider survey School survey
Principal and teacher interviews Parent and community focus groups/interviews Provider/employee interviews
Government stakeholder interviews Health and other provider interviews Previous survey results
Employment data Education data Health data Centrelink data
The following chapters summarise the findings against each focus area of the Evaluation Framework. 29
4.
Evaluation findings Education

This chapter examines the progress toward the achievement of the SNP education objectives, specifically: The contribution of the SNP to improvements in school enrolment, attendance, engagement and retention The contribution of the SNP to Indigenous parental involvement in schools Enrolment and attendance data from the NT Department of Education KPMG surveys of SNP providers and school principals 2009 Stakeholder Survey65 Interviews with providers, employees and schools conducted as part of the 12 community sites visits
Analysis in this section has been informed by a number of sources:
4.1
Contribution of the SNP to improvements in school enrolment, attendance, engagement and retention
School enrolment
Enrolment data from 2007 to 2011 for schools operating a SNP were analysed. Despite a peak in enrolments in 2009, enrolments have remained fairly stable over this four year period. The average, annual total number of children enrolled at NT schools with a SNP for the period 2007 to 2011 is approximately 8,400.
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Findings of the School Nutrition Program Stakeholder Survey (March to June 2009.) DEEWR, Canberra. Available at http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/Documents/StakeholderSurvey.pdf.
65
30
Figure 3: Enrolment and attendance for SNP Schools 2007-2011 (Source: KPMG adapted from NT Department of Education and Training) 100.0% 95.0% 90.0% 85.0% Attendance 80.0% 75.0% 70.0% 65.0% 60.0% 55.0% 50.0% 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 7,700 7,500 8,300 8,100 7,900 8,900 8,700 8,500 Enrolment
SNP Attendance
SNP Enrolment
However, analysis revealed some variation at the individual school level. Comparing the 2007 average annual enrolment to the 2010 average annual enrolment for each school showed that some schools have experienced increases in enrolment, some have remained stable while others have experienced decreases in enrolment.66 There are no obvious links between improvements in enrolment and characteristics such as school size, location or provider type. The relationship between school size and changed enrolment between 2007 and 2010 is provided in Table 4.
Table 4: School size and number of schools by changes in enrolment levels from 2007 to 2010 (Source: KPMG adapted from NT Department of Education and Training) School Size Less than 50 students 50 to 100 students 100 plus students Total Enrolment down 3 4 1 8 Similar 11 10 14 35 Enrolment up 4 7 10 21 Total 18 21 25 64
The criteria to determine whether enrolment in 2010 was different to 2007 was: if the difference between 2010 and 2007 enrolment was within 2 standard deviations of enrolment over the four year period.
66
31
Just over 1 in 6 (16.2 per cent) of the principals who responded to the survey agreed (strongly agree and agree) that enrolment has increased because of the SNP. However more principals, approximately 1 in 3 (32.5 per cent), disagree (strongly disagree and disagree) with this statement and the remaining responses were neutral (neither agree or disagree). These results are consistent with the 2009 Stakeholder Survey, where 8 of the 17 principals who responded reported that the SNP had some positive impact on enrolment.
Figure 4: Principal agreement with survey questions (Source: KPMG Survey)
Enrolment has increased because of the SNP Attendance has improved because of the SNP Classroom engagement has improved because of the SNP Retention has improved because of the SNP The health and wellbeing of students has improved because of the SNP Parental engagement with the school has improved because of the SNP 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%100%
Strongly Agree Disagree Agree Strongly Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Don't Know
Principal and teacher consultations undertaken during site visits indicated that, for the communities visited, schools in smaller communities enjoy high enrolment and the SNP has had little or no apparent impact on increasing enrolment. The larger schools visited commonly reported that enrolment is not at an optimal level, and that many school age children are not enrolled in school. Seasonal mobility and family dysfunction were reported as key factors contributing to failure to enrol children in school. Most principals and teachers reported that the SNP does not counteract these factors. Factors most likely to contribute to good attendance were reported to be parental and community attitudes and norms. Therefore there was a consensus that SNP has not had a significant positive or negative impact on school enrolment.
32
School attendance
As demonstrated in Figure 3, attendance has remained fairly stable at around 60 to 65 per cent between 2007 (when the SNP commenced implementation) and 2011. There has been little to no increase at the whole of system level. At the individual school level, the majority of schools had similar levels of attendance in 2010 as they did in 2007. Twenty schools had lower attendance rates and nine schools had higher attendance rates. For the nine schools that had increased attendance rates, the increases were usually in the order of 10 to 15 per cent. These changes were based on comparing the 2007 average annual attendance to the 2010 average annual attendance.67 Average annual attendance figures were used in line with advice from NT Department of Education and Training that attendance rates at very remote schools display seasonal variation of up to 12 per cent within a school year. Generally, attendance rates are lower during the dry season (due to higher mobility) and higher during the wet season.68
Table 5. School size by changes in attendance from 2007 to 2010. (Source: KPMG adapted from NT Department of Education and Training) School Size Less than 50 students 50 to 100 students 100 plus students Total Attendance down 3 3 14 20 Similar 13 13 10 36 Attendance up 2 5 2 9 Total 18 21 25 65
Qualitative data, including the survey and consultations conducted during the community visits, indicate a perception in some schools that the SNP is having a positive impact on attendance, despite the findings described above. Just under half of the principals (46.5 per cent) who responded to the survey agreed or strongly agreed that attendance has improved because of the SNP. Alternatively, 23.3 per cent strongly disagreed or disagreed with this statement and the remainder were neutral (neither agreed nor disagreed) or did not know if the SNP had affected attendance. Free text comments provided as part of survey responses also linked attendance and the SNP, for example: Attendance, students; wellbeing and nutrition would be greatly placed at risk without the SNP program. The 2009 Stakeholder Survey results for principals were similar, with over 80 per cent of principals responding that the SNP had a made positive impact on attendance (a
67
The criteria to determine whether the attendance rate in 2010 was different to 2007 was: if the difference between 2010 and 2007 attendance was within 2 standard deviations of enrolment over the four year period. 68 http://www.det.nt.gov.au/teachers-educators/school-management/enrolment-attendance/enrolmentattendance-statistics, [Viewed 9 September 2011]
33
little or a lot). This may correspond with the increase in enrolments and slight peak in attendance experienced during that year schools may have seemed busier. Teachers and principals consulted during site visits reported that current attendance rates reflect the schools historical attendance record. That is, most schools reported either no change in attendance since the implementation of the SNP, or only a slight increase. Several schools did report that improvements had been made in parents notifying the school when students are unwell or absent for other reasons and that students were staying at school longer during the day. As with enrolment, the principals and teachers of smaller schools visited reported better overall attendance than the larger schools visited. Most schools reported some degree of variation in attendance linked to seasonal mobility, community disruptions and cultural commitments associated with funerals or ceremony. In several communities there is a strong link between attendance and family groups within the community. This is discussed further below. It was reported that many factors contribute to poor school attendance including tiredness, lack of engagement, illness and bullying or conflict at school. In communities where housing overcrowding is a significant issue, this was reported to have a big impact on school attendance due to the general dysfunction which often accompanies overcrowding. Factors such as an inclusive curriculum, quality of teachers and engaging parents and the community in the school and the education process were reported to have an important positive impact on attendance.
Engagement and achievement

Within the school principal survey the second most agreed statement was Classroom engagement has improved because of the school nutrition program. Over 2 in 3 responding principals (67.4 per cent) either agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. This strongly suggests that there has been an improvement in engagement at SNP schools. In the 2009 Stakeholder Survey more than 1 in 2 principals responded that the extent to which the SNP had made a positive impact on student general behaviour was a lot. Student general behaviour was one of a suite of questions that asked about enrolment, attendance, behaviour, parental engagement, student health and wellbeing and community understanding of nutrition. It was to student general behaviour that principals ascribed the SNP as having the greatest positive impact. While overall attendance rates may not have changed, responses from principals suggest that the students who are attending are showing increased classroom engagement. No data, such as NAPLAN, were analysed here to substantiate this finding. The majority of principals and teachers interviewed reported that engagement in school has improved in recent times, and was continuing to improve overall. Improvements in academic achievement were considered to be less pronounced, however feedback strongly supported the view that improvements in attendance and engagement will lead to improved achievement over time. Several teachers and principals reported that classroom and schoolyard behaviour are improving, concentration and time on task are improving and that, as a result, class times are more productive and focused. 34
One interviewee reported that providing a dining room and requiring students to sit down together to eat has had a positive impact on socialisation and concentration more broadly.
Case study Community level impact of SNP at school (Source: KPMG field visit August 2011)
This case study relates to a large remote community which experiences significant levels of disadvantage and dysfunction. Both school enrolment and attendance are poor, with little improvement being achieved in recent years. The school has had a food program in place for many years, but the SNP has allowed extensive upgrades to facilities, training for staff and the introduction of professional meal planning. Recently, the school was able to allocate an unused space to create a dining hall for senior students. These students now eat together in a seated space, and the school has introduced a range of measures to improve social interaction during meal times. While it is too early to determine whether these changes have had any impact on attendance and enrolment, it was reported that other positive changes were being observed. These include more positive interaction between young men and women, significant increases in social skills and etiquette and increases in students capacity to sit still and concentrate in other school settings such as the classroom. Indeed, the positive behaviours modelled and enforced in the dining hall were reported to be flowing into multiple spheres of school life including the classroom, the grounds and sporting fields. In this community many young people travel away to attend boarding schools in cities and large regional centres. Many Indigenous students who travel away from home to attend boarding school find the unfamiliar rules and expectations very challenging and this is recognised as one factor which contributes to poor retention of remote Indigenous students at these schools. Introducing dining hall style eating in community schools may be one way to help young Indigenous people to overcome barriers to accessing education and employment opportunities beyond their home community.
Source: KPMG
Retention
Retention refers to the number of students who continue with their education. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines the apparent retention rate as the number of school students in a designated level/year of education expressed as a percentage of their respective cohort group in a base year.69 In relation to retention, more principals agreed (44.2 per cent) than disagreed (18.6 per cent) with the statement that Retention has improved because of the SNP. Several schools visited were primary schools, and the issue of retention was less relevant than for schools which offer a secondary program. Some schools reported that retention is improving in line with engagement and is closely linked to expanded offerings in vocational training and transition programs. Many young people from remote communities in the NT attend
69
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4125.0Glossary2Jul%202011, [Viewed 13 September 2011]
35
boarding schools in Darwin, regional centres or interstate for secondary education. The community schools do not always have a strong sense of whether or not those students maintain engagement in school and continue on to year 12 attainment or equivalent.
Characteristics of schools or communities which are reporting positive outcomes

To identify characteristics of schools or communities reporting positive outcomes, the following breakdowns were applied to the enrolment and attendance data from the NT Department of Education and Training. Size of school (which correlates strongly with size of community) Location of school (or community) by shire (Barkly Shire, Central Desert Shire, East Arnhem Shire, MacDonnell Shire, Roper Gulf Shire, Tiwi Islands Shire, Victoria Daly Shire, West Arnhem Shire) Type of SNP provider (non-government organisation, shire, Aboriginal corporation, school, store, bookkeeper)
Investigations by these categories found no obvious relationship to size, location or type of provider. While there were more medium sized schools (50 to 100 students) with increased attendance, the size of school is not a factor that can be readily controlled and nor can location. While there is no obvious provider type that has demonstrated positive outcomes, changing a provider is not a simple task. However these successful medium sized schools may possibly be used as best practice schools for both smaller and larger schools. The enrolment and attendance data could be used in a different way. This would involve a nearest neighbour style analysis. For example one of the ten schools within the Central Desert Shire has shown increased attendance between 2007 and 2010. This school and its provider could be used as an example to other schools in the Central Desert shire to ascertain what has enabled an increased attendance rate over this period. Throughout the community visits it appeared that the size of the school (and therefore the associated size of the community) was the strongest differential characteristic between schools which reported good performance on the indicators of attendance, enrolment, engagement and retention. The community visits suggested that smaller schools in smaller communities reported better performance against the fundamental education indicators. However, as discussed above, the analysis of the enrolment and attendance data did not draw the same conclusion.
Attribution of change
Attributing increased enrolment to the SNP is very difficult due primarily to two factors:
36
There are many other initiatives and core business actions being undertaken across the Northern Territory which also seek to address education and community dysfunction and Many schools already had food programs in place prior to implementation of the SNP, and it is not reasonable to expect that implementation of the SNP would have a significant additional impact on education performance indicators.
When asked whether or not they attribute any changes in achievement against performance indicators to the SNP, principals and teachers provided mixed responses. While the overall perception of the program is positive, actually attributing positive change to the program is seen as problematic. This is largely because schools have been and continue to work very hard to improve enrolment, attendance, engagement and retention, and there are multiple programs and initiatives in place to address these same issues. Attribution was reported to be particularly difficult concerning enrolment and attendance. The factors that contribute to poor and very poor enrolment and attendance include a range of complex social factors which cannot be overcome by a single initiative. In several communities it was noted that there are family groups within the community which experience pronounced levels of disadvantage, dysfunction and marginalisation, and that children in these families are generally completely disengaged from school. Stakeholders agreed that SNP is not overcoming this type of entrenched, inter-generational disengagement. However, consultations indicated that schools see a much clearer link between the SNP and engagement and behaviour. Educators reported that providing a nutritious meal at breakfast and/or lunch improves concentration and behaviour. This has a positive flow on effect on overall classroom management and therefore on learning. It was noted by several principals that the students who make the most use of the SNP are those students who are most likely to have had behavioural problems in the past. The question around attribution was also challenging for several principals and teachers who had not been employed at the school or living in the community prior to implementation of the program and therefore had limited knowledge of change over time. When talking about this issue, the evaluators often rephrased the question to ask what would you expect to see if the program was discontinued? Overwhelmingly the response was that engagement and behaviour would suffer, and many also reported that they would also expect to see a decrease in attendance. These claims were frequently supported by anecdotal reports around children returning from school holidays having lost weight and showing signs of deteriorating health, and of children begging or scavenging for food during school holidays seen as indications that children have unsatisfactory access to food while not at school accessing the SNP. See chapter 6 for further discussion of nutrition and health. 37
The principal survey asked the question Do you have any other comments about the SNP? There were a number of free text responses that attributed positive changes to the SNP. The majority of responses were overwhelmingly positive and insisted that the program continue. It is a wonderful thing. Our kids enter the classroom in every session with full bellies and working minds Similar comments were made in the 2009 Stakeholder Survey This program has impacted positively on student behaviour at our school An earlier survey conducted by NT Department of Education and Training (the NT DET survey) between 1 and 17 December, 2010 found the SNP is generally perceived positively by schools, with the survey below presenting this result:70
Figure 5: NT DET SNP survey findings (Source: NT Department of Education and Training survey)
The NT DET survey indicated that students who consistently participated in the SNP also showed particular improvement in attendance (96 per cent), behaviour (96 per cent) and classroom engagement (98 per cent), with some overall improvement indicated for the schools in these areas generally since the introduction of the SNP.71 The following findings also emerged from the NT DET survey:72

70
The SNP has had a positive impact on school engagement with families (63 per cent) The SNP has provided job opportunities for local community members (78 per cent)
NT DET SNP survey findings (Source: NT Department of Education and Training survey) 71 Ibid 72 Ibid
38
All students benefit from the program, and in particular, early childhood students There are health gains for students as a result of nutritious food provided.
The negative findings related to the administrative burden faced by schools when there was difficulty sourcing a provider, and the value for money requirements for food in relation to quality.73 During the community visits a number of parents and community members were asked about their views on education and whether or not the SNP has had a positive impact on education indictors in their community. Parents and community members consulted were overwhelming supportive of the program in all communities. However in smaller, more functional communities people were more likely to report that the thing they value most about the SNP is the positive impact on attendance and engagement. In larger communities people were more likely to identify health and social benefits as the most valuable contribution of the program. A number of initiatives to address enrolment, attendance, engagement and retention are in place in the schools visited during the evaluation, including: Development of inclusive curriculum Recruitment and retention of high quality teaching staff Initiatives to engage families and communities in school School based cultural festivals with links to curriculum Walking school buses.
There are also community based programs which seek to directly address school attendance including formal programs such as the Parents and Community Engagement Program (PACE) and less formal measures, such as the local police driving around the community on a Monday morning and using the car siren to wake people up.
73
Ibid
39
4.2
Has the SNP supported greater parental involvement in schools?

The school principal survey asked if parents were involved in the delivery of the SNP. The majority of principals answered Yes to this question, and the follow on questions for principals responding positively indicated that generally parents were employed in the SNP.
Table 6: Parents of students involved in the delivery of the SNP (Source: KPMG survey) Response Yes No Not Sure Total Number 26 18 1 45 Percent 57.8 40.0 2.2 100.0
Table 7: How are parents involved in the SNP? (Source: KPMG survey)
A parent is employed through the funding to serve the meals Employed as SNP workers Employed to prepare meals, serve meals, and maintain hygiene The 2009 Stakeholder Survey found that 86.8 per cent of parents and 86.7 per cent of school principals reported that the SNP had a positive impact on parental engagement with school. While 64.7 per cent of providers suggested that the SNP had a positive impact. There were no comments from these three stakeholder groups in the survey that detailed the nature of the positive impact. The provider survey asked if parents volunteer in the SNP. Only three respondents provided a Yes response (See 8). The follow on questions asked the roles of these volunteers. Only one respondent elaborated with the comment Make sure all children are fed. And checking kids are at school.
Table 8: Do parents volunteer to assist in the SNP? (Source: 2009 Stakeholder survey) Response No Not Sure Yes Grand Total Number 13 4 3 20 Percent 65.0 20.0 15.0 100.0
Overall the surveys suggest that parents have become involved in schools through the SNP, however this is generally in a paid capacity and not in a volunteering capacity. In addition, the surveys do not provide insight into whether parents have become more involved since the SNP began. 40
Principals and teachers consulted during community visits were asked to comment on changes in parental involvement over the past four to five years. While staff turnover again made it difficult for many educators to answer this question, some provided strong examples of programs to engage parents in schools. Examples included: Awards days, where students are recognised for attendance and achievement, and parents and community members are invited to the school to watch the ceremony Cultural festivals and events, which integrate community life into the school curriculum and Various employment opportunities such as teacher aides, administrative staff and through the SNP.
In some communities, particularly larger communities, parents may have had poor experiences with education and school themselves, and are reluctant to become involved in the school. Principal and teacher consultations revealed a strong view that parental involvement in school is highly valuable and increases school attendance and engagement. The most common way for parents to increase involvement in schools through the SNP is via employment in the program. Those parents who are or have been employed in the SNP, where the SNP is delivered on the school premises, are very involved in the school. It was uncommon for either educators or community members to report that other parents had increased involvement in the school because of the SNP.
4.3
Summary
Key findings in relation to the impact of the SNP on educational indicators and on parental involvement in schools are as follows: At the whole of program level, there has been no significant increase in school enrolment and attendance in SNP schools since the implementation of the SNP. This is consistent with the findings of the Strategic Review of Indigenous Expenditure74, which reported that there is no evidence that the program is having a positive impact on school attendance. Nonetheless, the evaluation has found that some schools have shown improvements in enrolment and attendance since commencement of the SNP. School enrolment and attendance are influenced by a complex set of family and social factors, which a single program such as the SNP is unlikely to overcome. Parents and community were overwhelmingly supportive of the SNP and likely to attribute positive changes to the SNP. In smaller communities people were more likely to report that the thing they value most about the SNP is the positive impact on attendance and engagement. In larger communities people were more likely to identify health and social benefits as the most valuable contribution of the program.
Department of Finance and Deregulation; Strategic Review of Indigenous Expenditure Report (February 2010) accessed on internet August 2011
74
41
Schools and communities have a number of programs and initiatives in place to improve education, and it is difficult to attribute change to any one of these programs. Indeed, the SNP forms part of the overall NTER designed to address Indigenous disadvantage synergistically, and attribution of change to a single program would not be appropriate. There is strong anecdotal evidence that SNP is having positive impact on student behaviour and engagement. This was identified through community visits and surveys, and is consistent with conventional wisdom that concentration, behaviour and learning are reliant on students having basic needs met, such as nutrition. Parental involvement in schools is recognised as very important by communities and educators. The evaluation has found that parental involvement is strongly linked to the employment of parents through the SNP rather than to volunteerism or other means.
A stronger focus on good practice may assist the program to improve achievement against the education aims. Several providers reported that they received no information about how their school was tracking in terms of attendance and enrolment. It is possible that schools in small communities would expect that locally based providers would have some knowledge of enrolment and attendance at the school. Improving program monitoring and providing feedback to providers and community members may lead to a sense of shared stakeholder and community ownership and inform innovation and problem solving. Modifying strategies according to need is recognised as good practice. The NT DET data show increases and decreases in attendance rates across the participating schools. The program administrators may need to consider modifying strategies in some schools and sharing good news stories and innovation across the network of SNP schools. Community involvement and support is also recognised as a feature of good practice, and the evaluation has found that the SNP operates in isolation in some communities. If opportunities for providers, schools, health clinics and other community services (e.g. stores) and groups were more consistently promoted and supported, more uniform improvements may be achievable.
42
5.
Evaluation findings - Employment and training

This chapter examines the employment and training aspects of the program. In this section achievement against two aims of the program are assessed: Provision of employment for local Indigenous people Contribution to increasing the number of work ready local Indigenous people in communities. Analysis of program data for employment of local Indigenous people (a program KPI) The provider and school surveys Interviews with providers, employees and schools conducted as part of the 12 community sites visits.
Analysis in this section has been informed by a number of sources:
5.1
Is the SNP providing employment opportunities for local Indigenous people?

This section provides information about: The number of local Indigenous people currently employed in SNPs The usual nature of those roles and terms of employment Training or skills development available in communities to support local people to gain employment in SNPs The facilitators and barriers to employing local Indigenous people in the SNP.
DEEWR provided data on the number of coordinators and assistants funded in 2011-12 and the number employed as at 31 January 2011. Data were provided by Indigenous status. Across the 69 communities for which data were provided, a total of 233 positions were funded in 2011-12. These positions included 70 coordinators and 163 assistants. The number of assistants for each school was proportional to the size of the school, i.e. larger schools employed more assistants. As at 31 January 2011 there were 15 assistant positions that were not filled. As at 31 January 2011, 44 coordinators identified as Indigenous while 133 assistants identified as Indigenous (see Table 9). Thus 76 per cent of people directly employed through the SNP at that time, were local Indigenous people.75 This is consistent with the figures quoted in the Closing the Gap in the Northern Territory monitoring reports
75
This assumes that all staff who identity as Indigenous are also local.
43
in June 2009 and December 2010, which both reported that 78 per cent of staff were Indigenous.76
Table 9: SNP Employment role and Indigenous status (Source: KPMG) Indigenous Status Indigenous Non-Indigenous Total Coordinator 36 35 71 Assistant 133 14 147 Total 169 49 218
During the site visits it was observed that the number of local Indigenous people employed through the SNP varied between communities. Some programs employed no local people at all, while other programs were delivered predominantly by local Indigenous staff. School SNP providers had the highest ratio of Indigenous coordinators to non-Indigenous coordinators, while NGO SNP providers had the lowest. In terms of assistants, NGO SNP providers employed the largest number of non-Indigenous assistants.
Table 10: Provider type by employment role and Indigenous status (Source: KPMG) Provider Type Aboriginal Corporation Bookkeeper Council NGO School Store Total Indigenous Coordinator 5 1 15 1 11 3 36 Nonindigenous Coordinator 4 0 13 8 6 4 35 Indigenous Assistant 21 4 31 25 40 12 133 14 Nonindigenous Assistant 1 0 0 10 3 Total
31 5 59 44 60 19 218
The local Indigenous employees in the communities visited were predominantly women. Several stakeholders reported that the SNP provides a good source of employment for women because the hours are family friendly. In all communities visited local employees were supervised by a non-Indigenous person whose responsibilities included ordering and purchasing food, menu planning, administrative tasks associated with the SNP, and generally the oversight of meal preparation. This was highlighted as a critical success factor in several communities (see further detail on barriers and facilitators below).
Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Closing the Gap in the Northern Territory Monitoring Report July to December 2010. FAHCSIA, Australian Government, Canberra.
76
44
The program information provided by DEEWR does not describe the nature of employment, or the duration of employment of local Indigenous people. The consultations undertaken during the community visits indicate that most staff are employed on a permanent part-time or casual basis, and that standard work hours depend on the combination of meals provided. Staff generally work five days a week rather than through a variable roster. The evaluation teams did not identify any examples of significant volunteerism associated with the SNP. Local Indigenous people employed through the SNP in the communities visited reported that their roles involve food preparation, serving and cleaning. While Table 10 indicates that across the NT there as many Indigenous as non-Indigenous coordinators, Indigenous staff were predominantly engaged as assistants in the communities. Consultations undertaken during the sites visits indicate that training and skills development in communities is limited and not regular, and many SNP workers have had no formal training. Several supervisors reported that a significant amount of on the job training, mentoring and positive reinforcement is sometimes necessary to up skill local people to ensure they are fully competent in their role. Some coordinators reported that this is difficult to provide within the time and available workforce constraints of the SNP. Other supervisors were more positive and stated that some local Indigenous assistants had the necessary skills to take on the coordinator role. Information about the enablers and barriers to employing local Indigenous people was gathered through the SNP provider survey and the community site visits. Overall, the key enablers were identified as: Access to a sufficient pool of willing and suitable potential employees, driven by the high rate of unemployment and the positive light in which the SNP is viewed as an employment option Options to employ staff on a casual basis, which suits both providers and employees by providing flexibility for additional leave associated with cultural and family obligations.
During the site visits most providers reported that local staff are dedicated, reliable and hardworking. It was noted that where the provider and supervisor provide strong leadership, the turnover of staff was low and reliability was high. This is consistent with the findings of the provider survey, as the most common response to the questions about barriers to employing local people was none. The key barriers identified were: Family, community and cultural obligations are a barrier to regular attendance and complete commitment to the SNP for some local Indigenous employees Prior criminal history prohibited work around children77 In some communities, a lack of interest and motivation for paid employment work.
A Working with Children Clearance has been introduced under the Care and Protection of Children Act in the NT. This is commonly referred to as an Ochre Card.
77
45
The provider survey provided an opportunity for free text responses regarding the enablers and barriers to employment of local Indigenous people. See Box 1 for provider comments.
Box 1: Enablers and barriers to the employment of local Indigenous people through the SNP, comments provided through the provider survey (Source: KPMG provider survey)
Enablers ...people were looking for a job. Have to take who you can get. Employment, regular income, healthy eating, learning new skills, presence in the school giving parental involvement. They get to work with other people. The attraction of meals, income and spending time with other people.
Barriers
Disinterest in available jobs by local indigenous people. Family Commitments. Lack of incentive to work. Low employee turnout during community events. Need to have police check and Ochre Card.
Case Study Employment of local women August field visit 2011 One medium sized community visited during the evaluation employed four local Indigenous women in the SNP. All four meals (breakfast, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea) were supplied as part of the SNP. To ensure the right amount of food was provided, one of the women (they were also mothers of students) would visit each classroom before every meal to obtain an accurate count of students. This meant that the number of meals and the size of each meal was appropriate for each of the four meals.
5.2
Has the SNP contributed to increasing the number of local Indigenous people who are work ready?
This section provides information about: Whether local Indigenous people employed through the SNP program are gaining skills and experience which are transferable to other sources of local employment Examples of individuals who have transitioned from SNP to other jobs.
In response to the question What skills and experience do employees gain through the SNP? most providers answered that employees gain skills and experience that relate to food handling and preparation. These comments are consistent with the 46
findings from the consultations undertaken during the community site visits, during which both supervisors and assistants reported that local Indigenous employees are gaining skills and experience in food handling and preparation, in addition to hygiene, safety and planning.
Skills and experience employees gain through the SNP, comments provided through the provider survey (Source: KPMG provider survey)
All aspects of working in hospitality. Food safety, menu planning, time management, food preparation, keeping kitchen clean, customer service, putting stock away, nutritional awareness and hygiene. Cooking / Cleaning / Hygiene Skills. Food handling / Food preparation / Stock Rotation / General Kitchen Duties. In several of the communities visited the local Indigenous employees reported that they are very keen to pursue formal training opportunities. This was seen as a way to compliment the skills and knowledge gained through the SNP and to increase their opportunities of securing related employment, either within their community or beyond. In some communities, the SNP provider had plans in place for staff to gain a food handling certificate or a Certificate I in Hospitality (Kitchen Operations). Such approaches were not consistent, and in some others there were no plans to provide formal training to employees. Through the provider survey, one respondent indicated that the training was completed in conjunction with other community programs. Training is already ongoing. It has piggybacked on DoHA meals on wheels. Opportunity for Cert 2 and 3 in community services. Take opportunities to join up with other programs. This is an example of using existing resources and leveraging relationships to enhance the outcomes from the SNP. The provider survey asked whether the skills and experiences gained through the SNP are transferrable to other sources of employment. Of the responding providers, 65 per cent answered Yes.
Table 11: Are these skills and experiences transferrable to other sources of local employment? (Source: KPMG provider survey) Response No Yes Blank Total Number 5 13 2 20 Percent 25.0% 65.0% 10.0% 100.0%
47
The community site visits indicate that the local Indigenous people employed through the program are gaining valuable skills and experience, which could be applied to other employment opportunities in hospitality and service industries. However, this is not always being supported by access to formal training and qualifications. Other employment opportunities which would allow for some skills transfer include: Child care (which often provides meals) Aged care, either residential or home based support The local take-away shop and store Community clubs which may provide some food Local tourism enterprises.
It is recognised that employment opportunities in remote communities are extremely limited and in several communities it was reported that there are very few real jobs for which SNP is preparing people. The skills and experience would be of greater value in supporting mobility to regional centres and cities. For this potential to be realised, access to formal training is highly desirable. Very few examples of individuals who have transitioned from the SNP to other jobs were provided during the site visits. The examples that were provided include transition to child care or aged care facilities, and in one case transition to other roles in the school such as a teacher aide. Summary The following summarises the key findings on the achievement of the SNP against its employment related aims: As at 31 January 2011, a total of 177 Indigenous people were employed through the SNP. This represents 76 per cent of all SNP employees. Employment of local people is one way to engage the community in the SNP a key element of good practice identified through the literature scan. Local Indigenous people employed through the SNP are primarily undertaking food preparation, serving and cleaning. Training and skills development in communities to support employment is limited. Most providers find that employing local Indigenous people is working well, and that there is a sufficient pool of willing and suitable potential employees. Barriers to employing local Indigenous people include peoples conflicting commitments, problems accessing police checks and working with children clearances, and a lack of interest and motivation for paid employment work. Employing staff on a casual basis provides flexibility for both providers and employees, which helps to overcome issues around conflicting commitments and responsibilities.
48
Local Indigenous employees are gaining skills and experience in food handling and preparation, hygiene, safety and planning. Local Indigenous employees are very keen to pursue formal training opportunities; however access to these opportunities through the SNP is inconsistent. Local Indigenous people employed through the program are gaining valuable skills and experience, which could be applied to other employment opportunities in hospitality and service industries. Employment opportunities in remote communities are extremely limited and there are few jobs for which the SNP is preparing people.
49
6.
Evaluation findings Health

This chapter examines the SNP contribution to the achievement of improved health for children in the prescribed communities, specifically: The contribution of the SNP to helping build the skills of parents in preparing and providing nutritious meals to their children and families The extent to which the SNP provides opportunities to improve nutritional awareness and education in schools The contribution of the program to improving the health status of students. Child growth indices for school aged children data from the NT Department of Health The provider and school surveys Interviews with providers, employees and schools conducted as part of the 12 community sites visits.
Findings in this section have been informed by:
6.1
Has the SNP helped build the skills of parents in preparing and providing nutritious meals to their children and families?
Around 177 local Indigenous people are employed in the SNP across the NT. Based on the findings of the community visits it is likely that almost all are women who are either mothers or grandmothers or aunties, and direct or indirect carers of children. As discussed in Section 5, with few exceptions, parental involvement in the SNP is primarily employment based. For the parents employed in the SNP there is a clear indication from site visits that this is contributing to knowledge and skill development which is improving their food preparation, meal planning and shopping skills at home. Employees reported that they have learned how to cook new recipes, use different ingredients and achieve greater efficiencies in their purchasing and use of food. Similarly, the community visits revealed that for some local employees the SNP provides exposure to professional menu planning designed to address the nutritional requirements of the students. In some cases nutritionists or dieticians have worked with provider and employees to plan the menu. Some of the significant limitations experienced by local families around seasonal access to food, poor variety and freshness of food, inadequate storage and cooking facilities and limited kitchen utensils/tools were identified as limitations which families find difficult to overcome. The 2009 Stakeholder Survey asked about the impact the SNP had on community understanding of the importance of good nutrition. A high percentage (57.2 per cent) of parents considered there was a lot of impact on community understanding; 50
principals were less sure of a link between the SNP and nutritional awareness. Only 25 per cent of principals thought there was a lot of impact. However, because parental and community involvement in the program is mostly limited to direct employment, the program is not necessarily having a wide reaching impact in terms of building food preparation skills and nutritional awareness. During sites visits one community member reported that This should be a community nutrition program. The SNP has missed the opportunity to convey the message to the broader community about the importance of nutrition.
6.2
Has the SNP provided opportunities to improve nutritional awareness and education in schools?
The KPMG principal survey asked whether students are involved in the delivery of the SNP. Almost one third of responding principals indicated that students are involved in delivery of the SNP.
Table 12: Students at this school are involved in the delivery of the SNP (Source: KPMG principal survey) Response No Yes Total Number 29 14 43 Percent 67.4% 32.6% 100.0%
For principals who responded Yes to the question on student involvement, there was a follow on question that asked how students were involved in the SNP. Responses indicated that students are involved in tasks like menu planning, meal preparation and meal distribution. Preparing menus - kitchen rosters - lessons in nutrition. Handing out the lunches and recording how many are required. The Middle Years students are rostered on Kitchen Duty each day for up to 1 and a half hours. They are involved in preparation of tables and cutlery and seating for lunch. They also serve the fruit and assist with the preparation and serving of the main meal. During community visits it was noted that student involvement in SNP varies significantly from school to school. The greatest level of student involvement occurs when the school is the provider, and meals are prepared and served on the school premises. Students were noted to be involved in: Informing the kitchen staff of the number of meals required each day Helping set out containers, crockery and cutlery Helping with food service and clearing Some cleaning. 51
Consultations indicated that students are rarely directly involved in food preparation. Consultations revealed that some schools have created formal linkages between the SNP and the curriculum through science and home economics subjects. More commonly teachers and principals reported that informal linkages had been created; where the SNP is used as means of increasing language and literacy and numeracy skills, and encouraging socialisation and positive interactions. For example students were required to speak English and use whole sentences when requesting their meal; other schools involved students in counting out meals as a way of practising numeracy skills. Several stakeholders reported that interaction with the SNP is likely to have a positive impact on a students nutritional awareness, relationship with food and understanding of different types of foods and preparation methods even without active involvement or curriculum linkages. It was reported in some communities that some children are unlikely to receive any other formal meal during the day, and that access to food outside the program provides little or no nutritional value and has little or no positive impact on the childs understanding of nutrition or food preparation. One comment from a parent suggested that children are gaining improved nutritional awareness -Helps them [the children] grow up strong, they are learning about healthy food. When they grow up it will help them to know which food to give their kids.
6.3
Has the SNP contributed to an improvement in the health status of students?

Changes in child health
The principal survey sought views about whether The health and wellbeing of students has improved because of the SNP. This statement had the highest level of agreement (strongly agree and agree) of all questions relating to the effects of the SNP. Almost three quarters (74.4 per cent) of principals agreed that it had. This was also reflected in the majority of the comments about the SNP from school principals (See Figure) 2 The 2009 Stakeholder Survey provided some evidence for improved child health. Almost all responding providers (16 of 17) believed that the program had a lot of impact on general student health and wellbeing. Parents and principals were more cautious, with 34.3 per cent of parents and 41.2 per cent of principals responding that the SNP had no impact at all. Consultations with health services, schools and parents undertaken during the community sites visits indicate that in many communities there has been a perceived improvement in child health in recent years. While this was the common theme, it was not universal. In a few communities some people reported no improvement in child health. Growth assessment is the single measurement that best defines the health and nutritional status of children. Growth assessment also provides an indirect 52
measurement of the quality of life of an entire population.78 The four child growth indices supplied by NT Department of Health were: 1. Central Australian Rural Practitioners Australia (CARPA) Anaemic (i.e. low iron levels) for children aged 5 to 17 years 2. World Health Organisation Underweight (low weight-for-age) for children aged 5 and 10 years 3. World Health Organisation Stunted (low height-for-age) for children aged 5 and 10 years 4. World Health Organisation Wasted (low weight-for-height) for children aged 5 and 10 years Simple exploratory analyses of these data were undertaken. For the 48 communities that had both the SNP and the Healthy School Age Kids program in 2007 and 2010 the percentage of children with one of the four growth indice characteristics has remained fairly stable overall. The largest difference was between children who were underweight with only 5.9 per cent of children measured being underweight in 2007 compared to 10.3 per cent in 2010.
Table 13: 2007 Healthy School Aged Kids growth indice data (Source: KPMG) Characteristic Resident children with characteristic 579 11 Resident children measured 1445 367 Percent
CARPA Anaemic (5 to 17 years) WHO Stunted (5 and 10 years) and WHO Wasted (5 and 10 years) WHO Underweight (5 and 10 years) Grand Total
40.1 3.0
13 603
222 2034
5.9 29.6
78
http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/en/childgrowth_database_overview.pdf, [Viewed 13 September 2011]
53
Table 14: 2010 Healthy School Aged Kids growth indice data (Source: KPMG) Characteristic Resident children with characteristic 1499 54 Resident children measured 3663 990 Percent
CARPA Anaemic (5 to 17 years) WHO Stunted (5 and 10 years) and WHO Wasted (5 and 10 years) WHO Underweight (5 and 10 years) Total
40.9 5.5
66 1619
643 5296
10.3 30.6
Interpreting any differences in 2007 and 2010 data is difficult, i.e. one cannot state that the number of children who are underweight has increased. This is due primarily to the fact that about 2.5 times more children were measured in 2010 than in 2007. There were some other limitations with these data which are discussed in Appendix D. During community visits the most common child health complaints reported by health professionals, teachers and parents included: Children at risk of or diagnosed with failure to thrive79 Skin infections Chronic ear infections Anaemia Frequent common illness such as upper respiratory tract infections, gastroenteritis and influenza and Poor dental health.
Anecdotal reports suggest that in recent years the most noticeable improvements are being made in relation to failure to thrive and anaemia.
Comments from parents and community members during sites visits. (Source: KPMG)
The main [child] health problems here are scabies, flu, gastro. These problems seem to have improved in the last few years. I think there has been an improvement in child health over the past 5-10 years. Kids seem to be healthier now.
Refers to children whose weight, or rate of weight gain, is significantly below that of their age and sex peers.
79
54
Other health initiatives

There are a number of programs currently in place in communities across the NT to address and improve child health. Improving child and family health through health checks and follow-up treatment for children is one of the key measures under the NTER. The Closing the Gap 80 initiative is also addressing child health through initiatives aimed at closing the gap in life expectancy and reducing infant mortality. Along with ongoing primary health and holistic health care provided in communities, specific initiatives to address child health which were identified during the evaluation include: School screening programs, where all children are screened for common ailments at the commencement of the school term Systemic monitoring of height and weight through automated patient recall and Various health promotion campaigns generated at the national, territory and community level aimed at increasing healthy lifestyle choices around nutrition, exercise and substance use.
However, the evaluation notes that the role out of such primary and holistic health initiatives does not happen in every school. In some communities the health clinic and school have built a relationship to integrate health promotion into the school curriculum. Several schools reported that health promotion is a major focus for the school, and health promotion messages are integrated into the curriculum in various ways. Although this is not always directly linked to the SNP, the message is complimentary to the aims of the SNP. The SNP has also provided an opportunity for some schools to address dental health concerns. In some schools brushing teeth after meals forms part of the SNP, which teachers and principals reported was the only time some children have access to tooth brush and tooth paste and are supervised to ensure correct brushing techniques.
Attribution to SNP
During community site visits health professionals, educators and parents were asked to what extent they attribute changes in child health to the SNP. As with education, people found it very difficult to directly attribute any outcome to a particular initiative when there is so much activity focused on child health in communities. However, there was a clear message that the SNP provides a critical element of improving child health through provision of regular nutritious meals to children who may otherwise have limited access to good food. This regular access to nutritious food acts as a foundation building block to support other initiatives to improve child health. Despite the positive contribution that the SNP can make to improving child health, many underlying factors remain unresolved. During community consultations people
Department of Families, Housing and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (2011) Accessed September 2011
80
55
identified unresolved issues such as limited access to fresh healthy food due to availability and cost, and significant overcrowding and family dysfunction as contributing to poor health outcomes for some children. It should be noted that in most communities parents and community members reported that the majority of parents do a good job of looking after their children and see child health and wellbeing as a top priority. In the communities visited during the evaluation there was clear agreement amongst health professionals, educators and parents that without the SNP childrens health would suffer. This concern is perhaps greatest in the larger communities, where school attendance is poor and people make direct comparisons between students who are regularly attending school and accessing the program and students who are not. It should be noted that the negative outcomes for students who are regular nonattendees are most likely linked to the complex social issues which lead to their poor attendance rather than a lack of engagement in the SNP.
Comments from health professional, educators and parents gathered during community site visits (Source: KPMG)
Thank god for it [SNP], at least the kids are getting some food. We used to have lots of problems with failure to thrive and poor nutrition, but this has improved kids are tracked through Patient Information Recall and regularly screened for weight and health checks. We noticed that by the third week [of school holidays] there were some boys out of control and also going through bins looking for food. If the program was cut back there would be more hungry kids and possibly more skin infections and then over time an increase in ear infections and other general health concerns including anaemia. I also suspect that wed see more failure to thrive and therefore Child Protection would get involved. There are definitely more [health] issues for kids during term breaks.
6.4
Summary
Key findings against health related aims are While SNP local Indigenous employees (who are generally mothers, grandmothers, aunties or carers of students) are gaining food preparation skills and greater nutritional awareness, there are few examples of this being spread to the wider community Student involvement in the SNP is inconsistent across the NT. The evaluation findings indicate that less than half all programs involve students, that involvement is usually in process rather than planning or food preparation and that examples of direct linkages to the curriculum are limited. However, many schools have other health and nutrition related programs in place that are unrelated to the SNP 56
There are limited reliable data available to inform an assessment of whether or not the health status of children in SNP schools has improved, and attribution of change to the SNP is even more difficult There is strong anecdotal evidence to suggest that most parents, community members, educators and health providers believe that the SNP has a positive impact on childrens health. Furthermore, the majority of stakeholders agree that cessation or diminution of the program would have a significant negative impact on child health in many communities.
Best practice suggests that supporting the SNP to be more consistent in building the skills of parents in preparing and providing nutritious meals would assist in improving child health. Monitoring and providing feedback are critical elements of good practice. As highlighted in the 2009 Audit report81, the SNP aim of improving the health status of students is not being measured consistently or effectively. This could be addressed by identification of key data sources and arrangement for regular data exchange between DEEWR and the relevant data custodians. Effective partnerships between the SNP and health clinics both at the community and program level are likely to improve achievement against these aims. In some communities excellent partnerships exist, and these examples of good practice could be shared with other schools, clinics and providers to promote the importance of partnerships. The SNP provides an opportunity to harness the strength of multifaceted interventions aimed at addressing Indigenous disadvantage in a holistic, locally focused way. To make the most of this opportunity both closer relationships at the strategic level (a whole of government approach) and promotion of relationships at the community are needed.
Department of Finance and Deregulation (Office of Evaluation and Audit Indigenous Programs) 2009 Performance Audit of the SNP
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7.
Evaluation findings Funding model and service delivery arrangements

This chapter examines the SNP funding model and service delivery arrangements, including governance, administration and funding. These findings have been informed by: Analysis of Centrelink IM data related to the number of children in the community, those with SNP payments and those without SNP payments Interviews with providers, employees and schools conducted as part of the 12 community sites visits Government stakeholder interviews Program documentation review including Audit review of SNP (2009).82
7.1
Are the program governance, administration and funding arrangement supporting achievement of the aims?
As outlined in Section 3, funding for the SNP is derived from two key sources; parental contributions to meet meal costs and direct funding from DEEWR to meet staff salaries, infrastructure, operating costs including gap funding when parental contributions do not cover the full cost of meals. The quantum of funding that DEEWR provides for the program has fluctuated over the past 3 years from $5.2 million in 2009/2010, to $16.2 million in 2010/11, to $10.3 million in 2011/12. Within these total amounts, some funds are set aside annually to accommodate provider requests for training and facilities upgrades. The amount in this annual pool is not publically released. Parental Contributions As at 1 April 2011, for the applicable SNP communities, there were 3,828 children with a current SNP payment. Of these, 3,551 were paid for via IM. These data demonstrate that of the two Centrelink payment mechanisms, IM accounts for 92.8 per cent of all payments. Centrelink also provided data to the evaluation for 67 communities. Alice Springs was removed as the data supplied the total number of school aged children in the community and not the total number of school aged children at schools with a SNP. Inclusion of Alice Springs would have skewed the overall figures. According to Centrelink data there are 7,666 children in these 67 communities, of whom just under 50 per cent have a current SNP payment, i.e. their carer or parent is paying for SNP. Data were also supplied for 2008, 2009 and 2010. The Centrelink reports for 2009 and 2010 counted IM customers, rather than children with a SNP
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payment. One 2008 report suggested that there were 2,348 children with SNP payments83. While Centrelink cautioned that there are data integrity issues, it appears that the number of children for whom SNP payments are made has increased substantially between 2008 (2,348 children) and 2011 (3,551 children). The 2011 data demonstrated that there is large variation between communities. Some communities have almost no SNP payments being made through IM, while 11 communities have 70 per cent or more children in the community SNP being paid for under IM. There is variation at a regional level and by provider type. For example, Tiwi Islands shire has the lowest percentage of SNP being paid for through IM, while Barkly Shire had the highest. The table below illustrates the variations between regions and type of provider.
Table 15: Children in communities and the number with current SNP payments via IM (Source: KPMG based on data provided by Centrelink) Shire Total children in communities Children in communities with SNP payment via IM 234 448 862 566 608 76 561 473 3828 Percentage of children with current SNP payment 60.3 59.4 43.4 57.3 52.3 35.8 47.9 47.2 49.9
Barkly Shire Central Desert Shire East Arnhem Shire MacDonnell Shire Roper Gulf Shire Tiwi Islands Shire Victoria Daly West Arnhem Shire Total
388 754 1988 988 1163 212 1171 1002 7666
The SNP commenced in July 2007. However it was still being rolled out under IM and therefore SNP started at various times in different communities up until September 2008. This makes it difficult to compare some the above figures. The SNP start dates (or dates when providers changed) were not available to account for this fact in the analysis.
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Table 16: Providers in communities and the number of children with current SNP payments via IM (Source: KPMG based on data provided by Centrelink) Provider Type Total children in communities Children in communities with SNP payment via IM 564 639 527 1720 157 221 3828 Percentage of children with current SNP payment 44.5 55.8 50.2 50.0 38.8 61.6 49.9
Aboriginal Corporation Council NGO School Store Bookkeeper Total
1267 1146 1049 3440 405 359 7666
What this data show are variations in IM contributions and by provider across communities. However, it is not clear how this data is used by DEEWR to inform program direction and activity to increase and maintain parental contributions at the community level. Analysis of this data has the potential to inform: Discussions with providers about their current operations and level of engagement with local parents about the SNP and encouragement of contributions Promotion and marketing strategies to promote the SNP across communities Discussions with Centrelink, Department of Education and Training and school principals and providers about the fluctuations in parental contributions in communities Variables in each location which resulted in either an increase or decrease in contributions and Funding forecasting by the DEEWR Central Office team for the SNP.
Information collected during interviews confirmed that data is not used regularly to inform program and planning activity at either the agency or community level. This is a missed opportunity for the SNP. Program management Departmental Funding Equally important from a program administration perspective is the ability of an agency to report on each line item of funding in a timely manner. For any program, explaining its effectiveness to Government relies on being able to clearly articulate what the current funding supports.
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While the evaluation was able to access data for the quantum of funding per provider per year, the current methods by which funding is recorded (via excel spreadsheets), has meant that the evaluation was not able to consider funding data to determine: The quantum of parental contributions raised under IM per year (and per community) against the Government contribution per provider/per community/per region/at program level The quantum of contributions raised from parents under EFT per year (and per community) A breakdown of the quantum of funding allocated by DEEWR over the past four years to different line items such as employee salaries and on-costs, infrastructure/facilities upgrades and training per year (and per community) to assess variations and fluctuations in both cost of, and contributions to, the SNP The costing model formula, and the variables used to determine and project the costs of service delivery per community and The quantum of gap funding and underspend for 2010/2011 in the total DEEWR pool of funding.
Such financial data are not routinely compiled, analysed and monitored at a program level. While the 2009 ANAO Audit Report commented that this work was being done manually84, it appears that this practice continues. The backend financial and administration systems to support such tracking appear not to be in a form that enables program staff to extract information in a timely and routine manner. Similarly, the way in which funding is arranged, including the separation of a pool of funds for training and upgrades, appears not to be based on solid financial projections. Although a costing analysis of the SNP was not a requirement of this evaluation, the lack of detail on the funding data means that it is difficult to see clearly how the funding arrangements support the program goals. This evaluation cannot assess the current funding allocation to the SNP against parental contributions data, to determine whether the funding arrangements support the program goals, or if the program principle of mutual obligation is being adhered to at a program level. What can be said is that it appears there is source of funding available to DEEWR if there is a need to fund shortfalls in contributions and upgrades. Can the program operate in the absence of Government funding? The program guidelines detail what DEEWR funds. The evaluation understands the current model was revised after recommendations from the 2009 Audit Report85. The funding levels determined for each location take into account the local economy and enrolment and attendance rates. This information informs negotiations with providers to determine the level of funding offered under a service agreement. This funding covers employee costs and operation costs.
Department of Finance and Deregulation (Office of Evaluation and Audit Indigenous Programs) 2009 Performance Audit of the SNP 85 Ibid
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While the program guidelines refer to the local economy in the program guidelines, the factors and units that inform this analysis are unknown. Consultations during the site visits confirmed this. Common responses included: Not sure about the funding and how it all works, but I know there are parents in community who contribute; Not aware of the funding arrangements, but even if parents dont contribute, the provider still provides the meals to the students; I am not sure how much it costs to run the SNP and how Government funds it; and Government should just fund the program or by Government funding it, it takes responsibility away from parents.
The KPMG provider survey asked how ready the SNP was to operate without DEEWR funding or reduced DEEWR funding. Almost all providers either disagreed, or strongly disagreed that the SNP was ready to operate with reduced DEEWR funding. Similarly most respondents disagreed that the SNP is ready to operate with reduced levels of DEEWR funding.
Table 17: To what extent do you agree the SNP is ready to operate without DEEWR Funding? (Source: KPMG provider survey) Response Strongly disagree and disagree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly agree and agree Blank Total Number 17 1 0 2 20 Percent 85.0% 5.0% 0.0% 10.0% 100.0%
Table 18: To what extent do you agree that SNP is ready to operate with reduced levels of DEEWR Funding? (Source: KPMG provider survey) Response Strongly disagree and disagree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly agree and agree Blank Total Number 12 3 3 2 20 Percent 60.0% 15.0% 15.0% 10.0% 100.0%
There were a range of explanations as to why SNP providers were not ready to operate in the absence of DEEWR funding and parental contributions. The reasons included: High costs of freight and transport of food/supplies to communities in both dry and wet seasons. 62
Fluctuating rates of parental contributions community by community. The shifting contribution base presents challenges for calculating projected revenue and costs of the SNP per school term. Substantial movement/mobility of parents/families between communities meant contributions shift in and out making it difficult for any provider to depend on a set number of parents contributing. Traditional extended kinship/family models often mean parents care for a number of children, sometimes temporarily, not just their own. In these situations, the financial obligations of parents are unclear. Fluctuating student enrolment and attendance rates impact on planning for the number of meals, ordering and storage of goods. The difficulties of training, attracting and retaining local employees to organise and operate the SNP throughout the school terms. The cost of ongoing maintenance and upkeep of necessary infrastructure and facilities in community could not be covered by parental contributions alone.
The 2009 Audit report 86recommended that DEEWR collect and analyse the financial information of SNP providers to better understand the ongoing viability of individual SNP services as well as the overall effectiveness of the current SNP funding model and arrangements. This report also commented that funding arrangements and administration was not widely understood by agencies involved in the SNP. DEEWR, Centrelink and FAHCSIA hold comprehensive knowledge of funding levels and parental contribution levels per community because of their administrative responsibilities to the SNP. Most stakeholders commented that DEEWRs funding arrangements were good, important and helped meet shortfalls in parental contributions and cover employee and operating costs. Providers were able to confirm that they received additional funds to meet the gaps in parental contributions as required. Some were also aware that there was a scale of parental contributions. Most believed that without Government funding, providers would not be able to meet the full costs of service delivery. In the absence of detailed funding data, the evaluation can only base its findings on the limited IM and financial data provided and the anecdotal feedback of stakeholders. This information paints a picture that, at this stage, the SNP cannot operate without Government funding. In the future it will be essential to understand how community level funding and parental contributions are calculated, the factors that are taken into consideration and the real cost of service delivery. This is particularly important for:
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Future budget forecasts for the SNP and reporting on its expenditure and performance Assessment of the likely meal costs per location to assess whether gap funding requests are reasonable Planning, promotion of, and managing parental contributions per community Planning and rolling out of training and mentoring initiatives and Determining whether the SNP can operate in the absence of Government funding and whether transitioning SNPs to micro enterprises is a viable option.
The 2009 Office of Evaluation and Audit (Indigenous Programs)87 findings found that the original intent of the SNP was that it operate as a user pays system with Indigenous communities sharing the responsibility with Government, but highlighted that with declining rates of parental contributions in some communities, coupled with the administrative challenges such as cross matching payments to meals as parents shifted between communities, and operational decisions that all children will be fed at school, , has resulted in unintended consequences for the program. The consequence being, that Government appears to be investing more in the program than communities some years into the program.88 Stakeholders in community echoed this point that it appears the concept of parental contribution was being somewhat reduced as funding would be provided anyway for the meals. While the current SNP guidelines include mutual obligation as a key principle of the, a parental contribution level of less than 50 per cent in any community would, it could be argued, contradict the policy intent and principle underlying the SNP. This point was made by some stakeholders, who commented that the SNP was taking away the responsibility of parents as the Government was going to cover the meals anyway. While decisions about future SNP funding arrangements is the domain of policy makers, information about current funding levels, expenditure and contributions will assist in making informed decisions. The evaluation recommends that the current SNP cost and funding model be reassessed. Once this occurs, a determination about whether the SNP can operate in the absence of Government funding can be made. Governance and inter-agency collaboration community level The program guidelines state that one of the functions of the provider is to link with other community initiatives. During consultations, stakeholders, including school principals and provider staff, often commented that they were unclear about how the SNP linked with other initiatives in the community. There was evidence in some communities that schools, health practitioners and providers were working with local community leaders to ensure the SNP linked with
Ibid Department of Finance and Deregulation (Office of Evaluation and Audit Indigenous Programs) 2009 Performance Audit of the SNP
88 87
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other activities, such as school based nutrition classes, child health screening and healthy eating promotions at the local store. Where these examples were evident, the feedback from stakeholders was that it was important the SNP was linked in with other such initiatives. Where the SNP was not perceived as linked in with other community health and education initiatives, stakeholders commented it was a lost opportunity for the program to work in with NT Education, the local health clinic and other relevant child health programs administered under the NTER, as well as to engage parents in the planning and delivery of the SNP. Research outlined in Section 3 indicates a feature of good program practice is the involvement and connection of the program to the wider community. Schools provide a common space for the community, and SNP programs can have other curriculum activities built on them. Feedback from stakeholders suggests that the SNP presents an opportunity to accelerate inter-agency collaboration. This will be important to consider in considering future alignment of the SNP and its relationship with agencies that require strengthening. Governance and inter-agency collaboration agency level While chapter 2 detailed the current governance arrangements for the SNP, feedback to the evaluation indicated that the monthly inter-agency meeting between DEEWR, Centrelink, NT Education, NT Health and FAHCSIA, does not have regular agenda items and does not focus on: The IM data and rate of fluctuations Planning the promotion of the SNP to the communities, and the involvement of providers and other Government agencies Rollout of other initiatives and consideration of how SNP providers may support such rollouts.
While relationships at the inter-agency committee were reported as collegial, the focus of the committee is largely administrative and reactive to administrative issues, rather than being used as a forum to consider strategic program management issues such as inter-agency collaboration, data analysis and community/program responses. The committees actions are limited by the availability of resources to progress issues. The authority of this committee is unclear, and it appears that there are no formal interagency agreements in place to tie prospective agencies to actions to support areas of key SNP administration such as: Provision of regular education, Centrelink and Health data Roles and responsibilities at community and program level between NT Education and DEEWR regarding the delivery of SNP on education premises Communication and planning at school level between principals, school based staff and SNP providers and parents in the community
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Standards for facilities used by SNP on and off school premises and Promotion of SNP by other Government agencies.
The SNP is a program with primary and secondary goals which traverse the responsibility of three other agencies: Education, Health and Centrelink. The SNP is part of a broader whole of government intervention, led by FAHCSIA. The SNP requires the input and collaboration of these agencies to areas such as data provision, policy and program information. The SNP presents an opportunity for DEEWR, along with other agencies to work across and leverage support across agencies. The evaluation notes that there are opportunities for program administration to be strengthened at central office level only if agencies such as NT Education, Health, Centrelink and FAHcSIA contribute information which is timely, accurate and complete. It was the experience of this evaluation that the data provided from some agencies was not accurate, agile or complete. At an agency level, the administrative systems need to support extraction of data/information to enable it to be accessed by Regional Directors, contract managers, SNP providers, as well as Government Business Managers (GBMs), parents and other relevant agencies. In turn, this data should be used to inform program directions at regional level.
7.2
Summary
On the basis of the limited funding information and stakeholder feedback, indications are that the SNP cannot operate into the future without Government funding assistance, and that in a number of communities the funding arrangements while meeting all the costs, may not be reflective of the mutual obligation principle which underpins the SNP. The Department of Finance and Deregulation - Office of Evaluation and Audit (Indigenous Programs) conducted a performance audit of the SNP in 2008.89 The main areas examined in the audit were governance arrangements, performance monitoring and reporting, progress towards implementation and challenges and lessons learnt. The report recommended improvements to the program funding and performance management systems to enable DEEWR to determine the effectiveness of the SNP against its goals. This evaluation finds that outstanding challenges for the SNP Program include the lack of adequate mechanisms to support effective program planning and monitoring of funding arrangements. The evaluation has found: Barkly Shire has the highest rate of contribution, while Tiwi Islands shire has the lowest rate of contribution. DEEWR contributes more funds to the SNP than those raised under parental contributions.
Office of Evaluation and Audit (Indigenous Programs) (2009), Performance audit of the School Nutrition Program
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Anecdotal evidence collected suggests the SNP could not operate in the future without Government funding due to a range of factors including costs of transporting food, fluctuating parent numbers and children in community attending school and infrastructure costs and available workforce. The method by which SNP funding is recorded does not provide a complete snapshot of the distribution of funding, quantum raised through parental contributions and current surplus and gap funding. Costs factored into the current funding model are unclear. Existing parental contribution arrangements do not take into consideration traditional extended family/kinship arrangements which often result in a parent looking after a number of children, not just their own. Regular cross-agency analysis of rates of contributions and actioning of regional responses are required to ensure the principle of mutual obligation under the program guidelines between parents and Government is upheld. While agency communication is viewed as collegial, there is a need to formalise these relationships so SNP administration can be strengthened, and governance and monitoring can be accelerated to inform regional operations by the contract managers. It is difficult to claim that the current funding arrangements are supporting all goals of the SNP given current financial and program administration information recording processes.
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8.
Sustainability
This chapter examines whether the SNP is sustainable and also proposes future directions. In particular this section addresses whether there is evidence that some SNPs could become micro-enterprises now or in the future. Analysis in this section has been informed by a number of sources: Analysis of Centrelink IM data on the number of children in the community, those with SNP payments and those without SNP payments. Interviews with providers, employees and schools conducted as part of the 12 community sites visits. Provider survey. Government stakeholder interviews. Program documentation review.
8.1
Is the program sustainable and what are the future directions of the program?
Since the SNP commenced in 2007, no SNP micro enterprises have been established. While information collected during field visits identified there were examples of some SNPs branching out to provide meal on wheels to elders and providing meals to early child care, there is no evidence that the involvement of employees in an SNP has led to the establishment of another or separate micro enterprise. Program strategy development of micro enterprises While both evidence and consultations with stakeholders suggest the SNP goal appears more aspiration than reality, under the current SNP guidelines there is provision of funding set aside to support the training and development of Indigenous employees in the SNP. The intent underpinning the NTER and the SNP is to contribute to the capacity and self-determination of communities so that, over time, reliance on Government programs and funding is reduced. While the current SNP guidelines articulate this intent by encouraging providers to employ local parents to contribute to a work ready base, the evaluation has found that the achievement of this secondary goal has not progressed for a number of reasons, including: Limited rigorous, planned and regular training in business development to assess the feasibility of micro enterprise development (DEEWR and Providers). Establishment of micro enterprises in communities is dependent on the existence of a local market and economy. While provision of school meals during school term is viewed as important, and there is a question of absence/unavailability of food during school holidays, the willingness and feasibility of a community to pay for meals at other times requires further investigation. To date, neither DEEWR, Providers or the communities appear to have examined this question. 68
While aspirations at whole of community may exist for Indigenous empowerment via the running of Indigenous owned enterprises, the first step is to determine whether an enterprise would be viable in the first place. While this program goal is viewed as an important goal, and aligns with Government and DEEWR priorities to support local development of Indigenous enterprises, clarity about the policy intent driving the SNP will determine whether the SNP is a community program or is an initiative best suited to delivery through an enterprise model or continue through a partnership/mutual obligation model. Good practice (see Appendix F) indicates that for Indigenous enterprises to be successful, elements such as available local capacity, local need and local workforce need to be in existence so that the enterprise can be transferred or created. Evidence outlined in the Employment and Education chapters clearly illustrates that available workforce is an issue and that the current pool of Indigenous coordinators is limited. The SNP is dependent on parental contributions and, with contributions in decline in some communities (see Section 7), future viability of the SNP would have to take into consideration. The barriers stakeholders identified regarding why they believe the SNP could not be run as a micro enterprise support this argument. While some of the field consultations identified groups of employees who would be keen to take on the responsibility of providing the SNP, it was evident that the employees are not subject to regular training and mentoring activities, and that there is limited capacity in some communities to manage an enterprise.
8.1.1
SNP future
Understanding the intent of the SNP is important in considering its future. There are currently two levels of goals for the SNP covering education, health and employment objectives. As Chapter 7 outlines, this evaluation could not isolate and attribute the effectiveness of the SNP in achieving its aims at a program level. The information collected under service agreements, as listed in Appendix C, is at a service level activity only, and records outputs not outcomes, and the education, health and employment data does not provide concrete evidence. A statement often made by persons being interviewed for the evaluation was it is not achievable for one program alone to singlehandedly effect change, and address all social disadvantage factors, such as low educational attendance and poor nutritional health, existing in the community. Having clear program goals and aims is vital if stakeholders are to understand what the program does and what it wants to achieve. This point was made to the evaluation by both community and Government stakeholders.
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While evidence of the direct impact of the SNP on improving school enrolment and attendance, and child health, can be difficult to quantify, qualitative feedback from interviews with stakeholders, the survey and the literature scan suggests programs like SNP can: Contribute to improved school attendance and child health due to the regular feeding of students at a place in community that is universal Contribute to building capacity of parents and community to overcome poor nutrition Educate parents and communities about the importance of education and health where such values are missing due to intergenerational poverty and Form a foundation for a suite of responses in communities seeking to reverse the impact of social disadvantage on children.
Programs like the SNP can act as an important base for other targeted health, nutrition, education and social initiatives. Schools in the NT offer a universal and common space in community. The SNP has consistently delivered regular meals to students and provides communities with an initiative to promote education, health and social learning outcomes. While a focus on day to day service delivery is understandable, the evaluation finds that there is an opportunity for Government to rethink how it wants to ensure the SNP continues to achieve given the evidence and challenges it presents. In 2009, the ANAO Audit Report considered that issues such as the rate of parental contributions and the capacity of communities to operate services were important to focus on for assessment of the medium to long term sustainability of the SNP. This evaluation finds that the issues flagged in the audit report are still needing to be fully addressed. Matters such as funding and performance management, data collection, inter-agency and community relationships need to be advanced in order for the SNP to be sustained and ultimately transitioned to a community owned service. Summary No SNPs have become micro enterprises or resulted in employees establishing other micro enterprises. In a number of communities, parental contributions are in decline. This presents a risk to the future viability of the SNP and ability of DEEWR to transition the services to community owned enterprises. The delivery of targeted and regular training and business development and mentoring activities is not evident over the four years of the SNP. Issues such as workforce development, training and mentoring and business management were identified as issues that need to be addressed if SNPs are to transition to micro enterprises. Local economic conditions in some communities may mean that the Indigenous enterprise idea is not the best alternative for employment. Assessment of the local conditions is the first step in determining whether such a goal is achievable. 70
Assessing the feasibility of micro enterprise conditions at community level should be given consideration to determine whether the secondary goal of the SNP is retained.
The capacity of providers and communities to transition to independent services need to be factored into any economic feasibility assessment.
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9.
9.1
Next steps
Issues for consideration
The SNP has been delivered across the NT as part of the NTER since 2007 and, over these four years, established itself as a program that has been generally well received by schools and communities. The weight of qualitative evidence from community and Government stakeholders suggests that the SNP provides a positive contribution to: Student behaviour and engagement Parental involvement in schools via employment at the SNP Improvements in enrolment commencement of the SNP and attendance in some schools since
Social capital and well-being within Indigenous communities by promoting local employment options to local community members and Achieving the primary and secondary SNP goals, albeit in small steps.
Given the challenges identified by this evaluation in determining the effectiveness of the SNP in delivering against national and program objectives, it is prudent to take a step back and view the SNP as part of a wider approach to addressing employment, education and child health priorities. The SNP, as a program established in 67 Indigenous communities, provides Government with an excellent platform to harness the strength of multifaceted interventions aimed at addressing Indigenous disadvantage in a holistic, locally focused way by: Building on the achievements of the SNP to date Working with providers, communities and other Government agencies to improve data and information collection and analysis, share good practice examples, communicate across agencies and continue to increase employment of parents in the SNP and Improving funding and program administration to establish medium to long term options for the program, including its capacity to transition to management by communities whether via an enterprise or a partnership model. Drawing on the elements of good practice, as outlined in Section 2, there are opportunities in the future, for the program to build on its foundations and be linked to other education and health initiatives in each community. The next steps for the SNP should take into consideration of the SNP against good practice, and focus on improving in areas where there are gaps in good practice. These gaps also highlight the stakeholders at both community and Government level that will need to be involved in further embedding the SNP in community life.
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Table: Mapping SNP approach to identified elements of good practice Identified element of good practice Health related school policies Skills based health education/school based health and nutrition services Provision of safe water and sanitation Use of existing infrastructure Effective partnerships between education and health sector Community partnerships and involvement in direction of program planning at community level/Multifaceted approach Pupil awareness and participation participants not just beneficiaries Involves and empower community/Monitors and provides feedback to community regularly Primary support from public resources Approach is good practice?
In progress

In progress X
In progress X
Progress of the initiative

The data analysis, KPMG Survey results and stakeholder interviews have provided evidence that the SNP has made a solid start and is contributing to the achievement of its primary and secondary goals in a number of communities. Reversing entrenched social disadvantage in Indigenous communities can take many years and the views of stakeholders clearly signal that a program like SNP can provide a solid platform from which other education, health and employment objectives can be built. This evaluation has found that there are external variables which impact on the SNP at community level, while internally there is still a need to address the administrative arrangements underpinning the program, to strengthen collaboration between agencies, improve the rigour and timeliness in data collection and analysis, as well as funding management so that Government can track the effectiveness of its investment, and community members can see the results of their contributions. Opportunities and Barriers The successful implementation of the SNP across 67 communities is a significant achievement. The SNP successfully employs 177 people and is delivered via a range of providers. Despite differences in stakeholders roles and community location, similar barriers and enablers to effective delivery of the SNP were identified across the three sampled regions and responses from five different Government agencies. The SNP is commonly described as a good program as it feeds the kids, a program that helps get the kids to school and one of the better intervention programs. 73
These comments were largely made against the context of social and economic barriers of community life where indicators of social disadvantage such as overcrowding, limited employment opportunities, high rates of alcoholism and violence, and home food security were issues faced by school students in their daily lives. Under the program guidelines, there is an intention to share and encourage good practice in communities, but to achieve this requires resourcing and communication between all stakeholders. The most significant barriers may need to be addressed in a staggered approach. The barriers and enablers identified during this evaluation are summarised in table below.
Table 19 Summary of Barriers and Enablers (Source: KPMG, summarised from stakeholder feedback) Barriers Community level Limited infrastructure (school and community) where meals can be prepared and where food can be stored safely, lack of outdoor seating and fencing to keep dogs out at some schools Availability of local community members to be employed and trained as SNP employees Costs associated with transporting food and materials to community Impact of weather (wet and dry seasons) on type of food available Limited promotion at community level of the SNP, its goals and how parents/community can provide support Transient nature of community life and impact on the availability and consistency of SNP local employees on the day to day operations of the SNP Program level Limited consistency in promotion of program across all communities and agencies Program guidelines apply across all context/communities so there is consistency in the program intent across all SNP communities Kitchen/infrastructure in community and schools, particularly the installation of commercial standard kitchens in some schools Employment and training of local community members (particularly local women) in the SNP Positive working relationships between the SNP provider, school principals and local community stores Freshness and quality of food tailored to meet the needs of students Involvement of parents, students, school and other agencies such as NT Health in the development of SNP menus, delivery of SNP and its promotion in the wider community Community leaders such as elders and parents promoting the SNP and valuing education and local employment Enablers
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Barriers Perception that contributions of parents are inconsistent and not equitable
Enablers DEEWR funding meeting the costs of employment of staff and gaps when parental contributions do not fully cover the costs of food at the location. Promotion of SNP by Centrelink to community emphasising its health and education benefits to children. Program being able to provide catering for other community events such as BBQs and Sport days. Program viewed as one of the positive programs of the NTER. Strong and positive working relationships between School Principals, Provider and other community programs such as health promotions and Community Store initiatives
Lack of information available to community and wider public about cost of program, how and what it funds resulting in negative perceptions Program not delivered during school holidays
Program viewed negatively because it is part of the NTER Program not fully connected/linked in with other health promotion/prevention/school based healthy eating initiatives
Enhancing the initiative The program has a solid footing and enjoys general support across communities as evidenced by stakeholder interviews and KPMG survey results. Over the past four years, significant investment in facilities and employment has occurred as evidenced by the total funding per annum. Moving into the future this evaluation finds that the SNP still needs to act on the findings of the Indigenous expenditure review and 2009 ANAO Report. The receipt of this evaluation provides additional community and research information to inform any revision of the program to integrate good practice in program design, administration, funding management and data collection into its day to day operations. Any revision can also incorporate findings of the evaluation regarding strengthening the engagement with agencies such as NT Education and NT Health to leverage the opportunity that the SNP presents for their education and health nutrition initiatives to help contribute to whole of Government priorities such as Closing the Gap.
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10.
Recommendations
A number of recommendations, based on the analysis above, are suggested for the SNP. The evaluation recommends that the SNP continue subject to a range of matters being addressed. Should the SNP continue, this section proposes the following changes to improve its effectiveness.
10.1
Program administration
It is recommended that DEEWR: Clarify the policy intent/drivers behind the funding/program arrangements and ensure operations, reflect the policy intent. Redevelop the current funding model to take into consideration the regular movement of parents and children between communities, and variations in costs per community. and streamline the collection of parental contributions both through Centrelink and direct to providers Establish SNP standards for meals, facilities and employment common across all SNPs regardless of location and tailor the funding model per community based on assessment of local conditions, to help reduce the need for gap funding applications to meet the cost of meals per quarter. Continue to implement the recommendations of the 2009 ANAO Audit Report.
10.2
Performance management and data

It is recommended that: DEEWR clarify the data and performance management information to be collected to measure the program goals and ensure that data collection can be achieved. DEEWR establish formal arrangements with those agencies collecting data that are required to assess the performance of the SNP DEEWR meets with data collection agencies regularly through inter-agency forums or meetings. DEEWR continue to obtain aggregate level data from NT Department of Education and Training. (DEEWR needs to undertake further analysis of this information and report regularly (e.g. quarterly or end of school term) to individual SNP providers on the enrolment and attendance statistics for each school. DEEWR should also request information that details attendance at each school.)
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DEEWR continue to obtain Centrelink IM data. (A process to consolidate and analyse data supplied to date should be undertaken. Further in-depth analyses of the Centrelink data should be undertaken at program, regional and provider type level. The demographic characteristics of customers and children should be used in this analysis.) DEEWR pursue its request Child Growth Indice data. (Data should be requested for 2007 to 2012 inclusive, at the end of 2012 to enable more meaningful comparisons, particularly in the latter years.) DEEWR work with NT Education to subject data such as the employment and meals to a cleansing exercise (i.e. school names should be consistent as per NT Department of Education Data) and Community Names and Funding Recipient names should be consistent as per Centrelink IM Data. DEEWR improve performance reporting on the SNP to external audiences including communities.
10.3
Community and parent level

It is recommended that: SNPs increase the involvement of parents/community in its promotion information about surplus funds, planning and delivering of meals. DEEWR consider other work and training options for parental employment in the SNP and develop a regular program of training and mentoring for the SNP employees. Providers develop, where possible, skills transfer plans to increase number of coordinators who are Indigenous.
10.4
Interagency collaboration
It is recommended that: Agency roles are clarified with NT Education, NT Health, Centrelink and FAHCSIA in relation to SNP and clear agreements developed which outline roles and responsibilities to the SNP for each agency. (These agreements should then be shared with agency staff at a regional level so local relationships are clear and can be put into practice at community level.) Regular interagency meetings continue but standard agenda items such as data analysis and actions should be introduced so it is clear to all agencies their responsibilities to the SNP. Agencies consider their current level of resourcing for administration of the program in light of the Governments continued commitment to Closing the Gap and ensuring investment in Indigenous programs results in desired outcomes. 77
DEEWR consider working differently with NT Education (and other relevant agencies) to ensure SNP is better intergrated with other community based nutrition initiatives and so that explicit links between SNP and nutrition and healthy lifestyles curriculum initiatives are made.
10.5
Local Indigenous enterprises

It is recommended that: DEEWR substantiate whether this secondary goal is viable and undertake assessment on the feasibility of the SNP becoming a program that community can support, to determine if this objective of the program is achievable.
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11.
Conclusion
To only assess the SNP program on data alone does not take into account the wider context of service delivery and other intangible benefits the current program offers. The size and scale of the SNP across the NT provides a solid platform for fine-tuning the program. The evaluation notes that: The SNP aligns with both Commonwealth and NT priorities relating to education and health of children. Consideration of only quantitative data is not sufficient to assess the effectiveness of the SNP. The level of social disadvantage in some communities means that the short to medium term opportunities for micro enterprises is limited. The SNP is one of the few NTER initiatives delivered across a wide range of communities.
The SNP presents an opportunity to involve community, particularly parents, in design and delivery of SNP and build capacity of community in areas on nutrition, education and health Because the SNP enjoys broad community support, revised conversations with local people about parental contributions to ensure at least in the short term, mutual obligation and partnership principles are upheld is encouraged. Good practice reinforces involving and empowering Indigenous communities to lead to long term change. There is some further work to be done to build on the progress of the SNP and to address some outstanding program administration, funding and performance management issues. Over four years, the SNP has continued to recruit local people and is widely viewed as a positive and important program amongst a suite of responses seeking to reduce levels of social disadvantage in Indigenous communities in the NT.
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List of consultations
12 Communities Pirlangimpi Wooliana Mutijulu Palumpa Hermannsburg Wadeye Yuendumu Atitjere Galiwinku Gapuwiyak Maningrida Yirrkala Government Agency interviews DEEWR (State Office and Regional representatives) Centrelink (Territory and National representatives) NT Health NT Education FAHCSIA 27th July 2011 28th July 2011 28th July 2011 29th July 2011 2nd September 2011 Date 4th 5th August 2011 8th August 2011 8-9th August 2011 9th August 2011 10th August 2011 10-11th August 2011 11th August 2011 12th August 2011 15th August 2011 16th August 2011 17th August 2011 18th August 2011
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Summary of other jurisdictions

This appendix provides a summary description of a range of health and nutrition initiatives in other Australian states and territories.
Australian Capital Territory

ACT Health Promoting School Canteen Project incorporates the Health Promoting School framework and aims to provide education, training and ongoing support on health and nutrition issues to canteen staff. It also aims to increase awareness of the important role school canteens have in the health and nutrition of young people. It is intended that this project will lead to the establishment of an accreditation project in the ACT, whereby canteens will be rewarded for stocking and selling healthier food options.90
New South Wales

New South Wales Health Departments Improving your Health Nutrition Website includes links to information regarding childhood obesity; easy lunch and snack ideas for children and youth; and nutrition and health, and health fact sheets. Fresh tastes NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy heralds a move beyond nutrition guidelines for schools to a government endorsed approach that helps schools determine and provide healthier food choices. A number of resources have been developed to support schools to meet the requirements of the strategy including the Canteen Menu Planning Guide and The Fresh Tastes Tool Kit. The Fresh Tastes newsletters are produced and disseminated periodically to keep all stakeholders informed of the Strategy. NSW School Canteen Association (NSWSCA) The NSWSCA is a key partner in the Fresh Tastes Strategy and provides a range of services for school canteens in NSW. These include a website, fact sheets, a members magazine, telephone advice and support and a Canteen Buyers Guide. Nutrition Ready-to-Go at Out of School Hours (OOSH) Care a project aimed to improve nutrition, physical activity and food safety for children attending OOSH services in south eastern Sydney, providing access to healthy food choices in an environment that promotes healthy eating. Also includes statewide accredited nutrition and food safety training for OOSH staff and for OOSH services.91
90
Department of Health and Ageing. Healthy Active Australia Community and Schools Grant program. State and Territory Government Initiatives website. Available from: <http://www.health.gov.au/internet/healthyactive/publishing.nsf/Content/com-schools-grants-state-terr-gov>, accessed June 2011. 91 Department of Health and Ageing. Healthy Active Australia Community and Schools Grant program. State and Territory Government Initiatives website. Available from: <http://www.health.gov.au/internet/healthyactive/publishing.nsf/Content/com-schools-grants-state-terr-gov>, accessed June 2011.
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Queensland
Healthy Food and Drink Strategy for Queensland Schools Queensland Department of Education and Arts website contains the Smart Choices resource package for Queensland Schools. Queensland Health General Nutrition and Activity website includes information regarding dietary requirements, food allergies, infant and toddler feeding and better eating at schools (Active-Ate). Active-Ate is a school-based program designed to increase knowledge and awareness of healthy eating and physical activity among students of primary school age and the wider school community. It also promotes the adoption of healthy eating practices and physical active lifestyles by children. Queensland Health and Nutrition website includes information for the public on good nutrition such as Healthy Eating Policy Development: A Guide for Schools. Eat Well Queensland 2002-2012 provides the framework for a coordinated Queensland response to Eat Well Australia: An Agenda for Action for Public Health Nutrition 2000 2010 and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan (NATSINSAP) 2000-2010, which were endorsed by the Australian Health Ministers Council on October 2001. Queensland Healths Physical Activity and Nutrition Outside School Hours (PANOSH) Comprehensive resources aimed to assist Outside School Hours Care services in physical activity planning, food safety and communicating with families. Queenslands Health Lighten up to a Healthy Lifestyle an easy to read book about losing weight and keeping it off. School Nutrition Action Coalition (SNAC) provides a statewide forum for promoting good practice in addressing nutrition in the school setting. Members come from Queensland Health, Education Queensland, universities and non-government organisations such as Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations, Diabetes Australia Queensland, Nutrition Australia and the Queensland Association of School Tuckshops.92
South Australia
Department of Education and Childrens Services Eat Well SA Schools and Pre Schools Healthy Eating Guidelines provides a practical framework for planning of school and preschool strategies to ensure students and children learn about, experience and practise healthy eating. The guidelines cover six areas: curriculum, the learning environment; food supply; food safety; food related health support planning and working with families, health services and industry. Department of Health, South Australia Healthy SA: Your Gateway to Healthy Living leads to information on healthy living such as being active, promoting health in schools and healthy living.
Ibid
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The Centre for Health Promotion website provides a range of information that schools can use to promote healthy eating and active living. Links are available to the Virtually Health newsletter and the Child and Youth Health Service. Useful nutrition related topics include cooking in schools, developing a school kitchen kit, school canteens and TV food advertising to children.93
Tasmania
The Department of Health and Human Services, Community Nutrition Unit webpage provides a variety of information including: healthy eating for children (0-5 years); healthy eating for school aged children; nutrition in childcare; healthy eating and general nutrition; body image and eating behaviour; and healthy fund raising ideas. Eat Well Tasmania is a statewide program that provides support and assistance for activities that promote enjoyable healthy eating. Programs such as Healthy Options Tasmania, Start Right Eat Right and Family Food Patch promote increased awareness of the importance of healthy food choices; increase the level of inter-sectoral action in nutrition promotion and raise the profile projects, activities and campaigns consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Australians. Tasmanian School Canteen Association (TSCA) works in partnership with government health and education agencies, local government, parent bodies and the food industry to facilitate and promote the provision of a healthy and nutritious food services in Tasmanian school canteens. The TSCA if currently funded by the State departments of Health and Education to: continue to implement the Cool Canteens Accreditation Program in schools; conduct professional development for canteen staff, teachers and parents on linking canteen practices to the Essential Learnings curriculum and improved financial management; and work with the food industry to develop and promote healthy food choices for school canteens. The Premiers Physical Activity Council aims to bring together industry, community and non government agencies to deliver a coordinated approach to the promotion and provision of physical activity in Tasmania.94
Victoria
The Victorian Department of Human Services website provides information for health professionals, educators, and practitioners in Public Health Nutrition and health promotion. The website includes child nutrition tip sheets and nutrition and physical activity for residents of aged care facilities. The Victorian Governments Go for your life website provides information aimed at increasing levels of physical activity, improving eating habits, encouraging people to get involved in community activities and volunteering. The site also includes information on
93
Department of Health and Ageing. Healthy Active Australia Community and Schools Grant program. State and Territory Government Initiatives website. Available from: <http://www.health.gov.au/internet/healthyactive/publishing.nsf/Content/com-schools-grants-state-terr-gov>, accessed June 2011. 94 Ibid
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dietary advice, body image, sports and activities and is able to be navigated by life stage so teenagers and families can access information specific to their age groups and needs.95
Western Australia
Department of Health Western Australia Guidelines for Nutrition in Childcare designed to help carers meet the nutritional needs and promote healthy eating habits of children attending childcare. Food served in childcare settings may contribute significantly to the nutrient intake of children, especially those in full time care. Introducing children and parents to good habits is an important role of childcare services. Department of Health Western Australia Go for 2 & 5 aims to increase awareness of the need to eat more fruit and vegetables and encourage increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. This program provides information on the benefits of fruit and vegetables including tasty, simple recipes. Department of Health Western Australia Crunch & Sip is a set break for children to eat fruit or vegetables and drink water in the classroom. Students can re-fuel with fruit or vegetables during a morning or afternoon break in the classroom assisting physical and mental performance and concentration. Through Crunch & Sip schools demonstrate their commitment to nutrition education in the classroom by making links with the curriculum and creating a supportive school environment. Teachers, parents, students and staff can support the program by visiting the Departments website and following the steps to becoming a Crunch & Sip School.96
United States of America

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 101,000 public and non-profit private schools and residential childcare institutions in America. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to 31 million children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.97 In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include children through 18 years of age.98 A School Breakfast Program (SBP) also exists, which was permanently established in 1975. This federally funded program is available to all schools and children. However, students may participate in the program only if their school chooses to offer it. Currently the Program it is offered in some 87,000 schools and institutions. The SBP must provide one-quarter of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for calories, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and
95
Department of Health and Ageing. Healthy Active Australia Community and Schools Grant program. State and Territory Government Initiatives website. Available from: <http://www.health.gov.au/internet/healthyactive/publishing.nsf/Content/com-schools-grants-state-terr-gov>, accessed June 2011. 96 Ibid 97 United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. National School Lunch Program Fact Sheet. Available from: <http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/AboutLunch/NSLPFactSheet.pdf>, accessed June 2011 98 Ibid
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calcium. It also must provide no more than 30% of calories from fat, consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A nationwide evaluation of the SBP in the mid-1980s revealed that breakfast participants had superior intakes of milk-related nutrients (calcium, phosphorus, riboflavin, protein) and were better nourished over a 24-hour period compared with breakfast skippers.99
Canada
In Canada, school lunches in some schools are funded by provincial and territorial governments and the not-for-profit sector. In 2007, it was estimated that their combined annual funding per student (for elementary and secondary students) ranged from $0.31 in Alberta to $23.77 in British Columbia.100 School breakfasts are provided by a number of well-known not-for-profit organisations, including: Breakfast for Learning which provides nutrition grants to applicants to obtain food, equipment and staff for their school community, and child nutrition education resources and tools to help raise awareness and educate communities about proper nutrition. Breakfast Clubs of Canada which provides services and funding to school breakfast programs (the organisation itself relies on individual and corporate partners for funding). The organisation funds programs that meet criteria, including children living in underprivileged areas, and compliance with Canada's Food Guide.
Recently, Breakfast for Learning partnered with the Canadian Home and School Federation and the Centre for Science in the Public Interest to garner government support for a national school nutrition program.
New Zealand
New Zealand does not have a national school nutrition program and only one national initiative is focussed on improving the food environment in New Zealand Schools the Healthy Heart Award for Schools Tohu Manawa OraKura (formally the School Food Programme). It is a free programme partially funded by the Ministry of Health. It supports primary and secondary schools to develop an environment that promotes healthy nutrition and lifestyle to the whole school community. The programme provides resources, guidance and support to develop a heart healthy environment and assists in identifying and addressing a variety of nutritional needs, resulting in a whole school approach to healthy eating.101
United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. National School Breakfast Program Fact Sheet. Available from: <http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Breakfast/AboutBFast/SBPFactSheet.pdf>, accessed June 2011. 100 Centre for Science in the Public Interest (October 2007) Are Schools Making the Grade? School Nutrition Policies Across Canada. 101 Heart Foundation of New Zealand. Healthy Heart Award for Schools website. Available from: <http://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/index.asp?pageID=2145820280>, accessed June 2011.
99
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United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom (UK), breakfasts for school children are typically provided by breakfast clubs established by schools, parent/community organisations, or local authorities, and usually incorporate a child-care element. In 2009, a two-year pilot of free school meals was launched by the government for two London counties.102 Plans to extend the pilot scheme were cancelled recently due to government budget measures. However, free school lunches are currently available to students of parents receiving certain income and welfare support through application to the local authority.103 Additionally, the UK has a national School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme for all children aged four to six. Under the scheme, a free piece of fruit or vegetable is provided to children each school day. An evaluation of scheme by Big Lottery Fund found qualitative outcomes in terms of improved attitudes, knowledge and awareness of pupils regarding healthy food.104 The UK has mandatory food/nutrition standards for school meals, which were fully implemented in September 2009.105 There are two types of standards that operate concurrently. Food-based standards relate to food that must be provided in schools (e.g. vegetables), those whose provision is restricted (e.g. deep-fried food), and those which are not permitted (e.g. confectionary). Nutrient-based standards relate to the nutrient content of an average school lunch. The standards apply to all food and drink provided to pupils on and off school premises (including school trips).106 However, with the advent of the new UK Government, schools set up since September 2010 are not required to comply with the school food standards. Existing schools that move to the new model funding agreement will also no longer need to comply.
BBC News, Trial of Free School Meals, accessed June 2011 United Kingdom Directgov, Nutrition and School Lunches. Available from: <http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SchoolLife/DG_4016089>, accessed June 2011 104 Big Lottery Fund, 5 A Day Programme and School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme: Findings from the Evaluations, February 2007 105 Primary schools by September 2008, secondary schools by September 2009, and special schools and pupil referral units by September 2009. 106 The standards do not cover school trips where the provider of the accommodation also provides the food. Independent schools are not covered under the standards, but are encouraged to comply.
103
102
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India
The Midday Meal Scheme in schools in India dates back to 1925, but became centrally sponsored by the government as part of the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education in 1995.107 The objectives of the scheme include improving the nutritional status of children, and encouraging poor children to attend school more regularly and help their concentration on studies.108 The government funds the cost of ingredients, transport costs and cooking costs. An evaluation of the scheme was undertaken by Singh in 2008 based on surveys of children.109 The surveys incorporate a reading and writing test, and found that there was a significant impact of the midday meals on test scores. In another study covering 17 states and 48 districts, a majority of sample schools reported an increase in student attendance and retention, but it was suggested that this may due to an increase in awareness toward education.110
107
Government of India, Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Available from: <www.india.gov.in/sectors/education/mid_day_meal.php>, accessed June 2011 108 Ibid 109 Singh, A. Do School Meals Work? Treatment Evaluation of the Midday Meal Scheme in India, November 2008 110 Programme Evaluation Organisation, Performance Evaluation of Cooked Mid-Day Meal (CMDM), May 2010
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Program Guidelines
Table 19: SNP reporting requirements Report type Performance Report Requirements
Achievement against KPIs KPI 3 rating is determined according to the achievement of:
contract compliance conditions: in particular the timeliness of reports and Departmental requests and enquiries service delivery conditions according to the Agreement, including: service delivery, assistance provided to parents / carers, services tailored to individual client needs, parent / carer satisfaction and the Providers active sourcing of local Indigenous people as coordinators and assistants.
Report submission dates: 25 Jul 2011: Performance Report Terms 1 & 2 Year 2011 (01 Jan 2011- 30 Jun 2011) 30 Jan 2012: Performance Report Terms 3 & 4 Year 2011 (01 Jul 2011- 30 Dec 2011) 25 Jul 2012: Performance Report Terms 1 & 2 Year 2012 (01 Jan 2012- 30 Jun 2012) Income and Expenditure Report
Income received A description of spending against funding and specific line items Indication of any unexpended money An independently certified audited Income and Expenditure Statement must be supplied by Providers to acquit funding
25 Jul 2011: Interim Income and Expenditure Report (contract period to date) 30 Jan 2012: Interim Income and Expenditure Report (contract period to date) 16 Apr 2012: Interim Income and Expenditure Report (contract period to date) 28 Sep 2012:Financial Acquittal: Audited Income and Expenditure Statement for the Project Period
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Performance data and reporting limitations

This appendix describes each of the administrative data sources used throughout the evaluation and their limitations. The survey methodology and limitations for each of the principal and provider surveys is also discussed.
Northern Territory Department of Education and Training Data

Enrolment and attendance data are collected eight times per year (at the beginning and end of each of the four terms). Enrolment is the number of students enrolled on the collection day. Attendance rate is the proportion of time students attend compared to the time they are expected to attend during the collection period. Enrolment and attendance data were provided for each school as per an ongoing data request that DEEWR has with NT Department of Education. However there are limitations with the supplied data. Firstly they are only provided at an aggregate level. While this enables analysis by school level and over time it does not allow for an understanding of students individual attendance or the type of attendance at a school. For example if a school of 100 children had an attendance rate of 60 per cent there are questions that cannot be answered including: Or Is non-attendance evenly distributed amongst the 100 students? These questions are important as there is a direct relationship between the number of days absent from school and academic performance. An important part of the NT policy Every Child Every Day is the capturing and reporting of high quality enrolment and attendance information, including reporting on reasons for non-attendance. An internal data system has been developed to facilitate this and enable DET to tailor strategies appropriate to each school. However, for the purposes of the SNP evaluation only aggregate data was available. Are the same 60 students attending each day and 40 students are completely missing out on education?
Centrelink Income Management Data

The Centrelink Income Management Data provided consisted of data for December 2010 and April 2011. Due to the fact that only four months separates the two supplied time points no time series analysis was performed. The main data items that were used in the analysis were Total number of school aged children in the community Total number of school aged children on Income Management Total number of school aged children with a current SNP payment Total number of school aged children with no current SNP payment Percentage of school aged children paying for SNP 89
The obvious limitation with the Centrelink Income Management data is that it only provides data for one point in time. Data relating to the School Nutrition Program for 2007 to 2010 was requested from Department of Human Services - Centrelink. Correspondence with Department of Human Services - Centrelink stated that there are technical difficulties in obtaining these data. In addition these data may be inaccurate due to changes in the way the School Nutrition Program has been coded over this time period. Furthermore these data would take a number of months to produce at a significant financial outlay for the requestor. As such Centrelink Income Management data covering the period 2007-2010 could not be supplied within the time frame set aside for the evaluation.
Northern Territory Department of Health Data

The Department of Health provided two Excel spreadsheets that contained information from the Healthy School Age Kids Program. The first spreadsheet contained growth data for NT children aged 5 and 10 years old in 2007 (Note: Anaemia data was for 5 to 17 year olds). The second spreadsheet contained the same growth data for 2010, from the designated communities that received the program. Data for 2007 and 2010 were supplied for most of the communities that had an SNP throughout this time period. The four child growth indices were 1 2 3 4 Central Australian Rural Practitioners Australia (CARPA) Anaemic (i.e. low iron levels) for children aged 5 to 17 years World Health Organisation Underweight (low weight-for-age) for children aged 5 and 10 years World Health Organisation Stunted (low height-for-age) for children aged 5 and 10 years World Health Organisation Wasted (low weight-for-height) for children aged 5 and 10 years
There were a number of limitations with this data. Firstly not all SNP communities had a Healthy School Age Kids program. Secondly not all children in these communities were measured and not all communities in the finalised 2007 data (51 communities) appeared in the interim 2010 data (48 communities). Finally the Department of Health also stated that We have had this data reviewed for statistical significance. Unfortunately, due to low coverage for the 2007 group, it is not possible to make meaningful comparisons with the 2010 data to conclude whether there was any benefit or not for these schoolchildrens growth. Even for those communities that had reasonable coverage by the Healthy School Age Kids Program the change was not statistically significant111
School Nutrition Program Employment and Meals Data

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations provided an Excel spreadsheet that contained information on employment and meals. The employment data provided the number coordinators and assistants that were funded to provide the service in 2011-12. The spreadsheet also gave a snapshot as to the numbers of coordinators and assistants actually employed as at 31 January 2011 providing the service. This was broken
111
Correspondence with NT Department of Health
90
down by Indigenous status. The meals data provided information as to whether the provider supplied breakfast, morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea as at 24 March 2011. There are a number of limitations with the employment and meals data. Firstly the data supplied were only for a point in time. Further the data could not be used for assessing Staff retention or turnover Staff reliability Staff training Staff employment type (i.e. permanent full time, permanent part time, casual).
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Survey
School Principals Survey
The SNP School Principal survey was distributed to 69 school principals for whom email and phone contact details were supplied. The survey consisted of 13 questions. There were 43 unique mostly completed responses from these school principals (two principals started the surveys but did not proceed past question 1). This equates to a response rate of 62 per cent. There was no obvious non-response bias by region, school size or provider type. A number of these principals were involved in the consultation phase of this evaluation. This involved an in-depth discussion of a number of questions similar to those asked in the survey. As such a number of principals asked not to participate in the survey, this boosts the response rate to 67 (43/64) per cent. The survey was distributed via an email link to school principals on Wednesday 17 August 2011. The closing date for the survey was initially 31 August but this was extended to 2 September. Two reminder emails were sent to school principals, the first on Thursday 25 August and the second on Thursday 1 September.
Survey Questionnaire for School Principals

Name of your school: This section asks questions about whether the SNP has contributed to improvements in the attendance and health of students in your community 1) Was there a breakfast/lunch program in place in your school prior to July 2007? (i.e. before the Northern Territory Emergency Response) (Yes, No, Dont Know) To what extent do you agree with the following statements (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree, Dont Know) 2) Enrolment has increased because of the School Nutrition Program 3) Attendance has improved because of the School Nutrition Program 4) Classroom engagement has improved because of the School Nutrition Program 5) Retention has improved because of the School Nutrition Program was implemented 6) The health and wellbeing of students has improved because of the School Nutrition Program 7) Parental engagement with the school has improved because of the School Nutrition Program
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This section asks questions about student and parental involvement in the SNP 8) Parents of students at this school are involved in the delivery of the SNP. (Yes, No, Not Sure) a. Please describe how they are involved (If yes, Free Text) Assist in menu planning and preparation Children have lunches provided by XXXX. These are paid for by parents. Recess Fruit provided by XXXX. Every Friday, high school students cook for the program Handing out the lunches and recording how many are required Preparing menus - kitchen rosters - lessons in nutrition Self serve their own breakfast. Students count the attendance every day The Middle Years students are rostered on Kitchen Duty each day for up to 1 and a half hours. They are involved in preparation of tables and cutlery and seating for lunch. They also serve the fruit and assist with the preparation and serving of the main meal. They have input into the menu. They sometimes assist with food preparation , cooking and cleaning Through participation in cooking lesson with staff and teachers Work experience - input into menu Work with Nutritionist, collect and distribute lunches
9) Students at this school are involved in the delivery of the SNP. (Yes, No, Not Sure) a. Please describe how they are involved (If yes, Free Text) A parent is employed through the funding to serve the meals Cooking and cleaning Employed as Nutrition Workers Employed as SNP workers employed in the kitchen Employed to prepare meals, serve meals, and maintain hygiene employees Employees of the service provider I believe two of the parents are involved in the cooking of the food 93
In paid employment to prepare and serve the food Nutrition workers employed by shire to provide meals Paid employees Paid employees of XXXX to prepare food Parents make the lunches at the XXXX Payment of funds for purchase of goods used in the implementation of the program. Involved in serving students breakfast in the morning. Eat with students at meal times. Giving feedback about the program from time to time. preparing food, serving and cleaning Several are employed to work preparing the meals Some parents are in employed at the XXXX where lunches are prepared for the children. We do not have a breakfast program however as there is no one in the community that is willing to run it. The recess fruit which is provided by XXXX The parents prepare the food each day and hand it out to the students. They also deliver a plate of fruit to the classrooms each day for the afternoon fruit break. They don't organise or manage the program but at time one or two help with preparing and serving. They work in the kitchen. Two or three mothers of students work at the XXXX where the breakfast and lunch is made/provided Two parents are employed by council to deliver the service Two women are hired by XXXX to prepare the lunch
The main objectives of the SNP are to increase enrolment and attendance and to provide employment opportunities to local indigenous people. This section asks questions on the barriers and enablers to achieving the objectives of the School Nutrition Program. 10) What have been the major barriers to achievement of the objectives of the School Nutrition Program? (Free text) Apathy of community parents Parental engagement Some community members not consistent and meals not consistent with what students eat Lack of variety - only providing sandwiches (occasionally a hot dog) 94
Funding - XXXX is run by XXXX and seem to struggle to have enough money to provide better quality and greater quantity of lunches. There is not enough food provided for the older students. Funding Some parents don't pay. There is extra paperwork involved We already had a breakfast program in place and asked the NTER to fund that because children are hungry when they get to school and it is pointless asking them to wait until lunchtime for a feed when the main part of the school learning day happens before lunch. An industrial kitchen located at the school Cost of goods purchased from local store, facilities to cater. In my short time here at the school, I have witnessed the following the SNP is run from the XXXX, this is problematic getting student there, getting them to back to school. Quality and quantity of food has been an issue at times. It has been hard in the past to get a reliable team making lunches, we now have a wonderful team who provide great lunches every day. Another barrier would be the lack of ideas, recipes and training that have been available to the current staff Many students have enough money to buy fast foods from local store. Our children get at least one balanced meal a day Problems between the SNP worker in the community and her supervisor School attendance has been maintained Some families do not get children to SNP in time so meals are missed. The location in which we live makes addressing attendance issues difficult. Followups for attendance usually happens once to twice a day. The students come from outlying communities located: 20mins to the south and 40 mins to the west. At present none Has been no barriers as it runs smoothly. No major barriers Not aware of any barriers. (Perhaps financial contributions by parents could be improved. Costs are quite high if there is more than one child at school. We have a pretty solid system in place and there are very few barriers. consistent employees and support to build capacity Difficulty keeping staff due to Community attitudes to work Finding and keeping suitable employees, employee reliability Lack of reliable local indigenous people to be involved in the daily implementation of the program. 95
Lack of staffing by service provider; inconsistency with delivery of meals; flooding; breach of contract by service provider; lack of variety of food; lack of training and support Staff staff at place of provision - SNP prepared offsite Staffing, all parents paying for student lunches- particularly where students come in for a few days or a few weeks. Cost to the parents is $6.50 a day, this is an outrageous price for a sandwich and sometimes a cup of fruit juice. Training of staff Bureaucracies trying to get Indigenous people to do it. They are too mobile here to be relied on. It is best left to the shop here. This has been very reliable and puts the responsibility away from the school. If the school is seen to be responsible for f Regular staff being present to deliver the service Reliable support staff Finding local indigenous people who can consistently do the job, over the course of a school year. Extra work on the school and school staff Meals are prepared by the community and delivered to the school but its the school staff that have to do the breakfast and give out lunches, plus washing and cleaning up when students have finished eating
11) What have been the major enablers to achievement of the objectives of the School Nutrition Program? (Free text) Federal funding Funding good money Students are more likely to attend and engage with school if quality meals are provided for them. CDEP workers employed to serve the breakfast, recess and lunch to students. Employment opportunities and students receiving 'something' to eat From what I understand XXXX have the contract and the program is delivered through the Crche. The Crche is managed very well. Having a supervisor I cant comment on this as I have not witnessed any from a school point of view. Mothers of the students have been employed and this has increased their involvement with the school. There are few employment opportunities in our 96
community so it is good these real jobs have been created because some women have taken up regular employment No parental volunteers, left to the school staff to do. NT DET building a new kitchen DEWAR supporting the wages of staff Prompt delivery of quality lunches. Willingness of supplier to accommodate specific needs / requests. running from a location other than the school The XXXX Shire The children enjoy the good food they get at school and they attend more consistently as a result. The local council. The school is not directly involved in the delivery of this service. The shop here providing it without fail and taking the perception away that it is the school's job to feed the kid. If it is thought that the school does it then it takes the responsibility away from the parents. The willingness of XXXX to provide SNP when the worker in the community could not XXXX employing staff to prepare the food. Working with XXXX to deliver the program, keeping it simple As already stated we had a nutrition program in place which addressed attendance and engagement issues. Consistent efforts by non indigenous staff Great staff and excellent food = good attendance Having a great local manager and the then the funds to utilise Regular attendance of XXXX employees - someone to make lunch everyday Reliable Local people employed XXXX staff volunteering to run the program Support of the staff, weekly fresh food deliveries A very capable kitchen supervisor. Certain community members assisting consistently and XXXX having the contract to run the program Dedicated school staff who see the benefits The staff of the program are long term employees of XXXX and have ownership of the program. They are skilled people and very capable of doing the job. The Kitchen staff have also had some training as part of the NT Intervention and gained a lot from this 97
The XXXX is run by local Indigenous women who do a very good job with the resources at their disposal Teaching staff providing breakfast and fruit when no workers. XXXX providing funds for equipment Shire for managing and sourcing workers 12) Would you like to make any other comments about any aspect of the School Nutrition Program? (Free text) Dedicated NTG or Commonwealth funding Linking family Centrelink payments to students names etc is extremely time consuming An excellent programme that is valued by our school community. It is comforting to know as an educator that all children have the basic need of a meal provided for. This has a positive impact on school life and school performance. Attendance, students wellbeing and nutrition would be greatly placed at risk without the SNP program Concept is great and allows some students to at least have some healthy food for the day Critical part of maintaining healthy children who are able to engage in learning because their nutritional needs are being met. Hard to measure impact as a program ran for a few years before intervention. However without a program the ability of children to focus on learning would be greatly reduced Has had a significant affect on learning and wellbeing of students It is a wonderful thing. Our kids enter the classroom in every session with full bellies and working minds It is vital that it continues Its a great program - recognised by all our community - appreciated by all our community for all the good it does Now our program is running very well Overall it is a fantastic program which is very well supported by the parents, students and both NT and Australian governments. Please let it continue! The benefits of student have nutritious meals on site cannot be underestimated. Students have benefits from an increase in the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables made available to the program. The local staff have ownership. 98
The success of our program is directly related to the quality of the supervisor and the quality of at 2 of the kitchen staff We are happy with our program Our school nutrition program is retarded by a tiny, poorly equipped and designed, asbestos lined kitchen. Even with the infrastructure funds available under the SNP, we cannot afford to build a new one. Not enough lunch is provided - one sandwich and sometimes a piece of fruit is not enough food for most of the students. Also, some more variety in the lunches would be good ie a hot meal once or twice a week, rather than only once in a while. Teachers no longer have to prepare lunches as they did in the past allowing them to focus on their core business which is teaching. Is now an expectation in this school community that the school is a primary source of food It is difficult when students parents/guardians have not signed up to the scheme they are refused food. It is then up to the teachers to find food for the child and negotiate a solution with the parents. Also sometimes the teachers are not aware that some Our school provided a SNP prior to 2007. The food was prepared by parents, staff and students. It was more of a learning experience. Now it is a handout. Breakfast aspect has taken away the responsibilities from parents. Has improved since having a new nutritionist working with the ladies. I think the program is a great idea however the staff who delivered need to supported and trained to deliver this effectively Indigenous locals should have the opportunity to manage SNP independently. It is a shame that it cant be run here at the school. Why? In addition the use of disposable bowls, cutlery cups etc appears to be excessive and experience practice. Variety of food is also extremely limited. The shop is reliable. Trying to get highly mobile Indigenous people to do it would lead to chaos. We have to be careful not to take the responsibility away from parents. That would be patronising and counterproductive. We fax the shop and they provide it. The SNP has been outsourced to the local shop. The only reason it works is because all we have to do is ring through the numbers for the day and they then make the lunches and deliver them. Small schools do not have the resources to do the paperwork, prep We work with the nutritionist to teach healthy eating and food habits. Without the program we would have no students after lunch. We still have very poor primary health
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Yes - this initiative has potential to achieve the main objectives (I have witnessed it doing so in other schools). Unfortunately the holder of the contract at XXXX is not doing the program justice Yes, teachers are at school to teach and it is unfair for teachers to have very short breaks (enough time to make a cup of tea/coffee supervise and hand out breakfast and lunch and then expected to teach without having their full breaks.
Provider Survey
The SNP Provider survey was distributed to 35 providers for which email and phone contact details were supplied. Unlike the principal survey, where one principal could respond to each school the provider contact details could be for two or more schools. For example there are some providers that supply five schools. There were 20 unique mostly completed responses from these providers (three providers started the surveys but did not proceed past question 1). This equates to a response rate of 29 per cen at community level However this low response rate was due to the added complexity of The surveys having to reach the provider on the ground. School principals being listed as the key contact for both the provider and the principal survey. If they completed one of the surveys they were not followed up to complete the other (i.e. minimising respondent burden). Providers already having volunteered their time in the community consultations
The survey was distributed via an email link to providers on Wednesday 17 August 2011. The closing date for the survey was initially 31 August but this was extended to 2 September. Additional effort was put into obtaining responses from providers. Follow up involved a reminder email on Thursday 25 August and a follow up phone call on Thursday 1 September. The follow up phone call elicited more responses and it identified one incorrect email address and one contact who was no longer working for the provider.
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Survey Questionnaire for Program Provider

Provider Name: Schools Serviced: Please note if you operate programs in more than one school and believe that the impact of the programs in each of the schools is markedly different please fill in a survey for each school. 1) On average how many students consistently attend the SNP? a. For breakfast (Numeric, Dont Know, N/A tickboxes) b. For lunch (Numeric, Dont Know, N/A tickboxes) This section asks questions about whether the SNP has supported parental involvement in schools 2) Do parents volunteer to assist in the School Nutrition Program? (Yes, No, Not Sure) 3) Approximately how many parents volunteer to assist in the School Nutrition Program on any given week? (If Yes to 1). Numeric response) 4) What roles do volunteering parents perform in the SNP? (Free text) Make sure all children are fed. And checking kids are at school.
This section asks questions about whether the SNP has supported employment of local indigenous people 5) What skills and experience do employees gain through the SNP? (Free text) All aspects of working in hospitality. Food safety, menu planning, time management, food preparation, keeping kitchen clean, customer service, putting stock away, nutritional awareness and hygiene. Cooking / cleaning / hygiene skills Food handling / food preperation / stock rotation / general kitchen duties Food handling, workplace health and safety, nutrition, cooking and serving skills Food preparation techniques, health and safety, concentration on preparing meals with good nutritional value. Health/hygiene/nutrition/preparation of meals Kitchen operations skills Learn to cook nutritional meals
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Meals preparation, food safety; understanding of occupational health and safety; operation of register sales; retail experience as well as numeracy skills Need people that already have cleaning, food skills. Training is already ongoing. it has piggybacked on dept of health and ageing meals on wheels. opportunity for cert 2 and 3 in community services. take opportunities to join up with other programs. Two indigenous ladies. learn about nutrition and hygiene.
6) Are these skills and experiences transferrable to other sources of local employment? (Yes, No, Not Sure) 7) What factors enable the employment of local indigenous people in the SNP? (Free text) Employment, regular income, healthy eating, learning new skills, presence in the school giving parental involvement. Firstly people were looking for a job. have to take who you can get. on the whole Pretty good. Gov. funding, desire to work Is occurring at the XXXX. They get to work with other people. The attraction of meals, income and spending time with other people. Job provisions Locality Preference is given to employment of local indigenous people in the SNP. Our team is dedicated to the nutrition program. Provision of jobs Real job with good pay rates; better working hours; responsibility to provide food to the school children on time Work during school hours, mentoring for indigenous staff
5) What factors are barriers to the employment of local indigenous people in the SNP? (Free text) Disinterest in available jobs by local indigenous people Family commitments Lack of incentive to work; low employee turnout during community events Need to have police check and ochre card. 102
None Not enough jobs Not really Not wanting employment, sorry business, ceremony business, family issues. People that aren't able to cook. ochre card could be a problem but not so far as such a small community. Struggle to have enough staff at times There are no barriers There are no barriers. We ask for a good work ethic and reliable staff.
This section asks questions about individual providers readiness to operate the SNP as a small business or micro-enterprise. To what extent do you agree with the following statements (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree, Dont Know) 6) The School Nutrition Program is ready to operate without DEEWR funding 7) The School Nutrition Program is ready to operate with reduced levels of DEEWR funding 8) What are the main issues that need to be resolved to enable the SNP to operate without DEEWR funding. (Free text) A source of funding or monies to enable the program to run and function efficiently Need to find alternative ways to fund: salaries & wages, accounting & audit fees, staff training, Equipment & Infrastructure etc which are currently provided by DEEWR Need to find alternative ways to fund; salaries & wages, accounting & audit fees, staff training, equipment & infrastructure etc which are currently provided by DEEWR Not entirely sure how to resolve issues or how to fund program without DEEWR funding. Wouldn't be able to run program efficiently. Would have to be more of a tuckshop style operation. Ongoing infrastructure, freight and salary costs. Other avenues of funding to keep up high standard and quantity of food being offered Strong financial parental commitment and contribution; more communication and cooperation from school regarding school's attendance numbers The kitchen would have to become up to standard (i.e. stainless steel kitchens) and also be very hygienic. Also be able to rotate stock. Transport, Rent, Wages, Parental Payments We would never earn enough to pay wages 103
Were too small and too remote. Food is very expensive to get here. No way that we could afford to continue the program as is without funding. Food is more expensive than what were collecting.
The main objectives of the SNP are to increase enrolment and attendance and to provide employment opportunities to local indigenous people. This section asks questions on the barriers and enablers to achieving the objectives of the School Nutrition Program. 9) What have been the major barriers to achievement of the objectives of the School Nutrition Program? (Free text) Difficulty in finding local indigenous people willing to work in the program Enrolments and attendance records and information are not available to us Have had lots of people away for ceremony. Community can be a bit sad at times. High turnover of school staff, particularly school principals. I don't see any barriers Lack of access to the attendance and enrolment information Lack of commitment from staff. Family commitments Lack of contribution both of time and money by parents No. Goals are being achieved. None that I can think of There are no major barriers - our only problem is we need a larger kitchen.
10) What have been the major enablers to achievement of the objectives of the School Nutrition Program? (Free text) Employment of indigenous people& nutritious meals for the students Experienced SNP mentor to train staff, design menus, storage and ordering systems Had a nutrition program prior to SNP but not to same extent as we have now. Now have proper facilities (kids can sit down for lunch and teachers supervise them eat meals) Having funding to be able to pay store manager when staff don't turn up Locality. Good supervisors. More working hours to the local indigenous employees 104
Offering breakfast and lunch brings the children into the school. All students find it easier to learn when they are not hungry. We have found the children's health seems to have improved since the introduction of the program. Opportunity of more working hours to part time employees and opportunity of skill development enabled the employment of local indigenous people Participation and relationship with the school and other stakeholders. Preparation is vital. Working with school makes it easier.
11) Would you like to make any other comments about any aspect of the School Nutrition Program? (Free text) community really wants kids to be at school. community values education. community recognises education as the future. Certainly don't want to see the program go as its a huge benefit. I think it has been a great initiative. The staff are dedicated and very committed to providing the children with good food. I would like further parent participation. Inconvenience of Centrepay forms, basic card forms (i.e. two different types of forms). Otherwise think were doing a good job. Need to have good relationship with school. More community understanding. Our program could be more efficient with a proper serving and eating area. Potentially costs are being incurred by the provider which cannot be compensated for. Problems with late payment of parental contributions which result with provider being in financial difficulty School attendance is much better. We think it is a really good program. Without it we would be pretty lost and children would go back to previous state. Maybe we need to do more training with parents. SNP has been successful in providing nutritious lunches to school children at remote communities. It has also helped to provide employment to the local indigenous people. However, we do not have enough information on the impact of SNP on school attendance.
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Indigenous Enterprise Development Critical Factors

The HORSCATSIA 2008 Open for Business inquiry, 2003 Indigenous Business Review and KPMGs targeted research found a number of barriers exist for Indigenous people building, financing and operating a successful business including: Exclusion from the real economy this includes the effects of intergenerational welfare dependency which diminishes self-reliance, business motivation and limited engagement with, or investment by the private sector. Business readiness and support this includes a lack of experience in operating a business and limited understanding of business requirements, such as cash flow management, financial analysis, record keeping, taxation and marketing. General perception of Indigenous entrepreneurs and their commercial skills related to business support is the perception of Indigenous entrepreneurs by the general public. Flexibility of business model all organisations vary in size, the product or service that they sell, the number of staff, where and how they operate and what support and funding they might require over the short or long term. As a result, a one size fits all approach is not practical for Indigenous enterprises. Cultural conflicts this generally occurs where the business needs (such as growth and profit-making) conflict with cultural responsibilities such as sharing of resources and maintaining land. Reciprocal family obligations usually mean that the responsibility of traditional cultural obligations to family can clash with non-Indigenous principles of business efficacy. Limited access to capital and infrastructure this includes a lack of family and individual wealth and savings, lack of assets or equity and no credit history. Limited skills transfer and succession planning there is little evidence of succession planning and skills transfer (particularly in joint venture operations). Poor governance this includes unworkable board sizes, lack of independence between community governance structures and business governance structures, poor grievance and conflict resolution procedures and lack of experience of board members and senior executives. Poverty many Indigenous people are caught in a poverty trap. On the one hand, the lack of personal assets denies access to credit; while on the other, ongoing dependency on welfare acts as a disincentive to entrepreneurial activity. Lack of payment discipline in many cases, new Indigenous business ventures may not be able to present a long-standing history of payment discipline. Geographic location the geographic location of a business will, to a certain degree, influence its profitability, which will impact the availability of funds of Indigenous businesses especially those operating in remote areas. Those in regional and remote locations face significant disadvantages. The limited market size, constraints in achieving 106
the benefits of economies of scale and the comparatively high cost of living in remote and regional centres severely narrows business opportunities. Networks connected to the geographic location is the issue that Indigenous people, particularly those in remote and regional locations, lack the social capital networks that support and encourage participation in business enterprises. Operational constraints Indigenous entrepreneurs often face restrictions in their operations due to cultural conflicts among various clans. It is not uncommon that key decision-makers in an Indigenous business are required to be recruited from the elders of a clan, which can potentially further restrict positive economic development. For Indigenous community enterprises in particular, while community owned, these benefit from one person driving them.
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Evaluation of The School Nutrition Program

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Evaluation of The School Nutrition Program

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Evaluation of the School Nutrition Program

This report contains 114 pages

SNP program design and delivery

The Evaluation Approach Evaluation findings Education

Evaluation findings - Employment and training

Evaluation findings Health

Evaluation findings Funding model and service delivery arrangements

Evaluation terms of reference

Evaluation scope, methodology and governance

Structure of this report

The report is structured as follows:

SNP program design and delivery

Service delivery outcomes

Program administration and management

DEEWR program staffing

SNP Service Agreement and program guidelines

Administrative Guidelines 2011 Administrative Guidelines 2011

Source: KPMG adapted from SNP Fact Sheet

Administrative Guidelines Administrative Guidelines 18 Administrative Guidelines

Parent / carer contributions and reimbursements

Meal expenditure determination

Performance reporting and measurement

Performance and financial reporting

Administrative Guidelines Administrative Guidelines

The international context

Principles and approaches of school nutrition programs

Is healthy Provides opportunities for physical education and recreation

Health promoting schools (WHO)

Child-friendly Schools (UNICEF)

Global school feeding campaign (World Food Program)

Provides skills-based health education Fosters health and learning

Supports learning through good nutrition Promotes access to education

Provides food Promotes and supports deworming

Is child centred Is family focused Is community based

Promotes community and school partnerships

These core activities should be supported by:

Effectiveness of school nutrition programs

Benefits of school nutrition programs

Key features of successful school nutrition programs

The Australian context

Jukes, M. Drake, L. Bundy, D. (2008), op. cit., pp.119-120

Karuah Aboriginal community

Further details of these evaluations are provided in Appendix B.

The Evaluation Approach

Figure 1: Program rationale

Figure 2: Program logic

Summary of the Evaluation Framework

3. Achievement of supporting greater Indigenous parental and community involvement in schools

4. Achievement of building parental skills in meal preparation and provision

5. Achievement of providing opportunities for nutrition awareness and education in schools

8. Governance, 9. Sustainability and future administration focus and funding

Literature review Document review Provider survey School survey

Employment data Education data Health data Centrelink data

Evaluation findings Education

Analysis in this section has been informed by a number of sources:

Engagement and achievement

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4125.0Glossary2Jul%202011, [Viewed 13 September 2011]

Characteristics of schools or communities which are reporting positive outcomes

Has the SNP supported greater parental involvement in schools?

Evaluation findings - Employment and training

Analysis in this section has been informed by a number of sources:

Is the SNP providing employment opportunities for local Indigenous people?